School of Public Policy

Teaching

SOC418/518: Sociological Theory

SOC 318: Qualitative Research Methods

PPOL523: Qualitative Research Methods

Selected Publications (books/chapters)

“The Experience of Working-Class Students in Higher Education,” in The Routledge Handbook of the Sociology of Higher Education, 2nd edition (in process)

"Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods: A Helpful Guide for Undergraduates and Graduate Students in the Social Sciences (in process, Oregon State University Open Access, expected publication 2022)

"Teaching Class in Higher Education,” in Transformative Approaches to Social Justice Education: Equity and Access in the College Classroom, edited by Nana Osei-Kofi, Bradley Boovy, and Kali Furman.  Routledge  2021

Introduction to “Class and Education” in The Routledge International Handbook of Working-Class Studies, edited by Michele Fazio, Christie Launius, and Tim Strangleman,  Routledge. 2020

Accumulated Advantage: Going to a “Good” College in an Era of Inequality.  Rowman & Littlefield: Lexington Books                   2019

Introduction to Sociological Theory and Foundations of American Sociology Oregon State University: Open Access Textbook  2019

Working in Class: How Our Social Backgrounds Affect Our Teaching, Scholarship, and Work in the Academy, co-edited with Sandi K. Nenga. Rowman & Littlefield   2016

College & The Working Class: What It Takes to Make It Rotterdam: Sense Publishers: Series on Education and Mobility 2012

The Burden of Academic Success: Managing Working-Class Identities in College, Rowman & Littlefield: Lexington Books   2010

Honors and Awards

Charles Sackrey and Jake Ryan Book Award (Working-Class Studies Association, 2020), for Amplified Advantage (2019)

Current Research

I am working on several projects.    The 20th Century Equality Project is a work of sociological social history, reexamining the most economically egalitarian period in US history, 1948 to 1964.  The project takes seriously contemporary observations of a flattened society, interrogating these accounts and realities against what we have also learned to be the era’s social shortcomings. In a time when our country is deeply divided on issues of race and nostalgia, it is time to take a fresh, critical look at how people experienced the post-war period of relative equality from a broader perspective.  The Working-Class+ Sociologists project is a qualitative-based exploration of the way class impacts careers of sociologists, and is part of a larger project conducted by the American Sociological Associations' Taskforce on First Generation and Working-Class Persons in Sociology.  Currently for that larger project, I am working with graduate students at OSU and colleagues elsewhere on a sub-project entitled "Class Matters in Graduate Training: Understanding Pipeline Issues in the Field of Sociology."  I am also co-writing a book on Class, a general introduction to the topic, and developing an open access textbook for teaching qualitative research methods. 

Invited Talks and Workshop Participation

“Working-Class College Students: Material and Cultural Obstacles to Success: Higher Education,” Coordinating Commission, State of Oregon (October 2018)

Invited Participant, Universities and Ethics: Responsibilities and Opportunities in the Contemporary Era, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass (June 2018)

“Working-Class College Students: Material and Cultural Obstacles to Success: University of Michigan-Dearborn Annual CUP Conference Keynote Speaker (October 2017)

“Class in the Bubble: Class: A National Study of Liberal Arts College Students,” Amherst College (March 2017)

“The Burden of Academic Success,” Stanford University (January 2016)

Organizer and Participant, Interdisciplinary Workshop on Innovative Approaches to Social Class Research, Furman University (June 2014)

Conference Presentations

“Social Class and Mobility into the Sociology Graduate Pipeline,” American Sociological Association Annual Conference, with José Muñoz and Wendi Johnson (2021)

“Measuring the Impact of Elite Backgrounds on the Lives and Careers of Sociologists
(aka Sociology has a Privilege Problem),” American Sociological Association Annual Conference (2021)

“Who Really Voted for Trump and Why does the Media Blame the White Working Class in panel entitled “Class and Politics in the Trump Biden Era,” Working-Class Studies Association Annual Conference, organizer and panelist (2021)

“Going to a ‘Good’ College in an Era of Inequality,” Critical Legacies of University of Oregon Invited Panel, Pacific Sociological Association Annual Conference, Eugene, OR (2020)

“Pipeline Issues for Graduate Students in Sociology: Findings from the ASA Taskforce on First-Generation and Working-Class Persons in Sociology, Pacific Sociological Association Annual Conference, Eugene, OR (2020), with undergraduate student Svitlana Klipfel

Invited Panelist, PSA Publications Panel, Pacific Sociological Association Annual Conference, Eugene, OR (2020)

“Resurrecting Class: How Postwar Affluence Distorted Academic Thinking on Class,” Working-Class Studies Association Annual Conference, Canterbury, UK (2019)

“Measuring the Value of Public Universities: Politics, Rankings, and Constituencies,” American Sociological Association Annual Conference, New York, New York (2019), special panel “Exploring the Relationship between Colleges and their Communities,” organized by Hurst

“Prestige Networks within the American Sociological Association,” Pacific Sociological Association Annual Conference, Oakland, CA (2019), with undergraduate Nicole Ashley Jay, Chico State University

“Mechanisms of Inequality: College Majors as Sorting Hubs,” Pacific Sociological Association Annual Conference, Oakland, CA (2019), with undergraduate Paola Mendoza, Oregon State University

“Capitals on Campus: Classed Variations in Amount and Usage of Social, Cultural, and Economic Capital among College Students,” Pacific Sociological Association Annual Conference, Long Beach, CA (2018)

“Class and Public Higher Education: Why the Post-War Era of Mass (Equal) Education May Have Been an Anomaly,” Pacific Sociological Association Annual Conference, Long Beach, CA (2018)

“Operationalizing Class in Studies of College Students," American Sociological Association Annual Conference, Inequality, Poverty and Social Mobility Section Roundtable, Montreal, Canada (2017)

 “Educational Elites in US Congress: Shifts and Parties,” Pacific Sociological Association Annual Conference, Portland, OR (2017) (with Aiden Koll)

“Classed Outcomes: What Happened to Recent Liberal Arts College Graduates?” Pacific Sociological Association Annual Conference, Portland, OR (2017)

“Graduate School Selection: Balancing Goals and Values” Pacific Sociological Association Annual Conference, Portland, OR (2017)

“Working-Class Fractions and the Presidential Vote,” Working Class Studies Association Annual Conference, Bloomington, IN (2017)

“Tracking the Downwardly Mobile in the GSS: 1968-2012,” Working Class Studies Association Annual Conference, Bloomington, IN (2017)

“Class Struggles: Acquisition and Deployment of Social and Cultural Capital among College Students at Two Campuses,” with Colby King, Working Class Studies Association Annual Conference, Bloomington, IN (2017)

Working in Class: How Our Social Class: How Our Social Backgrounds Affect Our Teaching, Scholarship, and Work in the Academy Authors Meet Critics, Working Class Studies Association Annual Conference, Stony Brook, NY (2016) (with co-editor, Sandi K. Nenga)

Professional Affiliations

Working Class Studies Association

Pacific Sociological Association

American Sociological Association

 ASA Task Force on First-Generation and Working-Class Persons in Sociology

Research Interests

• Class inequality
• Higher education and social mobility
• School to Work transitions of college graduates
• Social welfare policy; Higher education policy