About

Dr. Erin Godfrey is the Director of NYU's Institute of Human Development and Social Change and an Associate Professor of Applied Psychology at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Development, and Education. She holds a BA in Psychology and Policy from Oberlin College and a PhD in Community and Developmental Psychology from NYU’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Her research examines how individuals understand, justify, or reject systems of oppression and marginalization, integrating perspectives from developmental, community, and social psychology. Her work focuses on understanding and changing the processes and contexts that influence people's responses to systemic oppression, social inequity, and their psychological and social consequences. She investigates these issues across various settings, including classrooms, community programs, welfare and anti-poverty initiatives, juvenile justice systems, and neighborhoods, employing an intersectional lens to explore how multiple forms of power, privilege, and marginalization intersect to shape development and well-being. Her scholarship has been supported by federal agencies and foundations, published in top-tier journals, and featured in media outlets such as The Atlantic.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Social Science
• Ecology
• Biology

Selected publications

• Landscaping and Synthesizing the Research Evidence on the Economic Inclusion of Children and Families

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024

  • Sociology
  • Sociology
  • Social Science
  DOI

• The Art of Social Justice: Examining Arts Programming as a Context for Critical Consciousness Development Among Youth

  Journal of Youth and Adolescence · 2021 · 19 citations

  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Traumatic Incidents and Experiences of Racism and Sexism: Examining Associations with Components of Critical Consciousness for System‐Involved Girls of Color

  American Journal of Community Psychology · 2020 · 11 citations

  • Sociology
  • Psychology
  • Social psychology

  Scholarship identifies critical consciousness as a key developmental asset in promoting the well-being of adolescents experiencing multiple socio-structural axes of oppression. Girls of color at acute risk for legal system involvement or re-involvement are absent from this literature. They are a critical population in which to examine this construct given their experiences of oppression and the myriad benefits of critical consciousness. The current study addresses this gap by examining traumatic incidents and experiences of racism and sexism as correlates of critical reflection and action among a sample of girls (N = 220; Mean age = 14.5 years; SD = 1.3 years). Using path analysis and multigroup modeling, we examine direct associations between these three manifestations of structural oppression and critical consciousness and explore the interplay of traumatic incidents, and racism and sexism in girls' critical consciousness development. Findings suggest that experiences of sexism and racism, uniquely and positively predict critical action, but not critical reflection. Surprisingly, girls' experiences of traumatic incidents do not predict reflection or action. Finally, multigroup analyses show no evidence that these associations vary by the interplay of traumatic incidents, racism, and sexism. Implications for community psychology values and juvenile legal system practice and policy are discussed.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Hirokazu Yoshikawa

  3 shared

• Anna Gassman‐Pines

  2 shared

• Jacob Faber

  Wagner College

  2 shared

• Georgia Assy Hillel

  New York University

  1 shared

• ED Lowe

  1 shared

• TS Weisner

  1 shared

• E. Cader Howard

  1 shared

• Ajay Chaudry

  University of Nottingham

  1 shared

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