The Struggles of Working-Class American Families Topic of Carleton College Convocation

Lisa Dodson, professor of sociology at Boston College and outspoken advocate for financially downtrodden Americans, will deliver the weekly convocation address at Carleton College at 10:50 a.m. on Friday, February 19 in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. Widely known for her policy research on low-wage families, Dodson has testified in U.S. Congressional hearings and to the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission to argue for improved policy and work opportunities for Americans in need. Following her presentation, Dodson will sign copies of her most recent book, The Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans Subvert an Unfair Economy (The New Press, 2009), which investigates employers who consciously subvert company policies, and break the law, to assist their low-wage employees struggling to support families. Copies will be available for purchase at the event and in advance at the Carleton College Bookstore. Dodson’s appearance is free and open to the public. 

Dodson has dedicated eight years of research to the study of how a deeply stratified economy impacts everyday, working-class American families.  Her work explores the moral disobedience that stems from an unfair economy, and how the income stratification invades and shapes the character of the nation. In The Moral Underground, Dodson asserts that compassionate Americans should not have to face the moral dilemma between following rules and lending a hand to those in need.

Dodson is also the author of normal">Don’t Call Us Out of Name: The Untold Lives of Women and Girls in Poor America (Beacon Press, 1999), written in the aftermath of United States welfare reform to document the voices of women on welfare, and address frequent misconceptions. Dodson confronts the crucial debate surrounding the institution of welfare head-on, goading Americans to view it as a dysfunctional and flawed system that inadequately serves poverty-stricken Americans, rather than attribute the problem to corruption or laziness among the poor. Dodson’s work has been published in numerous academic journals, and she has edited volumes on work and family conflicts, focusing on “care poverty,” or the burden that low-income children consequently bear from unfair wages. She also lectures widely on research ethics and creative practices to incorporate when researching parts of a society in which individuals adopt “habits of hiding” to survive.

Dodson received her Ph.D. from the Heller School of Social Policy at Brandeis University, and taught and conducted policy research at the Radcliffe Public Policy Center at Harvard University from 1996 to 2002. She later began teaching at Boston College in the Department of Sociology, where she continues to research the voices of everyday Americans. 

The Carleton College Bookstore is located in the Sayles-Hill Campus Center, located off College Street on the Carleton campus. For more information, call (507) 222-4153. For more information regarding the convocation, including disability accommodations, please contact the Carleton College Office of College Relations at (507) 222-4309. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First Street between College and Winona Streets in Northfield, on the Carleton College campus. yes">