Get to know new LSA Secretary Ellen Berrey!

Institution: 

University of Toronto

American Bar Foundation (affiliated)

Distributed AI Research Institute (affiliated)

Number of years as LSA member: 

21

Number of LSA Meetings Attended: 

15

LSA Governance Position(s) and Committees:

Secretary | 2025 – 2027

Board of Trustees | 2022 – 2025

Co-Chair, Graduate Student/Early Career Workshop | 2022

Other Association Affiliations:

American Sociological Association

Areas of Research:

Institutional Responses to Social Movements

Law, Race, Racism

Employment Discrimination

Cultural Meanings of Law

Favorite Topics to Teach or Research:

Law, Race, & Racism

Campus Protest & University Responses

Qualitative & Mixed Methods

Unique Skill or Fact:

I love roller-skating in skate parks. I’m not very good. I’m there for the fun, movement, community, and humility. My favorite move is riding the walls of a big bowl.

Additional Hobbies:

Political activism, camping, riding my bike, going on adventures

Notable Awards:

Distinguished Book Prize Honorable Mention, Sociology of Law section, American Sociological Association | 2018

Herbert Jacob Book Prize, Law & Society Association | 2016

Distinguished Book Prize, Sociology of Law section, American Sociological Association | 2016

Mary Douglas Book Prize Honorable Mention, Sociology of Culture section, American Sociological Association | 2016

Top Three Books and/or Publications:

Berrey, Ellen. 2015. The Enigma of Diversity: The Language of Race and the Limits of Racial Justice. University of Chicago Press.

Berrey, Ellen; Robert L. Nelson, and Laura Beth Nielsen. 2017. Rights on Trial: How Workplace Discrimination Law Perpetuates Inequality. University of Chicago Press.

Berrey, Ellen; Alex Hanna, Nathan Kim, and Kristen Bass. 2024. “Higher Education Protests and University and Police Responses in the United States and Canada, 2012-2018.” Socius 10. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231241297447

Education:

PhD, Northwestern University | Sociology

BA, Brown University

Antioch College

Major Appearances:

“The Limits of ‘Diversity.’” The New Yorker, October 2, 2017. (Book Review of The Enigma of Diversity)

“Banned from Her Convocation.” CBC News, Radio Active, July 8, 2025.

“Racist dog whistle: the right wing has weaponized ‘DEI’” The Guardian, April 21, 2024.

What do you find the most beneficial about being an LSA member?

The cross-disciplinary intellectual community of LSA keeps me coming back every year. The scholars I have met through LSA are among the smartest, most generous people I know. Being part of the LSA community sharpens my research on law, making it more precise, insightful, and impactful.

Why should professionals or students join LSA?

LSA is a terrific intellectual and professional home for scholars who study the roles of law in society. For students, its annual meetings and Collaborative Research Networks (CRNs) provide forums to deepen their understanding of sociolegal research and connect with both peers and established professors. I highly recommend applying for the Early Career/Graduate Student Workshop – an invaluable setting for focused feedback and building networks. For professionals, the association offers ongoing opportunities to sustain, deepen, and reinvigorate our scholarship and our connections to each other.

What sets LSA apart is its interdisciplinary core. LSA uniquely brings together scholars from various fields and areas of expertise, with a shared curiosity about the social life of law. What happens when a law scholar, a sociologist, an English professor, and a psychologist gather in the same room to discuss campus protest, racism, or corporate organization? Join LSA and find out!

Learn more about Ellen Berrey, her many publications, media appearances, awards, and involvement with academic organizations here.

Author Crissonna Tennison

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