Bio
Kathleen investigates experiences of work in light of both ongoing global economic transformations and enduring inequality in the labor process. Central to her theoretical agenda is a focus on how time (schedules, or lack thereof) and space (the geographical and social landscapes of life and work) matter for day-to-day life, future plans, and how people make sense of these things (the stories they tell). Her dissertation uses qualitative data from 120 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with four groups of contingent workers - oilfield and agricultural workers in Texas and adjuncts and on-demand delivery workers in New York City - to explore how they navigate unstable work schedules and unsettled work geographies, highlighting how these temporal and geographical contexts intersect with other factors to impact workers’ experiences and responses to instability. She makes original contributions to research on contingent work, the labor process, and inequality across rural and urban spaces.