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Carter, Prudence L.
Academic Title
Other Titles
Associate Professor of Sociology (by courtesy)
Contact Information
Program Affiliations
Prudence L. Carter is Associate Professor of Education and (by courtesy) Sociology at Stanford University. She is also the Co-Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE). Professor Carter’s research and teaching expertise are in the areas of inequality and the sociology of education, with a particularly focus on race, ethnicity, class, gender, culture and identity.
She is the author of the award-winning book, Keepin’ It Real: School Success beyond Black and White (Oxford University Press, 2005) ; Stubborn Roots: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. & South African Schools (Oxford University Press, 2012); and co-editor of Closing the Opportunity Gap: What American Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance ( Oxford University Press, forthcoming April 2013).
cultural flexibility, boundaries, and group dynamics among adolescents within different school contexts
cross-national study (in the U.S. and South Africa) examining the social and cultural incorporation of students in both minority-dominant and white-dominant urban schools
race, gender, culture and academic achievement disparities
Education
- PhD (Sociology), Columbia University, 1999
- M Phil (Sociology), Columbia University,1998
- MA (Sociology & Education), Teachers College, Columbia University, 1995
- ScB (Applied Mathematics-Economics), Brown University, 1991
Time at Stanford
Since Fall 2007
Professional Experience
Associate Professor of Sociology, Harvard University, 2005-2007
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Harvard University, 2001-2005
Admission Officer, Brown University, 1991-1993
Courses Taught
- The Conduct of Qualitative Inquiry (EDUC 327A & EDUC 327C)
- Sociology of Education (EDUC 310/110;SOC 332/132)
- Urban Education (EDUC 212/112; SOC 228/128)
- The Ecology of Equality (EDUC 324X)
Recent Publications
P. L. Carter & K. Welner. Forthcoming April, 2013. Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give All Children An Even Chance. New York: Oxford University Press.
P. L. Carter. 2012. Stubborn Roots: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. and South African Schools. New York: Oxford University Press.
P. L. Carter. 2010. “Cultural Flexibility among Students in Different Racial and Ethnic School Contexts.” Teachers College Record 112 (6): 1529-1574.
P. L. Carter, J. Caruthers, and J. Foster. 2010. “Knowing Their Lines: How Social Boundaries Undermine Equity-based Integration Policies in U.S. and South African Schools.” Perspectives in Education, vol. 27(4): 351-364.
P. L. Carter. 2009. “Equity and Empathy: Toward Racial Achievement and Equality in U.S. Schools in the Obama Era.” Harvard Educational Review , vol. 79(2):287-297.
P. Lichterman, P. L. Carter, and M. Lamont. 2009. “Race‐bridging for Christ? Conservative Christians and Black‐White Relations in Community Life,” In Conservative Christians and American Democracy , edited by Steven Brint and Jean Schroedel, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 187-220.
P. L. Carter. 2009. Opportunities & Paradoxes: An Examination of Culture, Race & Group Incorporation in Post‐Apartheid South African Schools.” In Thinking Diversity, Building Cohesion: A Transnational Dialogue on Education , edited by M. Nkomo and S. Vandeyar, Amsterdam: Rozenberg Publishers, pp. 109-132.
Warikoo, N. and P. L. Carter. 2009. "Cultural Explanations for Racial and Ethnic Stratification in Academic Achievement: A Call for a New and Improved Theory." Review of Educational Research , vol. 79(1): 366-394.
Carter, P. L. 2008. "Teaching Students Fluency in Multiple Cultural Codes," in Everyday Antiracism , edited by M. Pollock, New York: The New Press.
Carter, P. L. 2008. "At-Risk Learners." In 21st Century Education: A Reference Handbook ,edited by T. Good, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Carter, P. L. 2006. "Straddling Boundaries: Identity, Culture, and School. Sociology of Education , vol. 79(3): 304-328.
Carter, P. L. 2006. "Intersectional Identities: 'Acting White,' Gender and Achievement." Beyond Acting White: Reassessments and New Directions in Research on Black Students and School Success, edited by E. Horvat and C. O'Connor, New York: Rowan and Littlefield.
Carter, P. L. 2005. Keepin' It Real: School Success beyond Black and White. New York: Oxford University Press.
Carter, P. L. 2003. "Black Cultural Capital, Status Positioning, and the Conflict of Schooling for Low-Income African American Youth." Social Problems, vol. 50, no. 1: 136-155.
Current Activities
Co-Director, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE)
Director, Research Institute for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE)
Editorial Board Member, The DuBois Review
Faculty Affiliate, Center for African Studies
Faculty Affiliate, Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University
Fellow, Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality, Stanford University
Fellow, National Education Policy Center, University of Colorado at Boulder
Member, American Educational Research Association
Member, American Sociological Association
Member, Association of Black Sociologists
Member, Society for the Study of Social Problems
