Michelle Jackson

My main research interests lie in the sociology of education and social inequality, with a focus on understanding the power and persistence of socioeconomic background in shaping life chances.

In my current book, The Division of Rationalized Labor, I examine changes in the division of labor in the United States over the past 150 years. A key prediction of classical theories of the division of labor is that, over time, specialized occupations are responsible for an ever-narrower range of tasks. The Division of Rationalized Labor demonstrates that—although early industrialization may have operated as Smith, Marx, and their colleagues surmised—in late industrialization we are witnessing something quite different: specialization in many occupations has actually led to workers taking on an increasingly wide range of responsibilities.

Marshalling rich historical and statistical data, I show how this paradox of specialization emerges today in education, law enforcement, medicine, and manufacturing. I argue that the development of probabilistic science provided the foundation for growing job complexity. As researchers learned which levers to pull in order to maximize productivity in a given industry, they created new tasks for the workers who specialized in producing industry outputs. As researchers developed the capacity to predict bad outcomes—criminality, low test scores, poor health—they left police, teachers, doctors, and nurses responsible for increasingly complicated preventive work. Analogous situations arise across the labor force, ensuring that workers across the occupational structure are overworked and overwhelmed.

In my previous book, Manifesto for a Dream: Inequality, Constraint, and Radical Reform, I offered both a strong critique of contemporary inequality policy and a constructive proposal for radical social reform. 

I make a scientific case for considering large-scale institutional reform, and draw upon examples from countries across the world to demonstrate that reforms that have been unthinkable in the United States are considered to be quite unproblematic in other contexts. I argue that our well-meaning but half-hearted efforts are doing us in, and that an emboldened social science has an obligation to develop and test the radical policies that would be necessary for equality to be assured to all.

My personal website  offers more information on my research and teaching.