Selected Publications

 Newly Released

Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance (with Kevin Welner, New York: Oxford University Press, 2013)

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Stubborn Roots: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. & South African Schools (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012)

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Advance Praise:

  “There are simply not enough texts that look comparatively at the two foremost experiments with questions of race, culture, and class in the English-speaking world, the United States and South Africa. Prudence Carter’s work is simultaneously scholarly and compassionate. It helps us see, in these two benighted but globally important societies, how easily things break, but also how well, when structures are in place and when human agency takes flight, individuals and the groups to which they belong flourish and grow.” Crain Soudien, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Town

“Prudence Carter’s remarkable book shines a light on the often invisible patterns that perpetuate educational disparity in both the United States and South Africa.”  Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University

“In this ambitious mixed-method study, Carter analyzes the social and symbolic boundaries that account for disparate educational experiences by race in the United States and South Africa. Resources are only part of the answer; equally important, she argues, are the cultural and institutional conditions that make students feel they are valued contributors of the community.  Educators, policymakers, and scholars alike have much to learn from this agenda-setting work.”  Michèle Lamont, Harvard University, Author of The Dignity of Working Men: Morality and the Boundaries of Race, Class and Immigration

 Identity, Youth & Schooling

Keepin’ It Real: School Success beyond Black and White. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

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2007 Distinguished Book Award
Honorable Mention
Race, Class, and Gender Section
American Sociological Association
2006 Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award
American Sociological Association
2005 C. Wright Mills Best Book Award Finalist
Society for the Study of Social Problems

“Straddling Boundaries: Identity, Culture, and School.” The Sociology of Education, vol. 79(3): 304-328. (2006).
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“Intersectional Identities: ‘Acting White,’ Gender and Achievement.” Beyond Acting White: Reframing the Debate on Black Student Achievement, edited by Erin Horvat and Carla O’Connor, New York: Rowan and Littlefield, pp. 111-132 (2006).

“Black Cultural Capital, Status Positioning, and the Conflict of Schooling for Low‐Income African American Youth.” Social Problems, vol. 50, no. 1: 136‐155 (2003). Download

“Between a ‘Soft’ and a ‘Hard’ Place: Issues of Gender Identity in the Schooling and Job Behaviors of Low-Income Minority Youth.” Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, vol. 8. Edited by David Kinney, London: JAI Press (2001).

Educational Equity & Policy

“At‐Risk Students.” 21st Century Education: A Reference Handbook, edited by Thomas L. Good, Belmont: CA, Sage Publications, Inc. (2008)

“Equity and Empathy: Toward Racial Achievement and Equality in U.S. Schools in the Obama Era.” Harvard Educational Review, vol. 79(2): 287-297 (2009). Download

“Longing to Lose the Skepticism: Race Relations and Educational Equity in the Obama Era.” Michigan Quarterly Review, vol. 48 (3): 331-340 (2009).

Race, Class, Culture & Society

“Cultural Flexibility among Students in Different Racial and Ethnic School Contexts.” Teachers College Record, vol. 112 (6): 1529-1574 (2010). Download

“Knowing Their Lines: How Social Boundaries Undermine Equity-based Integration Policies in U.S. and South African Schools.” Along with Jakeya Caruthers and Jesse Foster. Perspectives in Education, vol. 27(4): 351-364 (2010). Download

“Opportunities & Paradoxes: An Examination of Culture, Race & Group Incorporation in Post‐Apartheid South African Schools.” Thinking Diversity, Building Cohesion: A Transnational Dialogue on Education, edited by Mokubung Nkomo and Saloshna Vandeyar, Amsterdam: Rozenberg Publishers, pp. 109-132. (2009)

“Cultural Explanations for Racial and Ethnic Stratification in Academic Achievement: A Call for a New and Improved Theory.” Along with Natasha Warikoo. Review of Educational Research, vol. 79(1): 366-394. (2009). Download

“Race‐bridging for Christ? Conservative Christians and Black‐White Relations in Community Life.” Along with Paul Lichterman and Michèle Lamont. Evangelicals and Democracy in America, Volume 1: Religion and Society, edited by Steven Brint and Jean Schroedel, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp: 187-220 (2009).

“Don’t Disparage Students’ Own Cultural Codes: Rather, Help Them Become Fluent in Multiple Cultural Codes.” Everyday Antiracism, edited by Mica Pollock, New York: The New Press. (2008)

“Segmented Assimilation and Minority Cultures of Mobility.” Along with Kathryn Neckerman and Jennifer Lee. Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 22 (6): 945‐965 (1999).