Veronica Valencia Gonzalez

Veronica Valencia Gonzalez, PhD

I am an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina, where I am also affiliated with Women’s and Gender Studies and the Center for Civil Rights.

My research examines how legal, political, and administrative institutions organize inequality, vulnerability, and social harm. Drawing on criminology, sociology, sociolegal studies, qualitative methods, and social theory, I study how systems of ownership, bureaucracy, visibility, punishment, citizenship, and political authority shape people’s lives and opportunities.

My work spans social theory, law and society, gender-based violence, victimization, governance, qualitative methodology, and Latin American studies. Across these areas, I am interested in a central question: how do institutions transform unequal relations of power into ordinary, legitimate, and seemingly natural forms of social order?

This website shares my research, publications, community-engaged work, and ongoing collaborations.