Bio

I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile . I previously held a Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellowship at the European University Institute and earned a Ph.D. in Sociology — with a minor in Applied Statistics — at Cornell University . My research examines labor market inequality, intergenerational mobility, and beliefs about inequality, combining statistical modeling, causal inference, and experimental and computational methods to push the methodological and theoretical frontiers of stratification research. Since January 2026, I also serve as an Associate Editor of Research in Social Stratification and Mobility , the official journal of ISA RC28 on Social Stratification and Mobility.

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Research

My scholarly agenda is articulated around two core, complementary research streams. One series of projects examines key structural aspects of social inequality - intergenerational income mobility, gender- and race-based gaps in the labor market and educational assortative mating. Another line of research focuses on the cultural facets of social stratification as they crystallize in specific belief systems about inequalities and fairness.

My work has appeared in journals such as Science Advances, Sociological Science, Sociological Methods & Research, RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, Socius, and Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, with current projects under review at Nature and Sociological Methods & Research. My methodological work on educational assortative mating received the Clifford C. Clogg Award from the Methodology Section of the American Sociological Association, and my research has been covered by the New York Times, the Washington Post, New Scientist, and Science Daily, among other outlets.

I am currently the principal investigator of the Fondecyt Regular project “New Approaches to the Study of Social Mobility: Expanding Theory, Data, and Methods.” I previously served as principal investigator of the Fondecyt Iniciación project “Inequality of Outcomes and Opportunity and Its Effects on the Legitimacy of Inequality and Social Cohesion,” as well as of the Millennium Nucleus for the Study of Labor Market Mismatch: Causes and Consequences . In collaboration with my colleagues Andrea Canales and Tania Hutt , I co-organize the ongoing Workshop on Inequality and Stratification Research and the Quantitative and Computational Social Science Research Group .

News

• 🏆 New grant: I was awarded a Fondecyt Regular project (2026), “New Approaches to the Study of Social Mobility: Expanding Theory, Data, and Methods.”
• 📝 New role: Since January 2026, I serve as Associate Editor of Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, the official journal of ISA RC28.
• 📄 Under review: “People Reject Unfairness but Normalize Inequality” (with Mario D. Molina) is under review at Nature. Slides
• 🗞️ Op-ed: “Reenfocando el problema de la movilidad social: cómo reducir el peso de la cuna” in Tercera Dosis. Read it here
• 📊 Talk: “Why Do Some Groups Experience Greater Mobility than Others?” — recent slides available here .

Contact

Department of Sociology, Universidad Católica de Chile
Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Casilla 306, Correo 22, Macul, Santiago
Postal code: 7820436 Email: mebucca [@] uc [dot] cl