Qualitative studies of gender, work–family balance, and social change
Awards
Guggenheim Fellowship (2017) Jessie Bernard Award (2013) Distinguished Merit Award, Eastern Sociological Society (2014) William J. Goode Distinguished Book Award (2012) Top Scholar, ScholarGPS (2024)
Kathleen Gerson (born August 6, 1947) is an American sociologist and Collegiate Professor of Arts and Science at New York University. She is known for her in-depth research, often based on qualitative interviews that explore the intersections of gender, work, and family life in modern economies, including how individuals navigate unfolding changes in gender dynamics, work–family conflict, and contemporary employment and caregiving institutions.[1][2][3][4][5]
Recent work addresses work–caregiving tensions in the 21st century economy, including a forthcoming book tentatively titled Colliding Worlds: Managing the Clash Between Earning and Caregiving in an Era of Insecurity.[6][3] Gerson's research emphasizes how these dynamics unfold through time amid globalizing social and economic forces, with comparative insights from collaborations within the United States and other national contexts, such as a United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation grant (2015–2019) on equality at work.[3] Her work has over 13,000 citations.[7][8]
Early in her career, Gerson worked as a research assistant at UC Berkeley's Survey Research Center and Institute of Industrial Relations (1972–1976) and as a research specialist at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development (1975–1977).[9] In 1979, she was an instructor in Stanford's Program on Urban Studies.[9]
She joined New York University's Department of Sociology as an assistant professor in 1980, advancing to associate professor in 1988, full professor in 1995, and Collegiate Professor of Arts and Science in 2010.[4] She served as director of undergraduate studies (1990–1996) and chair of the department (2000–2003).[4]
Gerson has held visiting fellowships at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (2011–2012), the Center for the Study of Status Passages and Risks in the Life Course at the University of Bremen (1995), and the Russell Sage Foundation (1987–1988).[4]
She has served in leadership roles including vice president of the American Sociological Association (2016–2017), co-president of Sociologists for Women in Society (2015), president of the Eastern Sociological Society (2008–2009), and chair of the ASA Family Section (2001–2002).[6] She was elected to the Sociological Research Association in 2004 and its executive committee in 2024.[6] Gerson is a founding board member of the Work and Family Researchers Network and a past board member of the Council on Contemporary Families.[6]
Among her invited addresses and lectures are keynotes at NYU's Phi Beta Kappa Induction Ceremony (April 29, 2025), Bar Ilan University’s conference on Involved Fatherhood and the Work-Family Interface (May 2019), Alpha Kappa Delta’s Distinguished Lecture (August 2018), the University of Edinburgh’s International Conference on Unequal Families and Relationships (June 2016), the Israeli Sociological Society’s annual meeting (February 2014), the Norwegian Institute for Social Research conference on Reconciling Work and Family in Europe and the US (September 2013), the College and University Work/Family Association annual conference (May 2011), Colby College’s Kingsley Birge Endowed Lecture (February 2011), and the University of Cincinnati’s Charles Phelps Taft Annual Lecture (April 2008).[6]
Research
Gerson's research uses in-depth interviewing and quantitative analysis to examine how national and local contexts, including economic and social policy shifts, shape personal decisions about work, parenting, and relationships. In turn, shifts in personal decisions and individual strategies reshape the larger contours of social change.[3] She has received grants from the National Science Foundation (e.g., 2011–2012 for vignette studies on employed parents; 2007–2008 for women's mobility paths; 1989 for child care and dual-earner couples), the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (1998–1999, 1996 for work-family conflict), and the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (2015–2019 for equality at work).[6][3]
