Her research is centered in the sociology of work, while also extending into the fields of social inequality, cultural sociology, labor, law, and social policy. Her first book, "The Temp Economy: From Kelly Girls to Permatemps in Postwar America" (Temple University Press, 2011), weaves together gender, race, class, and work in a cultural analysis of the temporary help industry and rise of the new economy. Her current book project, "Between Work and Slavery: Coerced Labor at the Boundaries of American Citizenship", analyzes four groups of workers at the borders of exclusionary citizenship in the U.S.: prisoners, welfare recipients, college athletes, and graduate students.