Florencia Torche is a renowned scholar of Latin American social inequality and intergenerational mobility and a leading voice in the debate over the changing role of education in the intergenerational transmission of social advantage in the U.S. Her methodologically rigorous analyses intersect sociology with biology to examine the effects of factors both large and small—natural disasters, economic crises, educational expansions, pregnancy stress, and parental wealth—on both physical health outcomes (birth weight, cognitive development) and social outcomes (educational attainment, financial holdings) in subsequent generations.
Professional positions
- 2024–present: Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Sociology and International Affairs, Princeton University
- 2016–2024: Professor (2016–2022) and Dunlevie Family Professor (2022–2024) of Sociology, Stanford University
- 2006–2016: Assistant to full professor of sociology, New York University
- 2004–2006: Assistant professor of sociology, Queens College CUNY
Notable publications
- Torche, Florencia, and Alejandra Abufhele. 2021. “The Normativity of Marriage and the Marriage Premium for Children’s Outcomes.” American Journal of Sociology 126(4): 931–968.
- Torche, Florencia. 2011. “Is a College Degree Still the Great Equalizer? Intergenerational Mobility Across Levels of Schooling in the United States.” American Journal of Sociology 117(3): 763–807.
- Torche, Florencia. 2010. “Educational Assortative Mating and Economic Inequality: A Comparative Analysis of Three Latin American Countries.” Demography 47(2): 481–502.
- Torche, Florencia. 2005. “Unequal but Fluid: Social Mobility in Chile in Comparative Perspective.” American Sociological Review 70(3): 422–50.
Degrees
- PhD, sociology, Columbia University
- MA, sociology, Columbia University
- BA, sociology, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
