For Sociology: Camille Portier

Why do so many mothers never fully return to work after having a child? In this episode of For Sociology, host Kevin Caners talks with Camille Portier about the quiet forces shaping women's careers after childbirth — and why, in the US, something as simple as control over your own workday can matter as much as paid leave itself.

Camille's research focuses on the US — the only wealthy country without guaranteed paid parental leave — where she traces how workplace autonomy can substitute for the benefits mothers don't have. The conversation also covers her academic path from social anthropology to quantitative sociology, her PhD years at Cornell during a politically turbulent moment in America, and the growing threats to social science research funding and data access.

Guest:
Camille Portier
Research Fellow in Sociology, European University Institute
Former Kohli Foundation Fellow, Max Weber Programme for Postdoctoral Studies

Chapter Markers:
00:00 - Podcast Welcome
00:45 - Meet Camille Portier
01:59 - Finding Her Way to Sociology
02:54 - Anthropology vs. Sociology
04:36 - From Master's to PhD
06:28 - Studying Motherhood and Careers
07:00 - Autonomy as a Hidden Resource
07:54 - The Cost of Investing in Children
09:12 - Why Study Motherhood
10:01 - How Workplace Context Shapes Inequality
13:39 - Building the Data: O*NET and Its Limits
16:01 - Culture Shock: Moving to the US
17:43 - Rapid-Fire Questions
23:31 - Sociology Under Political Pressure
27:57 - Where Sociology Can Make a Difference
30:20 - What's Next for Camille
31:27 - Closing Thanks and Outro

Rapid-Fire with Camille:
Book/article she wishes she'd written: A study by Luft and Fries on socioeconomic status and diabetes treatment
If not a sociologist: A cheese seller (or a journalist)
Does her best thinking: Sitting on the floor or lying in bed, in the morning
Sociological concept everyone should know: The life course
Biggest misconception about sociology: That it's just common sense, not a rigorous science

Kohli Foundation for Sociology: https://kohlifoundation.eu/