Kathryn J. Edin, is an American sociologist and a professor of sociology and public affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.^[1] She specializes in the study of people living on welfare. Two of her books are Making ends meet: how single mothers survive welfare and low-wage work, and Promises I can keep: why poor women put motherhood before marriage.

In 2023, she was elected to the American Philosophical Society.^[2]

Life and career

Edin graduated with a B.A. in sociology from North Park University in 1984. She then pursued graduate studies at Northwestern University, where she received a M.A. in sociology in 1988 and a Ph.D. in sociology in 1989 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "There's a lot of month left at the end of the money: how welfare recipients in Chicago make ends meet."^{[3] [4]}

In February 2014, Edin was named a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University for her accomplishments as an interdisciplinary researcher and excellence in teaching the next generation of scholars.^[5]

Edin was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.^[6]

Publications

Books

• DeLuca, Stefanie, Susan Clampet-Lundquist and Kathryn Edin (2016). Coming of Age in the Other America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. ISBN 0871544652.
• $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015)
• Edin, Kathryn and Timothy J. Nelson. Doing the Best I Can: Fatherhood in the Inner City. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. ISBN 0520274067.
• Edin, Kathryn; England, Paula (2007). Unmarried couples with children. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. ISBN 9780871543172.
• Edin, Kathryn, and Maria Kefalas. Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-520-24819-9 ^[7]
• Edin, Kathryn, and Laura Lein. Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997 ISBN 978-0-87154-229-8^[8][9]
  • Review, by Sally Young Conrad; Journal of Public Health Policy, 1997, vol. 18, no. 4, p. 480-484
  • Review, by Susan Jacoby The New York Times book review. (May 4, 1997): 10
  • Review, by Ruth Sidel; The Women's Review of Books, Sep., 1997, vol. 14, no. 12, p. 27-28
  • Review, by Jane Waldfogel; Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Apr., 1998, vol. 51, no. 3, p. 529-530
  • Review, by Erin L Kelly; Gender and Society, Aug., 1998, vol. 12, no. 4, p. 485-487
  • Review, by Ralph Da Costa Nunez Political Science Quarterly, Summer, 1998, vol. 113, no. 2, p. 350-351
  • Review, by Irma McClaurin: American Anthropologist. 100, no. 1, (1998): 231
  • Review, by Aldon Morris; Contemporary Sociology, Nov., 1998, vol. 27, no. 6, p. 564-566
  • Review, by Frances Fox Piven American Journal of Sociology, Mar., 1998, vol. 103, no. 5, p. 1461-1463
  • Review, by Elizabeth Cooksey Population Studies, Mar., 2000, vol. 54, no. 1, p. 117-118

Peer-reviewed journal articles (selected)

• Edin, Kathryn. 2000. "What Do Low-Income Single Mothers Say About Marriage?" Social Problems. 47, no. 1: 112-133.
• Gibson-Davis, Christina M., Kathryn Edin, and Sara McLanahan. 2005. "High Hopes but Even Higher Expectations: The Retreat From Marriage Among Low-Income Couples". Journal of Marriage and Family. 67, no. 5: 1301-1312.
• Laura Tach; Kathryn Edin "The Relationship Contexts of Young Disadvantaged Men" Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 635, no. 1 (2011): 76-94

Reports

• Edin, Kathryn, Laura Lein, and Timothy Nelson. Low-Income, Non-Residential Fathers Off-Balance in a Competitive Economy, in Initial Analysis. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 1998. OCLC 50199268 ^[10]
• Edin, Kathryn, Kathleen Mullan Harris, and Gary D. Sandefur. Welfare to Work: Opportunities and Pitfalls : Congressional Seminar, March 10, 1997. Washington, DC: Spivack Program in Applied Social Research and Social Policy, American Sociological Association, 1998. ISBN 978-0-912764-33-7