About

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Joao M. Souto-Maior
Postdoctoral Scholar in Education
Stanford University
CV

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Welcome to my website!

I am a Postdoctoral Scholar in Education at the Stanford Center on Longevity.

I am a quantitative social scientist and sociologist of education who studies race and class inequalities in educational pathways, i.e., students’ progress through educational institutions and transitions into the labor market. My research concentrates on shedding light into the mechanisms by which these inequalities are formed with the objective of informing equity-driven policies and practices.

Methodologically, I view the growing field of computational social sciences as providing valuable tools to analyze complex social processes that have imposed challenges to traditional techniques. My research focuses on developing and applying computational approaches, such as machine learning and agent-based simulations, to further our understanding of two inequality-producing mechanisms:

  • Group favoritism in student-sorting processes;
  • The role of social networks in generating educational inequalities.

I am originally from São Paulo, Brazil. I hold a Ph.D. in Sociology of Education from the New York University (2023) and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2017).

Please navigate across the pages to learn about my research; teaching; and to access selected resources.

Areas of Research

Sociology of Education
Race and class inequality
Organizations
Social networks
Computational methods

Education

Ph.D. Sociology of Education, New York University. 2023.
B.A. Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2017.

Research

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Areas of research

  • Group favoritism in student-sorting processes
  • The role of social networks in generating educational inequalities.

Peer-reviewed publications

School racial composition and the emergence of Black-White within-school inequalities: network-based foundations
Joao Souto-Maior. Forthcoming. The Journal of Mathematical Sociology.

Differences in academic preparedness do not fully explain Black-White enrollment disparities in advanced high school coursework
Joao Souto-Maior and Ravi Shroff. 2024. Sociological Science.

Papers under review

Hoarding without hoarders: unpacking the emergence of opportunity hoarding within schools
Joao Souto-Maior.

The correlated proxy problem: why control variables can obscure the contribution of selection processes to group-level inequality
Joao Souto-Maior, Kenneth Shores and Rachel Fish.

Critical appraisal of the evidence on racial disproportionality in special education
Rachel Fish, Kenneth Shores and Joao Souto-Maior.

Teaching

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Laboratory instructor

Undergraduate basic statistics
New York University — from Spring 2019 to Spring 2021

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Teaching assistant

Introduction to US education: historical and contemporary perspectives
New York University — Fall 2022

Political economy of education: why does college cost so much?
New York University — Fall 2022

Qualitative methods in international education
New York University — Spring 2022

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Seminar leader

URS seminar: research, creative work and the public good
University of Wisconsin-Madison — 2016-17

URS seminar: research and creative work at the boundaries
University of Wisconsin-Madison — 2015-16

Resources

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PhD study

PhD dissertation
Essays on the dynamics of Black-White advanced course-taking inequalities

PhD coursework
Areas of concentration: school organization; quantitative methods.

Comprehensive oral exam

Independent study: Black-White within-school achievement gaps

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Tools for interactive visualizations

A dashboard of inequality in Sao Paulo high schools

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New books network (NBN) podcast

Host of new books in education

  Website last updated on January 10, 2025