Chris Smith

Chris M. Smith, Ph.D. (University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2015), is an Associate Professor of Sociology. Her areas of specialization include crime and inequality, feminist criminology, historical research methods, illicit markets, organized crime, social network analysis, sociology of gender, violence, and urban sociology. As a sociologist of crime and inequality, Chris examines how relationships, networks, and neighborhoods differently embed people in crime and violence. She is especially motivated by questions of how gender shapes criminal networks and violent interactions. Chris's book Syndicate Women: Gender and Networks in Chicago Organized Crime (University of California Press 2019) is a historical social network analysis of gender, criminal markets, and organized crime from Chicago's Prohibition era. She has published research in American Sociological Review, City & Community, Crime & Delinquency, Criminology, Global Crime, Social Problems, and others. Her latest project, Vice for Sale, is a 30-year examination of illicit markets and neighbourhood change in Chicago and Toronto.

Chris's research has received funding from Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the U.S. National Institute of Justice. Chris has received multiple teaching awards and fellowships, and she is a 2024 recipient of the Jeannette Wright Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentorship.