Erin York Cornwell (born December 25, 1976) is an American sociologist. She is associate professor of sociology at Cornell University. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 2008, where she worked with Linda Waite, Edward Laumann, and Kathleen Cagney. She specializes in survey research methods, and has made numerous contributions to sociology of law, urban sociology, and the sociology of health.York Cornwell, Erin and Valerie P. Hans. 2011. “Representation through Participation: A Multilevel Analysis of Jury Deliberations.” 45:667-698.York Cornwell, Erin and Linda J. Waite. 2009. “Social Disconnectedness, Perceived Isolation, and Health among Older Adults.” 50(1):31-48.
Biography
Erin York Cornwell was born to Lowell and Mary Ellen (Walker) York in 1976 in Grand Island, Nebraska. Her father was an architect, and her mother worked at Waddell & Reed.
Scholarly career
York Cornwell earned her B.A. in sociology in 1999 at Wellesley College and her M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Chicago in 2008. Her dissertation () documented the structural factors that shape the social and physical conditions within households - as a parallel to classical sociological investigations of social and physical disorder and disorganization within neighborhoods.Chen, Jen-Hao. 2022. "State Containment Measures, Living Arrangements, and Mental Health of US Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic." 26(10):2100-2111.Courtin, Emilie, and Martin Knapp. 2017. "Social Isolation, Loneliness and Health in Old Age: A Scoping Review." 25(3):799-812.
During her time at Chicago, she was a teaching assistant to Edward Laumann, research assistant to Robert J. Sampson, and was the first project coordinator for the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project.(Edward Laumann, personal communication, March 28, 2023) She was the last research assistant to the sociologist, Fred Strodtbeck, who studied group dynamics, value orientation, and gangs - and is the founder of the science of jury selection.Strodtbeck, Fred L., and Richard D. Mann. 1956. "Sex Role Differentiation in Jury Deliberations." 19(1):3-11.James, Rita M., and Fred L. Strodtbeck. 1957. "An Attempted Replication of a Jury Experiment by Use of Radio and Newspaper." (1957): 313-318. He is also known for his involvement in the Chicago Jury project of 1953-1959, during which the research team had to testify before Congress for surreptitiously bugging jury deliberations.
She is best known for her work distinguishing between the concepts of perceived or subjective social isolation (social-psychological) and objective forms of social disconnectedness (structural). This work has led to thousands of survey-related studies of social networks in different languages, and policy applications in urban senior centers.Steptoe, Andrew, Aparna Shankar, Panayotes Demakakos, and Jane Wardle. 2013. "Social Isolation, Loneliness, and All-Cause Mortality in Older Men and Women." 110(15):5797-5801.American Association of Retired Persons, Older Adults Technology Services (OATS). 2023. “Aging Connected: Exposing the Hidden Connectivity Crisis for Older Adults." Human Foundation.
She has been principal investigator on several large projects involving neighborhoods, social inequality, and law. These have led to studies of the prevalence and impact of inaccuracies in individuals' criminal records, how neighborhood context affects health, as well as several studies that improve upon previous survey research by using smartphones to track how real-time experiences with the social environment affect people.Cagney, Kathleen A. and Erin York Cornwell. 2018. “Place, Aging, and Health.” Pp. 131-158 in M.D. Hayward and M.K. Majmundar, eds. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Honors and awards In 2012, she was named a Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow at Cornell University, and in 2015 she was named a fellow of the Institute for the Social Sciences (now the Cornell Center for Social Sciences).https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/02/institute-social-sciences-names-13-faculty-fellowscornl In 2018, she won the Appel Fellowship for Humanists and Social Scientists, which recognizes faculty achievements in teaching and research.
Selected scholarly works York Cornwell, Erin. 2016. “Household Disorder, Network Ties, and Social Support in Later Life.” 78:871-889. York Cornwell, Erin and Linda J. Waite. 2012. “Social Network Resources and Management of Hypertension.” 53:215-231 York Cornwell, Erin and Valerie P. Hans. 2011. “Representation through Participation: A Multilevel Analysis of Jury Deliberations.” 45:667-698 York Cornwell, Erin and Linda J. Waite. 2009. “Social Disconnectedness, Perceived Isolation, and Health among Older Adults.” 50(1):31-48.
References
External links Official faculty page for Erin York Cornwell at Cornell University. Erin York Cornwell's Google Scholar page.