Sherry B. Ortner Collegiate Professor of Sociology
Armstrong is a professor of Sociology and Organizational Studies at the University of Michigan. Her scholarship focuses on gender, class, and race inequalities in American higher education. Her co-authored book, Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality (Harvard University Press, 2013), followed a cohort of young women through their experiences at a large Midwestern state university. The book challenges the claim that college equalizes the life chances of college graduates. Armstrong and her co-author demonstrated that the most well-resourced and seductive route through this university was a “party pathway” anchored in the Greek system and facilitated by the administration. This pathway benefited the affluent, while disadvantaging the majority.
Her current research focuses on university responses to sexual misconduct. The failure of universities to address sexual violence is not only evidence of stubborn gender inequality. It is also a puzzle. Given their ethical commitments and educational missions, why have universities been unable to address this issue? More pragmatically, why don’t they do better, particularly in recent years, as the reputational and financial stakes have escalated? She seeks to answer these questions through a collaborative longitudinal project involving the analysis of university sexual misconduct policies and interviews with national leaders. She was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and a recipient of a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship. She earned her MA and PhD degrees in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in sociology and computer science from the University of Michigan.
