Regina Baker

Regina S. Baker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and a Faculty Fellow at the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). Prior to joining UNC-CH in July 2023, she was an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Duke University (2015).

Baker’s research seeks to understand the factors that shape socioeconomic conditions and disparities in well-being across people, places, and time. She is especially interested in the role of institutional mechanisms in shaping individual outcomes and broader patterns of poverty and social inequality. Her recent and ongoing research focuses on child poverty and poverty risks, socioeconomic racial/ethnic disparities, the link between historical racism and contemporary conditions, and the politics of power (e.g., via unions, policies) in the distribution of resources and economic and health outcomes. As a native Southerner, some of Baker’s work focuses attention to the U.S. South and regional disparities.

Baker’s work has appeared in several peer-reviewed outlets, such as the American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Journal of Marriage and Family, Social Forces, and Social Problems, among others. She has presented her work to both national and international audiences, and her research has been funded by the American Sociological Association, Ford Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, National Science Foundation, and National Institute of Health.