Specialization:
Medical Sociology, Economic Sociology, Culture, Gender, Qualitative Methods, Wealth & Inequality.
Education:
B.A., Boston University, Philosophy
M.A., University of Houston, Sociology
Bio:
Laura Halcomb is a doctoral candidate in sociology. Her research and teaching interests fall broadly into the areas of medicine, markets, culture, gender, and inequalities. Laura's research examines how cultural beliefs shape markets for socially important goods, like medicine and medical technologies. She primarily uses qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews and content analysis, and deploys a feminist analytic perspective, focused on status inequalities and outcomes. Her main line of research employs a multilevel analytic approach to understand how cultural beliefs about the value of treatment and the deservingness of patients shape access to essential medical care (e.g. Socio-Economic Review, 2023). In other lines of ongoing work, She examine how gender shapes opportunities in reproductive markets (e.g. Journal of Family Issues, 2020) and structural and cultural factors that produce gender inequalities within labor markets (e.g. Sociology Compass, 2019). Her work has been funded by a National Science Foundation/American Sociological Association Dissertation Improvement Grant and a $30,000 Charlotte W. Newcombe Fellowship from the Institute for Citizens and Scholars (formerly the Woodrow Wilson Foundation).
Courses:
As Instructor of Record:
Methods of Cultural Analysis (SOC 108c),
As Teaching Assistant, University of California at Santa Barbara:
Introduction to Sociology (SOC 101)
Special Topics in Research Methods:Ethnography (SOC 208st), Research Traditions (SOC 108b)
As Teaching Assistant, University of Houston
Introduction to Demography,
Racial and Ethnic Relations in the U.S.
Cinema, Sex, and Sanctimony
Introduction to Social Statistics
Introduction to Sociological Theory
Introduction to Sociology
Sociology of Marriage and Family
Mexican American Family