Class Cultures, Social Mobility, & First-Generation Students
My main area of research focuses on how class cultures shape college and the professional world, and how this affects the experiences of working-class first-generation students and graduates.
One project in this area led to my most recent book, Class Cultures and Social Mobility: The Hidden Strengths of First-Generation Graduates. In this highly accessible book, I explore how first-gen students survive cultural mismatches but also turn their class background into a strength. Through heartfelt stories of first-gen graduates, I show how there needn’t be a choice between economic success and maintaining authenticity to one’s roots–we can balance the competing demands of the two class worlds while lifting up others around us. Read more here.
In a second project, I am developing a pedagogical framework that is informed by the class cultures that our students bring to our campuses and classrooms. On one half of a 2-pronged approach, we must teach students the rules of the game by helping them learn the hidden curriculum and develop middle-class cultural capital. These skills will be expected in professional careers, but focusing on what students lack and must develop is only half of the equation. On the other half of this approach, we should help students see that they have strengths from their WC backgrounds and that they can leverage those strengths to be successful in college and their careers. Research shows that helping WCFG students identify their strengths increases their motivation, sense of belonging, use of campus resources, and academic performance. Read more here.
Globalization
As part of my broader interest in social inequality and social change, another area of research is focused at the global level. Along with George Ritzer, I am co-author of two textbooks on globalization. Both textbooks are currently being revised and updated for new editions to be published in late 2026 with Wiley-Blackwell.
Globalization: A Basic Text offers an accessible and comprehensive introduction to key concepts and issues in globalization. Throughout the book, we use the metaphors of solids, liquids, gases, and flows to introduce and explain the complex nature of globalization in an engaging way. We examine power, inequality, and change across a wide range of global topics. From the economy, culture, and politics, to technology, migration, and the environment, readers will better understand how global structures and processes shape their own lives and the world around them.
Globalization: The Essentials offers a more concise exploration of globalization and its role in the contemporary era. By utilizing the same set of metaphors including solids, liquids, gases, and flows, it helps readers make sense of the complex nature of globalization in an engaging and accessible way. It too examines how globalization creates winners and losers across topics such as global economic and cultural flows, environmental sustainability, spreading nationalist populism, the impact of technology, and racial, economic, and gender inequality.