Department of American Studies

sociology of education; Stratification/inequality; comparative/historical sociology

Professor Pamela B. Walters teaches and conducts research on social inequality, with a particular focus on American Education. In her research she explores the tensions between the role of education as one of the most important forms of state social provision in modern societies -- a social right, an entitlement that follows from citizenship -- and the ways in which education reproduces and legitimates existing social inequalities. Her work situates education in its larger political and social context and closely examines the political struggles between potential winners and potential losers over access to valued educational resources. She served as editor of Sociology of Education, the major journal in her field. She currently co-chairs the Study Committee on Education Research co-sponsored by the Social Science Research Council and the National Academy of Education and directs the Indiana University Center for Education and Society, an innovative cross-field research center and graduate training program that brings together faculty and graduate students in education and in the social sciences. Professor Walters is the Indiana University Sonneborn Lecture award recipient for 2004.

• 2004 Sonneborn Lecture award recipient