Biography

Misun Lim is a sociologist interested in family, gender inequality in labor markets, and work-family policies. Her current research focuses on the connection between changing family structures and economic inequalities in the United States. Her dissertation asks whether and how the wage penalty for motherhood changes over time in the United States. Her earlier research studied the effect of marriage and the degrees of household specialization on wages. In addition, she investigated cross-national differences in the effect of relationship status on earnings and examined the role of cultural contexts across multiple European countries. She received a PhD in sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and previously received a master's degree in sociology from Columbia University.

During her Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellowship, Misun plans to expand the scope of her dissertation research and, using cross-national comparisons, examine how family policies and cultural contexts influence the effect of motherhood on workers’ wages. This work will draw on Misun’s training in quantitative methods, is expected to culminate in the publication of journal articles, and should involve new collaborative research projects.

In part drawing on her active research agenda, Misun has developed and taught courses on the sociology of education, statistics, and an introductory sociology seminar. She is particularly excited about teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in the areas of family, gender, stratification and inequality, and quantitative research methods.