Research and Engagement
We study what it means to be human, to live in society, to create and recreate ourselves and our cultures.
Purposeful Research
Our faculty — and our students — dig up tiny sherds of pottery and bones. They put entire societies and cultures under their microscopes. They’re driven to examine and understand what we can learn from the past — and how we can guide the future.
We’ve made our mark in studies of family sociology, ecological change, work and labor markets, migration, nonprofit organizations, and crime, to name just a few.
Our research, which appears in the top journals of our fields, creates new knowledge that informs pressing issues in our communities. It helps solve problems.
In the Community
As part of our university’s land-grant mission, we serve North Carolina citizens through our research and engagement activities. Locally, we bring our expertise to projects like the Friends of Oberlin Cemetery, an initiative to preserve a culturally significant African American cemetery in Raleigh.
We also work with industries and governments to solve problems related to food insecurity, climate change, child abuse, poverty and inequality, among other issues.
Our faculty and students also embed themselves abroad to explore the effects that tourism, globalization, political change and other factors have on communities.
Signature Articles
Our faculty have made significant contributions to the breadth and depth of scholarship in their fields. Here are some of our signature articles — those that are indicative of our scholarship and our research interests.
NC State students and employees can access these articles through the NC State University Libraries’ extensive database.
Sarah Bowen
- Bowen, Sarah. 2010. “Embedding Local Places in Global Spaces: Geographical Indications as a Territorial Development Strategy.” Rural Sociology 75(2): 209-243.
- Bowen, Sarah and Marie Sarita Gaytan. 2012. “The Paradox of Protection.” Social Problems 59(1): 70-93.
- Bowen, Sarah and Ana Valenzuela Zapata. 2009. “Geographical Indications, Terroir, and Socioeconomic and Ecological Sustainability: The Case of Tequila.” Journal of Rural Studies 25: 108-119.
D. Troy Case
- Case, D. T. and S. E. Burnett. 2012. “Identification of Tarsal Coalition and Frequency Estimates from Skeletal Samples.” International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 22(6): 667-684.
- Case, D. Troy, Nancy S. Ossenberg, and Scott E. Burnett. 1998. “Os Intermetatarseum: A Heritable Accessory Bone of the Human Foot.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 107: 199-209.
- Case, D. Troy and Ann H. Ross. 2007. “Sex Determination from Hand and Foot Bone Lengths.” Journal of Forensic Sciences 52(2): 264-270.
Martha Crowley
- Crowley, Martha. 2012. “Control and Dignity in Professional, Manual and Service-Sector Employment.” Organization Studies 33(10): 1383-1406.
- Crowley, Martha. 2013. “Gender, the Labor Process and Dignity at Work.” Social Forces 91(4): 1209-1238.
- Crowley, Martha, Daniel Tope, Lindsey Joyce Chamberlain, and Randy Hodson. 2010. “Neo-Taylorism at Work: Occupational Change in the Post-Fordist Era.” Social Problems 57(3): 421-447.
Michaela DeSoucey
- DeSoucey, Michaela. 2010. “Gastronationalism: Food Traditions and Authenticity Politics in the European Union.” American Sociological Review 75(3): 432-455.
- Cherry, Elizabeth, Colter Ellis and Michaela DeSoucey. 2011. “Food for Thought, Thought for Food: Consumption, Identity, and Ethnography.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 40(2): 231-258.
- Weber, Klaus, Kathryn L. Heinze and Michaela DeSoucey. 2008. “Forage for Thought: Mobilizing Codes in the Movement for Grass-fed Meat and Dairy Products.” Administrative Science Quarterly 53(3): 529-567.
Kim Ebert
- Ebert, Kim and Dina G. Okamoto. 2013. “Social Citizenship, Integration, and Collective Action: Immigrant Civic Engagement in the United States.” Social Forces : 1-26.
- Okamoto, Dina and Kim Ebert. 2010. “Beyond the Ballot: Immigrant Collective Action in Gateways and New Destinations in the United States.” Social Problems 57(4): 529-558.
Anna Manzoni
- Fouarge, Didier, Anna Manzoni, Ruud Muffels, and Ruud Luijkx. 2010. “Childbirth and Cohort Effects on Mother’s Labour Supply: A Comparative Study Using Life History Data for Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain.” Work, Employment & Society 24(3): 487-507.
- Manzoni, Anna. 2012. “In and Out of Employment: Effects in Panel and Life-History Data.” Advances in Life Course Research 17: 11-24.
- Manzoni, Anna and Irma Mooi-Reci. 2011. “Early Unemployment and Subsequent Career Complexity: A Sequence-Based Perspective.” Schmollers Jahrbuch (Journal of Applied Social Science Studies) 131(2): 339-348.
- Manzoni, Anna, Jeroen K. Vermunt, Ruud Luijkx, and Ruff Muffels. 2010. “Memory Bias in Retrospectively Collected Employment Careers: A Model-Based Approach to Correct for Measurement Error.” Sociological Methodology 40(1): 39-73.
Steve McDonald
- McDonald, Steve. 2009. “Right Place, Right Time: Serendipity and Informal Job Matching.” Socio-Economic Review : 1-25.
- McDonald, Steve. 2011. “What’s in the ‘Old Boys’ Network? Accessing Social Capital in Gendered and Racialized Networks.” Social Networks 22: 317-330.
- McDonald, Steve, Richard A. Benton, and David F. Warner. 2012. “Dual Embeddedness: Informal Job Matching and Labor Market Institutions in the United States and Germany.” Social Forces 91(1): 75-97.
John Millhauser
- Millhauser, John K., Enrique Rodriguez-Alegria, and Michael D. Glascock. 2011. “Testing the Accuracy of Portable X-ray Fluorescence to Study Aztec and Colonial Obsidian Supply at Xaltocan, Mexico.” Journal of Archaeological Science 38(11): 3141-3152.
- Rodríguez-Alegría, Enrique, John K. Millhauser, and Wesley D. Stoner. 2013. “Trade, Tribute, and Neutron Activation: The Colonial Political Economy of Xaltocan, Mexico.” Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32(4): 397-414.
William R. Smith
- Baran, Perver K., William R. Smith, Robin C. Moore, Myron F. Floyd, Jason N. Bocarro, Nilda G. Cosco, and Thomas M. Danninger. 2013. “Park Use Among Youth and Adults: Examination of Individual, Social, and Urban Form Factors.” Environment and Behavior (January): 1-33.
- Smith, William R., Sharon Glave Frazee, and Elizabeth L. Davison. 2000. “Furthering the Integration of Routine Activity and Social Disorganization Theories: Small Units of Analysis and the Study of Stress Robbery as a Diffusion Process.” Criminology 38(2): 489-524.
- Smith, William R. and Marie Tortensson. 1997. “Gender Differences in Risk Perception and Neutralizing Fear of Crime.” British Journal of Criminology 37(4): 608-634.