Faculty
Core Faculty
Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity
Email: vallejoj@usc.edu
Research Areas: immigrant integration; race/ethnicity; minoritized middle classes; minoritized entrepreneurs; wealth attainment
Associate Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies
Sociology Department Chair
Email: biblarz@usc.edu
Research Areas: family sociology; stratification and social mobility; gender and sexuality; demography; statistics
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Email: breweral@usc.edu
Research Areas: medical sociology; work, organizations, and occupations; economic sociology; social inequalities; race, gender, and class; qualitative methods
Professor of Sociology
Email: lcasper@usc.edu
Research Areas: family sociology; family demography; work, family and health; gender, work, and family; family change and variation; social demography; quantitative methods
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Email: deisydel@usc.edu
Research Areas: international migration; sociology of law (socio-legal studies); comparative-historical sociology; political sociology
Professor of Sociology
Email: eliasoph@usc.edu
Research Areas: political sociology and communication; cultural sociology; ethnography; sociolinguistics; social theory; emotions; organizations; nonprofits/NGOs
Professor (Research) of Sociology
Email: brian.finch@usc.edu
Research Areas: social demography; population health and health disparities; quantitative methods
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Email: brittany.friedman@usc.edu
Research Areas: social control; cover-ups; politics & law; institutional violence & economic predation; racism; mobilization; black feminism; qualitative methodology; historical sociology
Postdoctoral Scholar – Research Associate
Assistant Professor (starting Fall 2026)
Email: lgose@usc.edu
Florence Everline Professor of Sociology and Professor of Sociology
Email: hook@usc.edu
Research Areas: family demography; gender; inequality; work-family; social policy; comparative sociology
Professor of Sociology
Email: ekaplan@usc.edu
Research Areas: race and ethnic relations; social inequality; youth; gender; qualitative methodology; visual sociology; education
Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Sociology
Email: lainer-vos@usc.edu
Research Areas: nationalism (Jewish and Irish); diaspora politics; economic sociology; sociological theory; historical comparative methods; science and technology studies; charisma; conscientious objection
Professor of Sociology and Anthropology
Email: lakoff@usc.edu
Professor of Sociology and Religion
Email: lichterm@usc.edu
Research Areas: culture (political culture, morality, organizational culture); religion; political sociology; civic engagement and social movements; white racial identity construction; theory; qualitative methodology; ethnographic methods
Associate Professor (Teaching) of Sociology
Email: mcgene@usc.edu
Professor of Sociology and Public Policy
Email: annowens@usc.edu
Research Areas: urban sociology; sociology of education; social stratification; social policy; quantitative analysis; spatial analysis
Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity
Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change
Email: mpastor@college.usc.edu
Research Areas: urban poverty and regional economies; Latinos in the urban U.S.; environmental justice; labor markets and low-wage workers; social movements and social justice
Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity
Email: lsaito@usc.edu
Research Areas: race and ethnic relations; urban politics; community studies; gentrification; Asian American studies; qualitative research methods
Associate Professor (Teaching) of Sociology
Email: dschrage@usc.edu
Research Areas: racial inequality; labor-market inequality; organizations; economic sociology; statistical and computational methods
Dean’s Professor of Sociology and Professor of Sociology and Spatial Sciences
Email: smithgre@usc.edu
Research Areas: demography; health; mortality; family; inequality
Professor (Teaching) of Sociology
Email: sternhei@usc.edu
Research Areas: moral panics; social problems; popular culture
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Email: urbinaju@usc.edu
Research Areas: demography; family; gender; education
Associate Professor (Teaching) of Sociology
Email: rwerth@usc.edu
Research Areas: punishment and the carceral continuum; parole and post-prison experiences; penal technologies and algorithms; how individuals navigate punishment; law and legality; ethnography
Professor of Sociology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Architecture and Preventive Medicine
Email: jpwilson@usc.edu
Research Areas: GIS; spatial analysis; environmental modeling; mapping
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Email: hyazdiha@usc.edu
Research Areas: social movements; race and ethnicity; immigration; culture; law and society; political sociology; collective memory; imagined futures
Lecturers
Lecturer
Email: levydani@usc.edu
Dornsife Fellow in General Education
Email: omarom@usc.edu
Research Areas: political sociology; sociology of culture; sociological theory; media sociology; collective behavior; social media; civic engagement; ideology; American libertarian movement
Dornsife Fellow in General Education
Email: eshimada@usc.edu
Affiliated Faculty
Harold Quinton Chair in Business Policy
Professor of Management and Organization, Sociology, and Environmental Studies
Email: padler@usc.edu
Areas of Expertise: business of sustainability; collaboration; democracy; environmental sustainability; labor economics; macroeconomics; platforms; R&D; socialism; sustainability; value-rational organization
Associate Professor of Journalism, Sociology, and American Studies and Ethnicity
Email: carringb@usc.edu
Research Areas: civic engagement; social justice; culture and media
Areas of Expertise: gender and sexuality; race and ethnicity; sports
University Professor
Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication Technology and Society
Professor of Communication, Sociology, Planning, and International Relations
Email: castells@usc.edu
Research Areas: civic engagement; social justice organizations; networks and group persuasion; politics science; technology and innovation
Areas of Expertise: education; global; politics; social media; technology and innovation
Jill and Frank Fertitta Chair in Business Administration
Professor of Management and Organization, and Sociology
Associate Vice Dean for Research
Email: fiss@marshall.usc.edu
Research Areas: organization theory; framing and categorization; social inequality; set-analytic methods, such as fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA)
Professor of Public Policy and Sociology
Email: dowell@usc.edu
Research Areas: immigration; ethnic change/demographic diversity and trends; growth management; housing & urban development; real estate market analysis; local census data analysis
Distinguished Professor of Education
Email: pnoguera@usc.edu
Areas of Expertise: sociology; race; equity; urban education
Emeritus Faculty
Professor Emerita of Sociology
Email: sotelo@usc.edu
Professor Emeritus of Sociology
Email: messner@usc.edu
Professor Emeritus of Sociology
Email: jonmill@usc.edu