Her early work focused on women's employment and childbearing decisions amid rising labor force participation. Hard Choices (1985) analyzed interviews showing women's choices as strategic responses to opportunities and partnership fragilities, rather than innate traits. It was a finalist for the ASA's William J. Goode Book Award and the Society for the Study of Social Problems' C. Wright Mills Award.[9] The book has been cited over 1,600 times.[7]
No Man's Land (1993) explored men's diverse and often polarized responses to gender shifts, as some men resist and others embrace changes in their employment commitments and family involvement. It was selected as a New York Times Notable Book.[9] It has garnered more than 1,000 citations.[7]
With Jerry A. Jacobs, The Time Divide (2004) used census and survey data to document how time polarization exacerbates gender inequality and to recommend policy reforms to reduce inequality and enhance work-family balance and integration. It received honorable mention for the Mirra Komarovsky Book Award and was named a "Best Business Book" by Strategy+Business.[4]Contemporary Sociology listed it among the 12 most influential books of the decade on family change. The book has over 2,100 citations.[7]
The Unfinished Revolution (2010), based on interviews with a diverse group of young adults, revealed a gap between emerging shared ideals for egalitarian partnerships and contrasting "fallback" strategies due to institutional barriers. These barriers prompt women to emphasize self-reliance and men to fall back on neo-traditional aspirations that emphasize their position as the primary breadwinner. It won the ASA Family Section's William J. Goode Distinguished Book Award.[4] It has been cited more than 850 times.[7]
Gerson co-authored The Science and Art of Interviewing (2020) with Sarah Damaske, a methodological guide that delineates the unique contributions of depth interviewing and provides a step-by-step overview. It has received nearly 300 citations.[7] Recent projects include a study (with Jennifer Glass, Jerry A. Jacobs, and Barbara Risman) that conducted national interviews to understand how COVID-19 shaped the experiences of Americans with caregiving responsibilities and the forthcoming book described above.[6] Her work informs policy on gender equity.[3]
Gerson's research incorporates cross-national comparisons, such as analyses of gender strategies in post-industrial societies and international collaborations on work equality.[3]
Awards and honors
Top Scholar, ScholarGPS (top 0.5% worldwide lifetime ranking), 2024
Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (for research on gender and family), 2017
Distinguished Career Award, ASA Family Section (lifetime contributions to family sociology), 2017
Top 25 Work-Family Scholars Worldwide, Google Scholar Metrics, 2017[6]
Jessie Bernard Award, American Sociological Association (for enlarging sociology to encompass women's and gender roles), 2013[4][10]
Distinguished Merit Award, Eastern Sociological Society (outstanding contributions to the discipline and profession), 2014[4]
William J. Goode Distinguished Book Award (for The Unfinished Revolution), ASA Family Section, 2012[4]
Top Ten Extraordinary Contributor to Work and Family Research, Work and Family Researchers Network, 2018[4]
Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research (with Jerry A. Jacobs), 2003[4]
Distinguished Feminist Lecturer, Sociologists for Women in Society, 1998[4]
Elected to Sociological Research Association, 2004 (Executive Committee, 2024)[6]
Jacobs, Jerry A.; Gerson, Kathleen (2001). "Overworked Individuals or Overworked Families? Explaining Trends in Work, Leisure, and Family Time". Work and Occupations. 28 (1): 40–63. doi:10.1177/0730888401028001003.
Gerson, Kathleen (2002). "Moral Dilemmas, Moral Strategies, and the Transformation of Gender: Lessons from Two Generations of Work and Family Change". Gender & Society. 16 (1): 8–28. doi:10.1177/0891243202016001002.
Gerson, Kathleen (2011). "The Unfinished Revolution: How a New Generation is Reshaping Family, Work, and Gender in America". Sociological Forum. 26 (3): 671–675. doi:10.1111/j.1573-7861.2011.01277.x.
Dunatchik, Allison; Gerson, Kathleen; Glass, Jennifer; Jacobs, Jerry A. (2022). "Gender, Parenting, and The Rise of Remote Work During the Pandemic: Implications for Domestic Inequality in the United States". Gender & Society. 36 (1): 71–101. doi:10.1177/08912432211002308.
Gerson, Kathleen (2023). "Why No One Can 'Have It All' and Why That Matters to Everyone". Sociological Forum. 38 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1111/socf.12959.
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