Kathryn J. Edin, is an American sociologist and a professor of sociology and public affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She specializes in the study of people living on welfare. Two of her books are Making ends meet: how single mothers survive welfare and low-wage work, and Promises I can keep: why poor women put motherhood before marriage.
Edin graduated with a B.A. in sociology from North Park University in 1984. She then pursued graduate studies at Northwestern University, where she received a M.A. in sociology in 1988 and a Ph.D. in sociology in 1989 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "There's a lot of month left at the end of the money: how welfare recipients in Chicago make ends meet."
In February 2014, Edin was named a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University for her accomplishments as an interdisciplinary researcher and excellence in teaching the next generation of scholars. In that same year, Edin was elected as a member to both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences.
In 2017, Edin was elected as a member to the National Academy of Social Insurance. Most recently, she was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.
DeLuca, Stefanie, Susan Clampet-Lundquist and Kathryn Edin (2016). Coming of Age in the Other America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. ISBN0871544652.
Edin, Kathryn; England, Paula (2007). Unmarried couples with children. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. ISBN9780871543172.
Edin, Kathryn, and Maria Kefalas. Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. ISBN978-0-520-24819-9
Edin, Kathryn, and Laura Lein. Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997 ISBN978-0-87154-229-8
Review, by Frances Fox Piven American Journal of Sociology, Mar., 1998, vol. 103, no. 5, p.1461-1463
Review, by Elizabeth Cooksey Population Studies, Mar., 2000, vol. 54, no. 1, p.117-118
Peer-reviewed journal articles (selected)
Edin, Kathryn. 2000. "What Do Low-Income Single Mothers Say About Marriage?" Social Problems. 47, no. 1: 112–133.
Gibson-Davis, Christina M., Kathryn Edin, and Sara McLanahan. 2005. "High Hopes but Even Higher Expectations: The Retreat From Marriage Among Low-Income Couples". Journal of Marriage and Family. 67, no. 5: 1301–1312.
Laura Tach; Kathryn Edin "The Relationship Contexts of Young Disadvantaged Men" Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 635, no. 1 (2011): 76–94
Reports
Edin, Kathryn, Laura Lein, and Timothy Nelson. Low-Income, Non-Residential Fathers Off-Balance in a Competitive Economy, in Initial Analysis. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 1998. OCLC 50199268
↑Edin, Kathryn (1993). There's a lot of month left at the end of the money: how welfare recipients make ends meet in Chicago. New York: Garland Pub. ISBN978-0-8153-1115-7. LCCN92044800. OCLC27224025.
What If Everything You Knew About Poverty Was Wrong? Researcher Kathryn Edin left the ivory tower for the streets of Camden—and turned sociology upside down. By Stephanie Mencimer, Mother Jones, March/April 2014. Detailed profile of Edin and her work.