Jennifer Sherman

Jennifer Sherman’s research looks at the interactions of economic conditions, cultural norms, gender, and family outcomes, particularly in rural areas. She focuses on the intersections of poverty and inequality with structural conditions and community contexts, paying particular attention to symbolic boundaries based on moral understandings. Through qualitative methods including in-depth interviews and ethnography, she has investigated issues facing families in a Northern California timber community; rural and urban communities in New England; and agricultural and tourism-dependent communities in the Pacific Northwest. Her current research focuses on rural jails and the growth of incarceration in rural Washington State. She currently serves as President of the Rural Sociological Society.