Rebecca J Kissane, PhD

I received my B.A. in Honors and Sociology from Villanova University and my M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.  I joined the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Lafayette College in 2004.  Prior to coming to Lafayette, I conducted research in Baltimore as part of the Moving To Opportunity Qualitative Study, during which time I was affiliated with Princeton University’s Center for Research on Child Wellbeing as a post-doctoral fellow. 

I am a qualitative sociologist who researches poverty and the social safety net in America.  More specifically, my scholarship centers on the views and experiences of poor women as they navigate a post-welfare reform safety net, high-poverty neighborhoods, and low-wage employment.  My work also addresses the views of nonprofit organizations confronting devolutionary social welfare policies and their efforts to help poor women and their families.  In addition, I have works in progress that investigate poor women’s social capital after moving, the influence of neighborhood factors on poor women’s mental health, and poor mothers’ involvement in their children’s education.

Research Interests:  Poverty; The Welfare State;  Women in Poverty; Social Policy; Nonprofit Organizations; Urban Sociology

Teaching Interests:  Sociology of Poverty; Social Inequality; The Family; The Welfare State; Introduction to Sociology; Sociological Theory; Qualitative Research Methods