I am a sociologist and an Academy (emerita) Professor at The Ohio State University. I am also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Distinguished Professor of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State. Prior to becoming an emerita, my appointments as Professor were in Rural Sociology, Sociology, and Geography at Ohio State. My research areas are spatial inequality (community and regional inequalities, poverty, and development issues), rural sociology, economic sociology, and political sociology. Building from these areas, my research addresses a central theme: changes in the market and state and their impacts. In brief, I am concerned with the process of economic and political/governmental change and how it impacts socioeconomic inequality across regions, localities, households, and individuals; and in turn, how people respond to the market/state changes they experience, such as through political activism. In my recent research, I have been examining local governments across the United States, the range of policies they implement, and how the local state influences the welfare of populations. I am currently a co-editor of The Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy, and Society and serve on the editorial board of Social Problems and have recently published a book, Rethinking Spatial Inequality with Gregory Hooks (see below to learn more about our new book). I’m also a past-president of the Rural Sociological Society.
Linda M. Lobao and Gregory Hooks. 2025. Rethinking Spatial Inequality. Edward Elgar Publishing, U.K.
Rethinking Spatial Inequality offers a new, ecumenical perspective on social science inquiry into the spatial dimensions of societal well-being— the question of who gets what where. Numerous studies grounded in different literatures, substantive fields, and disciplines address this question. They often make similar points, face similar challenges, and draw from related theory yet they are rarely brought into collective dialogue. The book provides a framework that speaks to the concept of spatial inequality, how it forms a lens on societal disparities, and how it gives rise to work with underlying commonalities. With this scaffolding, the authors consider spatial inequality across spatial scales, places, and populations, capturing how encompassing its lens extends. Illustrative cases center on poverty, public service provision and austerity policies, environmental justice, and war and conflict. The book concludes by advancing an integrative social science approach to guide future emancipatory research on inequality.
Professor Lobao's Curriculum Vitae
Professor Lobao's Google Scholar
Select Publications
Stefania Fiorentino, Amy K Glasmeier, Linda Lobao, Ron Martin, Peter Tyler, ‘Left behind places’: What can be done about them?, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Volume 17, Issue 2, July 2024, Pages 259–274, https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsae012
Lobao, L., & Kelly, P. (2024). Urban Austerity Theory, Politicizing Space, and Cutback Policies across Urban and Rural Communities. City & Community, 23(2), 87-109. https://doi.org/10.1177/15356841231183894
Adua L, Lobao L. Transforming the residential built environment: Land-use policies and the influence of the growth machine across the United States. Soc Sci Res. 2024 Aug;122:103039. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2024.103039. Epub 2024 Jun 24. PMID: 39216909.
Mia Gray, Michael Kitson, Linda Lobao, Ron Martin, Understanding the post-COVID state and its geographies, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 16(1), 2023, 1-8, https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsad001
Lobao, L. (2023). Urban inequality revisited: Beyond city limits. Dialogues in Urban Research, 1(3), 283-287. https://doi.org/10.1177/27541258231204005