Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Notre Dame
Email:
aocobock@nd.edu
Topics of Expertise:
Cohabitation, Committed Relationships & Marriage / Division of Labor in Families / Gender & Sexuality / LGBTQ Partnering & Families / Marriage & Divorce / Work & Family
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/abigailocobock/
Dr. Abigail Ocobock is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. She obtained her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago.
Her research combines family sociology and gender and sexualities studies with institutional sociology. She is particularly interested in studying how the institution of marriage shapes and constrains relationship aspirations, choices and experiences.
Her current book project focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) individuals who gained access to legal marriage. Drawing on mixed methods research with 116 participants, it examines the institutional mechanisms through which marriage impacts their couple, family, and social relationships. Her next project focuses on second and third generation South Asian Muslims experiencing arranged marriages in the United States. It investigates how they navigate their relationships in the context of two competing institutional marriage models.
Dr. Ocobock is also interested in how families shape, and are shaped by, gender inequality. She is currently investigating how couples navigate the competing demands of work and parenting during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is particularly interested in how the crisis contributes to and/or alleviates gender inequalities in work-life balance.
Her work has been published in The Journal of Marriage and Family, the American Journal of Sociology, and Current Sociology. It has won American Sociological Association awards from both the Family and Sexualities sections.
