Country of residence

Poland

Brief introduction

Associate Professor, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences (IFiS PAN) / Program Coordinator, Cross-National Studies: Interdisciplinary Research and Training Program (CONSIRT), The Ohio State University, Department of Sociology and IFiS-PAN

Education

PhD in Sociology, 2006, The Ohio State University

Academic profile

My research agenda centers on the issues of structural change and social stratification in cross-national perspective. It embraces both substantive and methodological lines of inquiry. Substantively, in social stratification per se, I am interested in patterns of inter-generational and intra-generational mobility, the impact of social capital, of temporary migration, and of  psychological factors on individuals’ position in the social structure, changes in the class structure of Central and Eastern European countries, social inequality and discrimination of the Roma, effects of democracy and inequality on political protest in Europe. In terms of methodology, I specialize in statistical analysis of survey data. Since a significant part of my projects are comparative, that is, they involve cross-national and/or over-time data, I devote a lot of attention to statistical techniques that allow one to include in the regression model nested variables (e.g. individuals nested within countries), and to account for autocorrelation and/or multicollinearity. At the same time, I enjoy doing qualitative research, as my work on children deprived of parental care in Romania, and on peoples’ retrospective accounts of state socialism in Poland and in Romania, illustrates. In addition to research, teaching at both undergraduate and graduate level occupies a prominent place in my academic life.

Publications

• Tomescu-Dubrow, Irina. 2011. “Effects of Future Orientations on Income Attainment and Social Class: An Analysis of Polish Panel Data”. Polish Sociological Review 4: 515-532.
• Tomescu-Dubrow, Irina and Henryk Domanski (2010)  “How to Model Parental Education Effects On Men And Women’s Attainment?  Cross-National Assessments of Different Approaches.” ASK: Society, Research, Methods.
• Slomczynski, Kazimierz M. and Irina Tomescu-Dubrow. 2005 “Friendship Patterns and Upward Mobility: A Test of Social Capital Hypothesis.” Polish Sociological Review 3:221-235.

Keywords

Comparative Social Change, Social Stratification, Methodology of the Social Sciences, Ethnic Minorities

Contact

tomescu.1@osu.edu browse members list