Sean J. Drake

Assistant Professor, Sociology Department

Senior Research Associate, Center for Policy Research

Courses

2025 Spring
- SOC/WGS 319/317 Qualitative Methods in Sociology
- SOC/WGS 248 Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
2024 Fall
- SOC/WGS 319/317 Qualitative Methods in Sociology
- SOC 300 Selected Topics - Sociology of Education
2024 Summer
- SOC/WGS 319/317 Qualitative Methods in Sociology
2024 Spring
- SOC/WGS 319/317 Qualitative Methods in Sociology
- SOC/WGS 248 Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
- SOC 800 Selected Topics - Race & Ethnicity
- SOC 495 Senior Thesis
2023 Summer
- SOC 319 Qualitative Methods in Sociology
2023 Spring
- SOC/WGS 319/317 Qualitative Methods in Sociology
- SOC/WGS 248 Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
- SOC 300 Selected Topics - Sociology of Education

Highest degree earned

Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 2017

Bio

Sean J. Drake is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and a senior research associate in the Center for Policy Research. He is also a faculty affiliate in the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Professor Drake’s research focuses on institutional mechanisms of segregation and inequality that disproportionately affect students and families of color. His first book, "Academic Apartheid: Race and the Criminalization of Failure in an American Suburb" (University of California Press, 2022), is a study of school segregation based on over two years of observation and dozens of interviews in an affluent, suburban district. Professor Drake’s work has been published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Urban Education, the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, and several edited volumes. His research has been funded by the Ford Foundation, and he is a fellow of the Yale Urban Ethnography Project and the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Professor Drake teaches courses on race and ethnicity, educational inequality, and ethnographic research methods. He is currently working on an ethnographic study of students and families experiencing homelessness in Central New York and New York City. Prior to joining the Maxwell School, Professor Drake was a member of the faculty at NYU Steinhardt, where he held successive appointments as a Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2019) and a visiting assistant professor (2019-2021). Professor Drake earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Irvine, and a B.A. (with honors) in psychology from Stanford University.

Areas of Expertise

Race and ethnicity, schools and education, neighborhood organization and inequality, refugee youth, immigrant incorporation, poverty and homelessness, ethnographic methods

Research Interests

Race and ethnicity, schools and education, neighborhood organization and inequality, refugee youth, immigrant incorporation, poverty and homelessness, ethnographic methods

Research Grant Awards and Projects

"Onward and Upward: Race and Refugee Youth in a Rustbelt City",

"Out of Sight: An Ethnographic Study of Student Poverty and Homelessness in New York State", Sponsored by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

"Precarious Hope: Race and Refugee Youth in a Rust Belt City", Sponsored by Russell Sage Foundation.

