Natalia Sarkisian
Associate Professor of Sociology
Boston College
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Natalia Sarkisian
Associate Professor of Sociology
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I received my Ph.D. (2005) and M.A. (2001) in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Previously, I earned a B.A. in Sociology from the State Academy of Management in Moscow, Russia.
I am an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department of Boston College since 2005. This year, I am a Visiting Scholar at Russell Sage Foundation in New York City. I am also affliated with the Sloan Center on Aging and Work/Workplace Flexibility. My research interests include race, gender, and class, family sociology, aging and the life course, and quantitative methods.
Sarkisian, Natalia, and Naomi Gerstel. 2012 (In Press). Nuclear Family Values, Extended Family Lives: The Importance of Gender, Race, and Class. New York: Routledge.
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When discussing families, politicians and sociologists alike typically focus on parents and their young children. They are especially likely to emphasize issues related to marriage, highlight the role of fathers, and promote the importance of a two-parent nuclear family. This book argues that such rhetoric is a poor reflection of the everyday lives of many Americans for whom family includes aging parents, grown up children, adult siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and grandchildren. This book questions the focus on nuclear family by highlighting the roles that these extended family members play in the lives of Americans. It demonstrates that many Americans spend substantial amounts of time with their relatives, frequently rely on extended family members for help, and provide assistance in return. The book argues that this narrow emphasis on marriage and the nuclear family, with its exclusion of the extended family, is particularly likely to overlook family experiences of women, racial/ethnic minorities, and low-wage workers and the poor for whom extended families are centrally important. This book also addresses another facet of the popular rhetoric on families--that emphasizing the role of marriage as social glue. For many social critics and observers, not only is the nuclear family the basic unit of society, but marriage is the foundation of the community. Marriage, to them, is the endangered basis of a healthy society, whose fragility threatens children and adults as well as the broader community. In contrast, this book demonstrates that in many ways, marriage actually separates men and women from other social connections and therefore detracts from ties to extended families and broader communities. These isolating effects of marriage are felt across race and class, but because those with fewer economic resources are more likely to rely on extended family, these effects of marriage are particularly costly to them. The book concludes with an examination of the impact of nuclear family rhetoric on social policy. In line with this rhetoric, many social policies, including family and medical leave policies, Medicaid, gay and lesbian marriage, welfare reform, and policies on grandparents, are geared towards the nuclear family. We argue that this inattention to the extended family reduces the effectiveness, reach, and potential power of family policy. The book concludes that not only does a focus on marriage and the nuclear family miss a great deal of family life and denigrate poor and minority families, but it also facilitates social policies that discriminate against women, people of color, and the poor and thereby reduces the power of social policy to improve lives of Americans. |
Oh, Seil, and Natalia Sarkisian. 2012. "Spiritual Individualism or Engaged Spirituality? Social Implications of Holistic Spirituality among Mind-Body-Spirit Practitioners." Sociology of Religion. Abstract
Collins, Amy L., Natalia Sarkisian, and Ellen Winner. 2009. "Flow and Happiness in Later Life: An Investigation into the Role of Daily and Weekly Flow Experiences." Journal of Happiness Studies, 10, 6 (December), 703-709. Abstract
Garroutte, Eva, Natalia Sarkisian, Dedra Buchwald, Jack Goldberg, and Jan Beals. 2008. "Perceptions of Medical Interaction between Providers and American Indian Older Adults." Social Science and Medicine, 67, 4 (August), 546-556. Abstract
Shen, Ce, Natalia Sarkisian, and Thanh Tran. 2008. "Child Mortality, Economic Development, and Social Inequality in Less Developed Countries: A Cross-National Analysis." China Journal of Social Work, 1, 2 (July), 172-188. Abstract
Sarkisian, Natalia, and Naomi Gerstel. 2008. "Till Marriage Do Us Part: Adult Children's Relationships with Parents." Journal of Marriage and Family, 70, 2 (May), 360-376. Abstract
Gerstel, Naomi, and Natalia Sarkisian. 2008. "The Color of Family Ties: Race, Class, Gender, and Extended Family Involvement." Pp. 447-453 in Stephanie Coontz, Maya Parson, and Gabrielle Rayley (Eds.), American Families: A Multicultural Reader. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge.
Sarkisian, Natalia. 2008. "Neural Networks as an Emergent Method in Quantitative Research: An Example of Self-Organizing Maps." Pp. 625-654 in Sharlene Hesse-Biber and Patricia Leavy (Eds.), The Handbook of Emergent Methods. New York: Guilford Press.
