Beth Ribet, PhD, JD

Visiting Research Professor
Department of Sociology Anthropology Social Work and Criminal Justice

Beth Ribet, PhD, JD is a socio-legal scholar with interests in disability, family and medical leave, international human rights, gender studies, civil rights, and employment. She obtained her PhD in Social Relations from the University of California-Irvine, and her JD from UCLA, with a concentration in Critical Race Studies. In 2012-2013, she serves as principal investigator on an empirical legal research project supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, on the theme of "Family and Medical Leave Law: Variations in State Protections for Workers' Health". Dr. Ribet's research often engages the subject of "disablement", referencing the production of new injuries, illnesses and impairments through mass violence, stratification, and social inequity. She has published on this subject in the context of the U.S. prison system and international disability law. She continues to write about the creation of disabilities in these contexts, and in others including genocide and warfare, and commercial sexual exploitation. Her areas of teaching expertise in Sociology and Anthropology include but are not limited to Sociology of the Family, Medical Sociology, Social Psychology, Cultural Anthropology, and Research Methods (qualitative), among others. In Law, her areas of teaching expertise and interest include but are not limited to Disability Law, Civil Rights, and Employment Discrimination.