Selected Publications

Books
- Drake, S. J., Academic Apartheid: Race and the Criminalization of Failure in an American Suburb. University of California Press, 2022.
- Drake, S. J., Academic Apartheid: Race and the Criminalization of Failure in an American Suburb. University of California Press, 2022.
Journal Articles
- Drake, S. J., "The Segregation of ‘Failures’: Unequal Schools and Disadvantaged Students in an Affluent Neighborhood." Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 2020.
- Drake, S. J., "The Segregation of “Failures”: Unequal Schools and Disadvantaged Students in an Affluent Suburb." Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 2020.
- Drake, S. J., "The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive Economy." Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2019.
- Drake, S. J., "Academic Segregation and the Institutional Success Frame: Unequal Schooling and Racial Disparity in an Integrated, Affluent Community." Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2017.
- Conchas, G. Q., Lin, A. R., Oseguera, L. and Drake, S. J., "Superstar or Scholar? African American Youth’s Perceptions of Opportunity in a Time of Change." Urban Education, 2015.
- Conchas, G. Q., Lin, A. R., Oseguera, L. and Drake, S. J., "Superstar or Scholar? African American Male Youths’ Perceptions of Opportunity in a Time of Change." Urban Education, 2015.
Book Chapters
- Drake, S. J., "Academic Segregation and the Institutional Success Frame: Unequal Schooling and Racial Disparity in an Integrated, Affluent Community." In Asian Migration and Education Cultures in the Anglosphere. Watkins, M., Ho, C. and Butler, R. (eds.) Routledge, 2019.
- Lee, J., Drake, S. J. and Zhou, M., "The ‘Asian F’ and the Racialization of Achievement." In Education & Society. Domina, T., Gibbs, B., Nunn, L. and Penner, A. (eds.) University of California Press, 2019.
- Lin, A. R., Drake, S. J. and Conchas, G. Q., "Conceptualizing Disparity and Opportunity in Education as a Racial Project: A Comparative Perspective." In Inequality, Power, and School Success: Case Studies on Racial Disparity and Opportunity in Education. Conchas, G. Q., Gottfried, M. A. (eds.) Routledge, 2015.
- Drake, S. J., Conchas, G. Q., Hinga, B. M. and Gottfried, M. A., "Inequality, Power, and School Success." In Inequality, Power, and School Success: Case Studies on Racial Disparity and Opportunity in Education. Conchas, G. Q., Gottfired, M. A. (eds.) Routledge, 2015.
- Drake, S. J., Conchas, G. Q. and Oseguera, L., "‘I Am Not the Stereotype’: How an Academic Club in an Urban School Empowered Black Male Youth to Succeed." In Inequality, Power, and School Success: Case Studies on Racial Disparity and Opportunity in Education. Conchas, G. Q., Gottfried, M. A. (eds.) Routledge, 2015.
Book Reviews
- Drake, S. J., Contemporary Sociology, 2024.
- Drake, S. J., "Exposing the Rules of Racial Inequality." In Contemporary Sociology. , 2019.
Policy Brief
- Conchas, G. Q., Drake, S. J., "From Truancy and Alienation to School Fluency and Graduation: Increasing Student Engagement by Bridging Institutions." In University of California Center for Latino Policy Research (eScholarship). , 2011.

Presentations and Events

Association for Humanist Sociology 2024 Annual Meeting, Association for Humanist Sociology , "Academic Apartheid: Race and the Criminalization of Failure in an American Suburb" (October 26, 2024)

Syracuse University, "Precarious Hope: Race and Refugee Youth in a Rust Belt City" (December, 2023 - December, 2023)

Syracuse University, "What's at Stake for Colleges and Students in the Wake of the Supreme Court's Affirmative Action Decision?" (August, 2023 - August, 2023)

Univeristy of Michigan, "Academic Apartheid: Race and the Criminalization of Failure in an American Suburb" (March, 2023 - March, 2023)

University of New Mexico Highlands, "Academic Apartheid: Race and the Criminalization of Failure in an American Suburb" (February, 2023 - February, 2023)

Center for Research on Educational Opportunity (CREO), University of Notre Dame, "Academic Apartheid: Race and the Criminalization of Failure in an American Suburb" (2022)

Co-Creating Knowledge for Social Justice Conference, UC Santa Cruz, "The Northside: Race and Refugee Youth in an American City" (2022)

Le Moyne College Department of Anthropology, Criminology, and Sociology Social Seminary Series, "Academic Apartheid: Race, School Culture, and the Symbolic Criminalization of Failure" (2021)

University of California, Berkeley Sociology Department Colloquium Series, "Academic Apartheid: Race, School Culture, and the Symbolic Criminalization of Failure" (2021)

Syracuse Maxwell Center for Policy Research Education and Social Policy Working Group, "Empty Achievement: How Achievement Ideology Alienates Successful Students" (2021)

Syracuse University Sociology Department Ethnography Workshop, "Empty Achievement: How Achievement Ideology Alienates Successful Students" (2021)

2020 Beyond Housing Conference: A National Conversation on Child Homelessness and Poverty, "Understanding Student Homelessness in New York City" (2020)