Caitlin Daniel

Research interests: inequality, culture, health, family, and the sociology of food.

Bio: Caitlin is interested in inequality, culture, health, family, and the sociology of food. Her research examines how parents across the socioeconomic spectrum decide what to feed their children at a time of growing income inequality and increasing dietary disease. In particular, she examines how parents' food choices arise not just from their material circumstances, but also from the meaning they ascribe to food, family, and childhood. She writes about why healthy eating is more expensive than estimates suggest; why low-income parents have an unexpected economic incentive to cater to their children; how food becomes meaningful amidst both poverty and plenty; and how parents judge the food choices of their peers and themselves. This work integrates insights from cultural sociology, public health, and behavioral economics, and will appear in a book entitled Taste and Necessity: Feeding the Next Generation in an Unequal America. 

This information is accurate as of the affiliate year indicated (last updated 01.02.2026).