Sarkisian, Natalia. 2007. "Street Men, Family Men: Race and Men's Extended Family Involvement." Social Forces, 86, 2 (December), 763-794. Abstract
*** Winner of the 2008 Oliver Cromwell Cox Article Award from the Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities of the American Sociological Association ***
Gerstel, Naomi, and Natalia Sarkisian. 2007. "Intergenerational Care and the Greediness of Adult Children's Marriages." Pp. 153-188 in Timothy J. Owens and J. Jill Suitor (Eds.), Interpersonal Relations across the Life Course. Advances in Life Course Research, volume 12. Greenwich, CT: Elsevier/JAI Press.
Sarkisian, Natalia, and Naomi Gerstel. 2007. "Race, Class, and Extended Family Involvement." National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) Report: Family Focus, 52, 1 (March), 14-15. Download
Sarkisian, Natalia, Mariana Gerena, and Naomi Gerstel. 2007. "Extended Family Integration among Euro and Mexican Americans: Ethnicity, Gender, and Class." Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 1 (February), 40-54. Abstract
*** Winner of the 2008 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Award from the Race, Gender, Class Section of the American Sociological Association ***
Sarkisian, Natalia. 2006. "'Doing Family Ambivalence': Nuclear and Extended Families in Single Mothers' Lives." Journal of Marriage and Family, 68, 4 (November), 804-811.
Gerstel, Naomi, and Natalia Sarkisian. 2006. "Marriage: The Good, the Bad, and the Greedy." Contexts, 5, 4 (November), 16-21. Abstract, Download
Sarkisian, Natalia, Mariana Gerena, and Naomi Gerstel. 2006. "Extended Family Ties among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Whites: Superintegration or Disintegration?" Family Relations, 55, 3 (July), 331-344. Abstract
Garroutte, Eva, Natalia Sarkisian, Lester Arguellos, Jack Goldberg, and Dedra Buchwald. 2006. "Cultural Identity and Perceptions of Health Status among American Indian Older Adults and Their Healthcare Providers." Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21, 2 (February), 111-116. Abstract
Gerstel, Naomi, and Natalia Sarkisian. 2006. "A Sociological Perspective on Families and Work: The Import of Gender, Class, and Race." Pp. 237-266 in M. P. Catsouphes, E. Kossek, and S. Sweet (Eds.), The Work and Family Handbook: Multi-disciplinary Perspectives, Methods, and Approaches. New York: Routledge.
Sarkisian, Natalia, and Naomi Gerstel. 2004. "Kin Support Among Blacks and Whites: Race and Family Organization." American Sociological Review, 69, 4 (December), 812-837. Abstract
Sarkisian, Natalia, and Naomi Gerstel. 2004. "Explaining the Gender Gap in Help to Parents: The Importance of Employment." Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 2 (May), 431-451. Abstract, Download
***Winner of the 2005 Rosabeth Moss Kanter International Award for Research Excellence in Families and Work***
SC704: Topics in Multivariate Statistics
The major topics of the course include OLS regression diagnostics, binary, ordered, and multinomial logistic regression, models for the analysis of count data (e.g., Poisson and negative binomial regression), treatment of missing data, and the analysis
of clustered and stratified samples. All analyses in the course are conducted using Stata, but no previous Stata experience is necessary.
SC705: Advanced Statistics
The major topics of the course include hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and structural equation modeling (SEM). The analyses in the course are conducted using HLM 6.04 and LISREL 8.8.
SC706: Longitudinal Data Analysis
The major topics of the course include event history analysis (also known as survival analysis), time series analysis (ARIMA models), and pooled time-series of cross-sections analysis (fixed effects, random effects, and mixed effects models). All analyses in the course are conducted using Stata, but no previous Stata experience is necessary.
SC708: Hierarchical Linear Modeling
The major topics of this applied course will include two-level models for continuous, categorical, and count outcomes, three-level models, growth curve models, models for dyadic data, and cross-nested models. The analysys in this course are conducted using HLM 6.
SC781: Dissertation Seminar
This is a continuing research workshop which covers all stages of the research process, from
conceptualization and theory development through data analysis and writing. The workshop is
intended primarily for sociology graduate students working on dissertation proposals and dissertations. Others will be
welcomed on a case-by-case basis. The group meets bi-weekly, with individual meetings with
the professor as necessary. All students who are writing dissertations are strongly
recommended to enroll in this workshop, at least for one semester.
SC361: Family and Work
This course explores the relationship between family and work from a sociological perspective. The course is designed to provide the information and critical skills necessary to address the modern conundrum of work and family life. We shatter common myths about our past and our present and examine how social forces shape the paid and unpaid work that families do. We focus on contemporary families but also attempt to situate them in a broader historical context. Throughout the course, we stay tuned to the issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality. We also explore the relationship of work and family to social policies and social change, investigating ways in which policies create and address inequities and thinking critically about mechanisms for change.
Mailing Address:
Updated: February 15, 2012