Tracy L. ScottAssociate Teaching Professor

• PhD in Sociology, Princeton University, 1999
• MA in Sociology, Princeton University, 1992
• MA in Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, 1989
• AB in Economics, Stanford University, 1983

Dr. Tracy L. Scott is an Associate Teaching Professor in Sociology.

Dr. Scott received an A.B. in Economics from Stanford University, an MA in Theology from Fuller Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University.

While finishing her dissertation about gender and religious differences in work values, Dr. Scott began a career as a health services researcher. She continued in that field for 11 years, first as a senior researcher at the Prudential Center for Health Care Research and then as a Research Assistant Professor at Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

Although Dr. Scott valued her time in healthcare research, her primary interests are in the sociology of culture and gender, and in teaching. In 2007, she moved into a full time position with the Sociology Department at Emory University. 

From 2014 to 2020, she was Director of Emory’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP): The Nature of Evidence: How Do We Know? For more on the QEP, go here. 

Dr. Scott focuses her teaching on making connections between the evidence produced by social research and everyday life. Her goal is that students use this evidence to understand the world more critically, be more reflective in their actions, and make more informed choices in their own lives.

Dr. Scott’s research focuses on culture, gender, and work. She is particularly interested in how culture (e.g.: religion; gender role norms; local contexts) influences life decisions (e.g., career paths), as well as the practices around work and family. Recently, Dr. Scott worked with 19 undergraduate research assistants, over 4 years, on an ethnography of undergraduate college-to-career culture at a liberal arts university, exploring how student culture creates mechanisms of career funneling specific to the local context, yet also related to broader notions of career prestige and success propagated by elite institutions of higher education in the U.S.

Current Research Project:

Moon Shot Astronauts / Their Families: Exploring Image vs Reality in the Early Space Era. 
My research project uses a sociological lens to explore the Moon Shot era, particularly Astronaut Groups 1-3 during the U.S. Gemini and Apollo Programs (1962-1972). I focus on the emergence of a new occupation (Astronaut) and its integral connection to particular work-family dynamics (the Astronaut Family), both of which were foundational to the new organization of NASA and the success of NASA’s Gemini and Apollo programs. My research will look at images and realities of “the Astronaut” and “the Astronaut Family” during this early era, using primary sources, including Emory collections (Scott Family Papers), other archival collections (LIFE reporter Dora Jane Hamblin’s Papers; LIFE Editorial Records; Tom Wolfe Papers) and oral history interviews. For more, please visit my website: https://tracylscott.org.

• SOC 101: Introduction to General Sociology
• SOC 221: Culture & Society
• SOC 355W: Research Methods in Sociology
• SOC 389: The Meaning of Work: Money, Power, Purpose
• SOC 389: Ethics and Social Context
• SOC 585: Introduction to Qualitative Interviews