Latino Social Science Pipeline Initiative

Jonathan Ibarra is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and currently a Latinx Social Science Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Latinx Research Center. He is an ethnographer who studies the interactions between marginalized youth and the institutions they navigate, with a focus on how race, class, and gender shape the exclusion, punishment, and criminalization of Latino youth. Specifically, his research examines the durability of systems of inequality as they relate to evolving systems of social control in institutions, like schools, that claim to be working toward becoming more inclusive. His dissertation, Disciplinary Negligence: Educational Neglect, Reactionary Support, and Mexican/Latinx High School Students, draws on a three-year ethnography to explore the experiences of Mexican/Latinx students as they navigate the dual processes of school discipline and support networks in a post-zero-tolerance school. Findings from this work illuminate hidden forms of inequality through consideration of how neglect functions as an essential mechanism for maintaining what is perceived to be a successful and productive school environment.

Jonathan’s research has been supported by the American Sociological Association’s Minority Fellowship Program and the UC Office of the President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship, among others. His research on racial inequalities in policing and education has been published in the American Sociological Review and the Journal for Criminal Justice Education. He was also awarded the 2020 Article of the Year award from the American Sociological Association’s Latina/o Sociology section, along with his co-authors.

He also earned his BA and MA in sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he served as an undergraduate representative on the Hispanic Serving Institute committee and as a McNair’s Scholar Program Graduate Research Mentor. As a community-engaged scholar, Jonathan has continuously mentored marginalized youth through volunteer work with schools and community organizations. He has also helped secure grants to fund youth programs.