Erinn Brooks

Associate Professor of Sociology

B.A., Beloit College
M.A., North Carolina State University
Ph.D., North Carolina State University

Programs: Sociology

Erinn Brooks is an associate professor of sociology. She teaches introductory sociology and research methods, as well as substantive courses on education and mass incarceration. She regularly offers community-engaged courses, for example a Spring 2022 Sociology of Education course that connected SNC students with teachers and students at Green Bay’s Tank Elementary School.

Brooks’ research examines the intersections of race, class, and gender inequality, emphasizing social justice in schools, workplaces, and nonprofit organizations. Her recent book, Education Reform in the Twenty-First Century, is an ethnographic account of teaching and learning at a “no-excuses” charter school. Her current research explores the so-called “white savior complex,” or cultural narratives and structural arrangements that position white bodies as uniquely equipped to solve social problems among racialized others.

Courses
SOCI 100 Introduction to Sociology
SOCI 233 Sociology of Education
SOCI 300 Social Research Methods
SOCI 403 Mass Incarceration in the United States

Recent Publications
Brooks, Erinn. 2022. Review of Scripting the Moves: Culture and Control at a No-Excuses Charter School by Joanne W. Golann. British Journal of Educational Studies 70(forthcoming issue).

Brooks, Erinn. 2021. “Pursuing Equity in Education.” Chapter 13 in Social Problems: Sociology in Action, edited by M. P. Atkinson, K. O. Korgen, and M.N. Trautner. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Brooks, Erinn. 2020. Education Reform in the Twenty-First Century: The Marketization of Teaching and Learning at a No-Excuses Charter School. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Brooks, Erinn, Kim Ebert, and Tyler Flockhart. 2017. “Examining the Reach of Color Blindness: Ideological Flexibility, Frame Alignment, and Legitimacy among Racially Conservative and Extremist Organizations.” Sociological Quarterly 58(2):254-276.