Becky Pettit
{{short description|American sociologist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Elizabeth M. Pettit
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|02|04}}
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| fields = Sociology, demography
| workplaces = University of Texas-Austin, University of Washington
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| education = University of California at Berkeley (B.A. 1992), Princeton University (M.A., 1997; Ph.D., 1999)
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| thesis_title = Navigating networks and neighborhoods: an analysis of the residential mobility of the urban poor
| thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/304541211/abstract
| thesis_year = 1999
| doctoral_advisor = Sara McLanahan
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| awards = James Short paper award from the American Sociological Association's Crime, Law, and Deviance Section
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}}
Elizabeth M. "Becky" Pettit (born February 4, 1970){{Cite web |url=http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no99053174.html |title=Becky Pettit |website=Library of Congress}} is an American sociologist with expertise in demography.{{Cite web |url=https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/sociology/faculty/emp2344 |title=Becky Pettit |website=Department of Sociology |publisher=University of Texas at Austin}} She has been a professor of sociology at the University of Texas-Austin, as well as an affiliate at its Population Research Center, since 2014.{{Cite web |url=https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/ffiles/emp2344/nqOonaqSqQ |title=Becky Pettit CV |website=University of Texas-Austin |access-date=2017-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329142737/https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/ffiles/emp2344/nqOonaqSqQ |archive-date=2017-03-29 |url-status=dead }} She is an advocate for decarceration in the United States.{{Cite web|title=Profile for Becky Pettit, PhD at UT Austin|url=https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/sociology/faculty/emp2344|access-date=2020-06-03|website=liberalarts.utexas.edu|language=en}}
Education
Pettit received her B.A. summa cum laude from the University of California at Berkeley in 1992. She went on to receive her M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1997 and 1999, respectively.
Career
In 1999, Pettit joined the faculty of the University of Washington as an assistant professor of sociology, where she became an associate professor in 2007 and a full professor in 2011. For two years (2009–2011), she was the associate chair of the University of Washington's sociology department. In 2014, she left the University of Washington for the University of Texas-Austin.
Research
Pettit's research focuses on various aspects of social inequality. For instance, in her 2012 book Invisible Men: Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black Progress, she argues that mass incarceration in the United States has distorted our perception of racial equality because government surveys tend to undercount prisoners.{{Cite web |url=https://sph.umich.edu/rwjhssp/symposium/presenters.html |title=Presenter Information |website=Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars Program |publisher=University of Michigan School of Public Health |year=2013 |access-date=2017-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029173057/http://www.sph.umich.edu/rwjhssp/symposium/presenters.html |archive-date=2015-10-29 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/sunday-review/how-prisoners-make-data-look-good.html |title=How Prisoners Make Us Look Good |last=Roberts |first=Sam |website=The New York Times |authorlink=Sam Roberts (newspaper journalist)|date=27 October 2012}} When, in this book, she added prisoners to these surveys, she found that the status of black Americans has not significantly improved since the 1960s.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/13/barack-obama-presidency-black-people |title=Barack Obama's presidency 'has not helped cause of black people in US' |last=Harris |first=Paul |website=The Guardian |date=13 October 2012}}{{Cite web |url=http://crookedtimber.org/2013/01/11/invisible-men/ |title=Invisible Men |last=Healy |first=Kieran |authorlink=Kieran Healy |website=Crooked Timber |date=11 January 2013}} She has also studied the effects of incarceration on families and racial inequality.{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-12046054 |title=US children cope with parents behind bars |website=BBC News |date=21 December 2010}} With Bruce Western, she has also studied other social consequences of incarceration, such as decreased earnings for former prisoners.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/science/long-prison-terms-eyed-as-contributing-to-poverty.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |title=Prison and the Poverty Trap |last=Tierney |first=John|authorlink=John Tierney (journalist) |website=The New York Times |date=18 February 2013}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2010/10/toxic_persons.html |title=Toxic Persons |last=Abramsky |first=Sasha |website=Slate |authorlink=Sasha Abramsky|date=8 October 2010}}
Editorial activities
From 2011 to 2014, Pettit was the editor-in-chief of Social Problems. She is currently an advisory editor for Social Problems{{Cite web |url=http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/pageid/1744/m/573 |title=Social Problems Advisory Editors |website=Society for the Study of Social Problems}} and a member of the editorial board of American Sociological Review.{{Cite web |url=http://www.asanet.org/research-and-publications/journals/journal-links/asr-editorial-board |title=American Sociological Review Editorial Board Members |website=American Sociological Association}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/sociology/faculty/emp2344 Faculty page]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettit, Becky}}
Category:American sociologists
Category:American women sociologists
Category:Princeton University alumni
Category:University of Texas at Austin faculty
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:University of Washington faculty