CONTACT:
E-mail: matt.rafalow(at)gmail.com
EDUCATION:
University of California, Irvine
PhD in Sociology, 2016
Columbia University, Teachers College
MA in Sociology and Education, 2010
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Education, Youth, Digital Technology (Design, Digital Divides, Platformed Creation), Culture, Research Design, Qualitative and Mixed Methods
APPOINTMENTS:
Staff Researcher, Google (2021 – Present)
Sr. Researcher, Stanford Ethnography Lab (2021 – Present)
Sr. Researcher, Google (2018 – 2021)
Visiting Scholar, UC Berkeley (2019 – 2021)
Researcher, Google (2016 – 2018)
BOOKS:
Rafalow, Matthew H. 2020. Digital Divisions: How Schools Create Inequality in the Tech Era. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Link] *CITAMS Best Book Award Winner, SOE Pierre Bourdieu Book Award Honorable Mention
Ito, Mizuko, Crystle Martin, Rachel Cody Pfister, Matthew H. Rafalow, Katie Salen and Amanda Wortman. 2018. Affinity Online: How Connection and Shared Interest Fuel Learning. New York: NYU Press. [Link]
ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS:
Rafalow, Matthew H., and Cassidy Puckett. 2022. “Sorting Machines: Digital Technology and Categorical Inequality in Education.” Educational Researcher.
Rafalow, Matthew H. 2022. “Reliving, and Relearning, Middle School.” In The How To of Qualitative Research: Second Edition, edited by Janice D. Aurini, Melanie Heath, and Stephanie Howells. London: Sage.
Puckett, Cassidy and Matthew H. Rafalow. 2020. “From ‘Impact’ to ‘Negotiation’: Educational Technologies and Inequality.” In The Oxford Handbook of Sociology and Digital Media, edited by Sarah Sobieraj and Deana Rohlinger. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Link]
Rafalow, Matthew H. 2019. Review of Technically Together: Reconstructing Community in a Networked World, by Taylor Dotson, MIT Press, 2017. Contemporary Sociology 48(2):159-161. [Link] [Open access pre-print]
Rafalow, Matthew H. 2018. “Disciplining Play: Digital Youth Culture as Capital at School.” American Journal of Sociology. [Link] [Open access pre-print] *CITAMS Best Article Award Winner, Honorable Mention for Children and Youth Section Scholarly Contribution Award
Rafalow, Matthew H. and Jessica M. Kizer. 2017. “Mommy Markets: Racial Differences in Lesbians’ Dating Preferences for Women with Children.” Journal of Lesbian Studies. [Link] [Open access pre-print]
Rafalow, Matthew H., Cynthia Feliciano, and Belinda Robnett. 2017. “Racialized Femininity and Masculinity in the Preferences of Lesbian and Gay Male Daters.” Social Currents. [Link] [Open access pre-print]
Rafalow, Matthew H. and Britni L. Adams. 2016. “Navigating the Tavern: Technology-Mediated Connections and Relationship Persistence in Bar Settings.” Symbolic Interaction. [Link] [Open access pre-print]
Rafalow, Matthew H. 2016 “Tinkering Online: Digital Supports for Making and Sharing.” In Makeology: Makerspaces as Learning Environments, edited by Kylie Peppler, Erica Halverson, and Yasmin Kafai. New York: Routledge Press. [Link] [Open access pre-print]
Korobkova, Ksenia, and Matthew H. Rafalow. 2016. “Navigating Digital Publics for Playful Production: A Cross-Case Analysis of Two Interest-Driven Online Communities.” Digital Culture & Education 8(10). [Link] [Open access pre-print]
Rafalow, Matthew H. 2015. “n00bs, Trolls, and Idols: Boundary-Making among Digital Youth.” Sociological Studies of Children and Youth. [Link] [Open access pre-print]
Martin, Crystle and Matthew H. Rafalow. 2015. “Gendered Barriers to Participation in Gaming Cultures.” In Proceedings of GenderIT Conference, Philadephia, PA, April 25. [Link]
Rafalow, Matthew H. 2014. “Connected Learning at School: The U.S. Context.” Revue Internationale D’Éducation Sévres (RIES). [Link] [Draft PDF]
Rafalow, Matthew H. 2014. “Fashioning Learning: Connected Learning through Fashion Design.” Case report for the Connected Learning Research Network. Irvine, CA: Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. [PDF]
Rafalow, Matthew H. 2014. “The Digital Divide in Classroom Technology Use: A Comparison of Three Schools.” International Journal of Sociology of Education 3(1): 67-100. [PDF]
Rafalow, Matthew H. 2014. “Welcome to Sackboy Planet: Learning Among LittleBigPlanet 2 Players.” Case report for the Connected Learning Research Network. Irvine, CA: Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. [PDF]
Rafalow, Matthew H. 2013. “Gender Theories in Education.” In Sociology of Education: An A-to-Z Guide, ed. James Ainsworth. SAGE publications. [Link] [Draft PDF]
For more information, please see the full version here.