Nancy Chodorow, a prominent sociologist, psychoanalyst, and professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, died on October 14 at the age of 81.

Chodorow began her academic career after graduating from Radcliffe College in 1966 and earning a Ph.D. in sociology from Brandeis University in 1975. Her early research, inspired by her mentor Philip Slater, focused on mother-daughter relationships—a topic she found underexplored compared to studies on mother-son dynamics. This research led to her dissertation, later published as "The Reproduction of Mothering" in 1978, which became a significant work in feminist theory and gender studies.

“Major intellectual achievements require dissatisfaction with the status quo,” said Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, Chodorow’s son. “The Reproduction of Mothering began with my mother’s dissatisfaction with the imbalance between the study of mothers and sons and the study of mothers and daughters.”

Gabriel Chodorow-Reich noted that this drive for change contributed to the establishment of the Gender and Women’s Studies Department at UC Berkeley, which Chodorow helped develop with English Professors Emerita Elizabeth Abel and Janet Adelman, as well as former Chancellor Carol Christ.

Berkeley Social Sciences Dean Raka Ray commented on Chodorow’s influence: “Nancy Chodorow was one of the founding figures of second wave feminist theory. She revolutionized feminist theorizing by bringing together the psychoanalytic and the sociological, emphasizing the role of the structure of the nuclear family in creating the early psychic formation of men and women. I was fortunate to experience her brilliance and clarity when I arrived at Berkeley as a young feminist sociologist, and will always be grateful for her mentorship.”

Chodorow’s work explored how mothering shapes psychological development and social roles, linking girls’ gender development to their relationships with their mothers. She authored several other books, including "Femininities, Masculinities, Sexualities: Freud and Beyond," "The Psychoanalytic Ear and the Sociological Eye: Toward an American Independent Tradition," and "The Power of Feelings: Personal Meaning in Psychoanalysis, Gender, and Culture." Her scholarly output also included more than 60 articles and book chapters.

UCLA sociology professor and psychoanalyst Jeffrey Prager said, “Throughout her career, Nancy crafted pioneering essays and books that bridged the worlds of individual and society, psyche and structure. She reconceptualized our understanding of gender, family, sexualities and individuality. Nancy was a rare, bracing voice that will be sorely missed.”

Berkeley Sociology Professor Emerita Ann Swidler added, “Nancy Chodorow was a bold, courageous innovator. She used psychoanalytic ideas not to explain individual behavior but to develop a distinctive account of broad (indeed, universal) patterns in human societies: persistent differences in identity formation and psychic tendencies between women and men, and even the constitution of gender itself. Her work has been widely influential in fields from American Studies to literature and throughout social sciences.”

Berkeley Sociology and Law Professor Emerita Kristin Luker said, “Nancy Chodorow was a genuinely innovative thinker. She brought together two bodies of literature: psychoanalysis, which saw the self primarily as an internal process, and sociology, which saw the self as primarily external, created in interaction with others. Perhaps her contribution is clearest in her book The Psychoanalytic Ear and the Sociological Eye, which taught sociologists to listen to people as well as observe them.”

During her tenure at Berkeley, Chodorow also practiced psychoanalysis, serving as a faculty member at the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute after graduating from there in 1993. After retiring, she moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she joined the faculty at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and lectured on psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Gabriel Chodorow-Reich reflected on his mother’s life: “The Reproduction of Mothering grappled with the role of the mother (and, therefore, also the father) at a time when society was in transition from one where most women did not have full careers outside the home to one where most did. My mother had two: her career as a sociologist at Berkeley, and her psychoanalytic practice. Somehow this did not keep her from developing extraordinary friendships; from her enjoyment of the arts, including museums, symphonies and opera; from her love of cooking; from caring for her parents as they aged; from her large extended family; and, most important to me, from mothering my sister and me and grandmothering our children with tenderness, love, devotion, patience and guidance.”

Chodorow is survived by her children Rachel and Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, their spouses, her husband Carl Salzman, his two children, and seven grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held at Temple Israel in Boston on October 17 at 11 a.m. ET, followed by burial at Mount Auburn Cemetery at 1 p.m. ET, with a reception to follow. Parking will be available at the Riverway near the temple. The service will also be livestreamed. The family plans to hold a memorial event in the coming months, and former students and colleagues are organizing a memorial session at the American Sociological Association meeting in August.