Jerry A. Jacobs Is Appointed Incoming American Sociological Review Editor

by Kathleen Gerson, New York University

It is an honor to introduce Jerry Jacobs as the incoming editor of the American Sociological Review (ASR). Anyone familiar with Jerry’s contributions to the discipline will understand why several brief paragraphs cannot begin to do justice to the wisdom of this choice.

Since earning his PhD from Harvard in 1983, Jerry has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, where he chaired the graduate program in sociology for much of the 1990s and currently holds the title of Merriam Term Professor of Sociology. Over the last two decades, Jerry has published more than 60 articles and two important books, Revolving Doors: Sex Segregation and Women’s Careers and Gender Inequality at Work. Harvard University Press will soon publish a third book, which we have co-authored, titled The Time Divide: Work, Family and Policy in the 21st Century. Remarkably influential as well as prolific, Jerry has made path-breaking contributions to scientific understanding of gender inequality and its links to economic and social life. His research has addressed central aspects of women’s employment, such as authority, earnings, working conditions, part-time work, and entry into male-dominated occupations. By revealing how social and economic forces shape the options and constraints of women and men, this work has changed the way we understand the social structuring of gender.

Among Jerry’s many honors are grants from a dizzying array of sources, including the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Macy Foundation. He received the Max Weber Award for Best Paper from the ASA Section on Organizations and Occupations in 1993 for an article with Ronnie Steinberg that convincingly and elegantly refuted economic explanations for the persisting wage gap between women and men. More recently, he received the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research for an article we wrote on the link between family transformation and the rise of time squeezes.

Anyone who has worked with Jerry knows that he is a masterful organizer as well as a gifted sociologist, with uncanny administrative vision and energy. Jerry is always working on several ambitious research projects, but he still finds time to nurture others through exciting conferences, programs, editorial stints, collaboration, and mentoring. He has served on the editorial board of some of our discipline’s most important journals, including Sociology of Education, Work and Occupations, Social Forces, and the ASR. He is the Chair of the Organizations, Occupations and Work Section of the ASA and just completed a stint as President of the Eastern Sociological Society (ESS), where he oversaw an exceptionally invigorating meeting and introduced innovations, such as viewing ESS as the hub for a series of smaller meetings, that will likely revitalize ESS and potentially other regionals as well.

These are just a sampling of the “facts” that make Jerry’s career so impressive, but they cannot do justice to the personal qualities that also make him a treasured colleague, mentor, and friend. Since sociologists are made, and not born, a few snippets from Jerry’s personal biography may be illuminating. For example, Jerry grew up in the Catskills (not far from Grossinger’s and just 15 miles from Woodstock), where his parents and grandparents ran a small hotel that catered to summer tourists in the heyday of “Catskills culture.” Here, Jerry learned many useful skills, such as hanging wallpaper, waiting on tables, and running a candy store. He also learned how to be the perfect host and how to laugh at—and tell—more than a few good jokes. Jerry’s warmth, generosity, and wonderful sense of humor are probably a legacy of these Catskills days.

Jerry was also a nationally prominent debater throughout his student years, becoming president of the Harvard Debate Council in college. Debating undoubtedly helped Jerry hone his intellectual skills, sharpen his ability to think clearly and logically, and deepen his gift for speaking persuasively about important issues. This may also be where he learned to collaborate so effectively with others, which can be seen in his work on so many successful, co-authored projects and his careful mentoring of countless graduate students.

While Jerry’s forbears were Jewish immigrants, his family’s religious convictions could be best described as “Democratic.” From these roots, Jerry acquired his passion for politics, justice, and social equality. Indeed, Jerry’s work and his life show an abiding concern for these principles. His commitment to women’s equality is legendary. It can be found in his academic work, where he has helped us understand the roots of gender inequality and the policies that might overcome it, and in his relationships with colleagues, students, and friends. Jerry works not just for women but with women, actively contributing to organizations such as Sociologists for Women in Society and steadfastly promoting the careers of women scholars.

Jerry is also the proud father of two daughters, Elizabeth and Madeleine, and his wife, Sharon, can attest that he is an involved and egalitarian partner. Once, while participating in one of the many “feminist oriented” conferences at which Jerry often finds himself, he watched Elizabeth and Madeleine play beneath a glass coffee table in the hotel lobby. He joked that he did not want them hitting any “glass ceilings.” There’s that Catskills view of life again! Yet the joke also conveys Jerry’s seriousness of purpose. If Jerry has his way, Elizabeth, Madeleine, and their peers will inherit a world of opportunity for all.

It is thus no mystery why Jerry is the right choice to assume the stewardship of the ASR. For Jerry, our flagship journal should be the place where new ideas are presented and developed in addition to being tested. He is committed to publishing the highest quality work, while embracing the diverse range of methodological and theoretical styles that make our discipline so exciting and, arguably, unique among the social sciences. To this task, Jerry brings an inspiring sociological imagination, a keen sense for recognizing important ideas, and a feel for offering incisive yet constructive critique.

Perhaps the best way to convey Jerry’s outlook on the sociological enterprise is to share a quote he once sent me from a book review on the memoirs of a not-quite-famous 20th century biologist, John Bonner. The reviewer, John Turner, implores scientists to “love your subject more than your career, and your fellow humans more than either.” This is sage advice for all of us, and it describes the path that Jerry has followed. Let us, then, welcome Jerry and thank him for taking on this demanding and important job. We can be confident that the ASR will flourish under his leadership. As several people have remarked upon hearing the news of Jerry’s appointment, “Congratulations to all of us!”