Dr. Alexes Harris

Biography

Alexes Harris is a Presidential Term Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Washington. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2002. Her academic work employs a mixed-methods approach to study institutional decision-making, with a significant focus on social stratification processes and racial and ethnic disparities. Dr. Harris investigates how contact with various institutions—including educational systems, juvenile justice, and economic frameworks—shapes individuals' life chances. She combines different data types to illustrate macro-level contexts while also examining micro-level processes that lead to specific outcomes. Her research emphasizes the impact of institutional actors on how individuals are assessed, labeled, and processed, aiming to produce theoretically informed, empirically rich research that influences policy across local, state, and national levels. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on topics including race, ethnicity, social problems, juvenile justice, and qualitative research methods. Her current research project, "Pound Flesh," documents the relationship between the United States' systems of social control and inequality, focusing on the monetary sanctions used within the criminal justice system.

Research Interests

Courses