Education & Degrees
Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco
Certificate of Training in Clinical Research
Ph.D., Sociology, University of California, Davis
M.A., Sociology, University of California, Davis
B.A., Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Expertise Areas: Disability, Medicine, Gender, Sexuality, Conflict Theory, Popular Culture, Intersectional Theory, Qualitative Methods, Applied Sociology
Bio
Dr. Jennifer Reich's research examines how individuals and families strategize their interactions with the state and service providers in the context of public policy, particularly as they relate to health and welfare. She is author of two award-winning books, Fixing Families: Parents, Power, and the Child Welfare System (2005) and Calling the Shots: Why Parents Reject Vaccines (2016), co-editor of the book, Reproduction and Society (2014), and has written 45 articles and book chapters that explore gender and inequality in child welfare, childhood vaccinations, reproduction, multiracial families, public assistance, and recovery after disaster. In addition to teaching in Sociology, Dr. Reich serves as Director of CU Denver’s University Honors and Leadership Program.
Courses Taught
SOCY 4110 Sociology of Health Care
SOCY 4270/5270 Social Meanings of Reproduction
SOCY 5193 Qualitative Data Analysis
Selected Works and Publications
Health, Society & Inequalities, editor book series, New York University Press Health, Society & Inequalities, editor book series, New York University Press
The State of Families: Law, Policy, and the Meanings of Relationships, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2021
"Black Mothers and Vaccine Refusal: Gendered Racism, Healthcare, and the State", published in Gender and Society, Volume 36, Issue 4, 8/2022
"Amplifying Appeals to the Common Good in COVID-19 Messaging", published in JAMA Health Forum, Volume 3, Issue 5, 5/2022
"Of natural bodies and antibodies: Parents' vaccine refusal and the dichotomies of natural and artificial", published in Social Science & Medicine, Volume 157, 5/2016
"Neoliberal parenting, future sexual citizens, and vaccines against sexual risk", published in Sexuality Research & Social Policy, Volume 13, Issue 4, 12/2016
"Calling the shots: Why parents reject vaccines", New York University Press, 2016
"Vaccine refusal and pharmaceutical acquiescence: Parental control and ambivalence in managing children's health", published in American Sociological Review, Volume 85, Issue 1, 2/2020
"Teaching women to question and control: Public pedagogies of birth and vaccine refusal", published in BioSocieties, Volume 15, Issue 4, 12/2020