Higher education; inequality and mobility; culture; race, class, and gender; parent and family involvement in education; transition to adulthood; research methods; second-generation immigrant students
Blake R. Silver is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Director of Data Analytics & Assessment in the Honors College. He also serves as the Director of the Education & Health Research Hub in the Center for Social Science Research.
Dr. Silver received a PhD in sociology from the University of Virginia, where he was a Jefferson Fellow. His research focuses on culture, social stratification, and higher education, addressing questions about the role of colleges and universities in contesting and reproducing inequality.
Some of his recent projects examine the capacity of higher education to produce cultural change, the experiences of second-generation immigrant students, the impact of physical campus environments on racial disparities in student experiences, and the role of parents and siblings in helping students navigate educational transitions. His research has been supported by the American Sociological Association, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, ACPA-College Student Educators International, the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, and the NASPA Foundation.
Dr. Silver's book, The Cost of Inclusion: How Student Conformity Leads to Inequality on College Campuses (University of Chicago Press) uses a micro-sociological lens to explore the ways racial and gender inequality are reproduced as students pursue social inclusion in the college setting.
Recent Articles and Book Chapters:
Silver, Blake R., Freddy Lopez, Fanni Farago, and Tharuna Kalaivanan. 2022. “Focused, Exploratory, or Vigilant: Reproduction, Mobility, and the Self-Narratives of Second-Generation Immigrant Youth.” Qualitative Sociology, 45(1), 123-147.
Roksa, Josipa, Blake R. Silver, and Yapeng Wang. 2022. “Inequality in Higher Education: Sociological Understandings of Student Success.” In Nicholas Bowman, Ed. How College Students Succeed: Making Meaning Across Disciplinary Perspectives, p. 179-207. Stylus.
Kalaivanan, Tharuna, Lily Krietzberg, Blake R. Silver, and Bianca Kwan. 2022. “The Senior-Year Transition: Gendered Experiences of Second-Generation Immigrant College Students.” Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education, 15(1), 21-40.
Roksa, Josipa, and Blake R. Silver. 2021. “Higher Education.” In Kimberley Kinsley and Robert Rycroft, Eds. Inequality in America: Causes and Consequences, p. 95-106. Greenwood, ABC-CLIO.
Silver, Blake R., Lily Krietzberg, and Tharuna Kalaivanan. 2021. “Transitioning OUT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Students’ Concerns in the Senior Year.” Journal of the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, 33(2), 9-27.
Silver, Blake R., Freddy Lopez, Tharuna Kalaivanan, and Lily Krietzberg. 2021. “Second-Generation Immigrant Students and the Senior-Year Transition.” Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 58(4), 388-400.
Silver, Blake R. 2020. “Inequality in the Extracurriculum: How Class, Race, and Gender Shape College Involvement.” Sociological Forum, 35(4), 1290-1314.
Silver, Blake R. 2020. “How First-Year College Women Construct Identity through Co-Curricular Involvement.” Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education, 13(3), 233-250.
Henderson, Lora, Blake R. Silver, Leslie Booren, Sara Rimm-Kaufman, and James Wyckoff. 2020. “Fostering Faculty Diversity by Supporting Access to Graduate Study in Education.” Journal of College Student Development, 61(5) 663-666.
Silver, Blake R., Tharuna Kalaivanan, Lily Krietzberg, and Jordan Hawkins. 2020. “Distance, Alignment, and Boundaries: How Second-Generation Immigrant Seniors Negotiate Parental Involvement.” Journal of College Student Development, 61(5) 558-573.
Roksa, Josipa, Blake R. Silver, Denise Deutschlander, and Sarah Whitley. 2020. “Navigating the First Year of College: Siblings, Parents, and First-Generation Students’ Experiences.” Sociological Forum, 35(3) 565-586.
Silver, Blake R. 2020. “On the Margins of College Life: The Experiences of Racial and Ethnic Minority Men in the Extracurriculum.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 49(2): 147-175.
Silver, Blake R. 2020. “Social Class and Habitus at the End of College: Cultural Similarity and Difference among Graduating Seniors.” Sociological Focus, 53(2): 190-206.
Roksa, Josipa, and Blake R. Silver. 2019. “‘Do-It-Yourself’ University: Institutional and Family Support in the Transition Out of College.” Review of Higher Education, 42(3): 1051-1071.
Arum, Richard, Josipa Roksa, Jacqueline Cruz, and Blake R. Silver. 2018. "Student Experiences in College." In Barbara Schneider (Ed.), Handbook of the Sociology of Education in the 21st Century, pp. 385-403. Springer.
Silver, Blake R. and Josipa Roksa. 2017. "Navigating Uncertainty and Responsibility: Understanding Inequality in the Senior-Year Transition." Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 54(3): 248-260.
Silver, Blake R. and Rick C. Jakeman. 2016. "College Students’ Willingness to Engage in Bystander Intervention at Off-Campus Parties." Journal of College Student Development, 57(4): 472-476.
Silver, Blake R. and Rick C. Jakeman. 2014. "Understanding Intent to Leave the Field: A Study of Student Affairs Master’s Students’ Career Plans." Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 51(2): 170-182.
American Sociological Association. Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline Grant. “Labor Market Precarity and Higher Education.” PI: Blake Silver (11/2020-03/2022).
National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, Paul P. Fidler Research Grant. "Transitioning OUT: Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Students’ Experiences in the Senior Year." PI: Blake Silver (10/2019-10/2021).
NASPA Region III, Research Grant. "Gender, First-Generation American Students, and the Senior-Year Transition." PI: Blake Silver (08/2018-12/2019).
The NASPA Foundation, Channing Briggs Small Research Grant. “Navigating the Senior Year Transition: A Qualitative Study of the Experiences of First-Generation American Students.” PI: Blake Silver (10/2015-10/2016).
The Individual and Society
Culture and Social Inequality
Higher Education and Society
Research Methods
Social Inequality and the Self
The Transition to Adulthood
PhD, Sociology, University of Virginia (2017)
MA, Sociology, University of Virginia (2016)
MA, Higher Education, George Washington University (2013)
BA, English, George Mason University (2011)