Bailey A. Brown

I am an assistant professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. I research and teach on urban sociology, race and ethnicity, education, and research methods. I specialize in qualitative research methods and have experience conducting large-scale research projects centered on focus groups, interviews, and surveys.

In my book Kindergarten Panic, I reveal how school choice isn't just a decision—it’s labor. Drawing on interviews with 100+ NYC parents, I show how the stress of choosing a school reflects deep inequalities. Families face unequal access to time, information, and support—and the burden falls heaviest on women, parents of color, and those with fewer resources. If we expect parents to navigate school systems, we need to confront how choice policies reproduce the very inequalities they claim to fix.