Work In Progress
@wipsociology.bsky.social
Blog of the American Sociological Association; sociology on the economy, work and inequality. wipsociology.org
Why do audiences accept AI avatars in some streaming studios but not in others? Jun Zhou's latest post, "Undervalued Work, Replaceable Worker: What AI Reveals about Emotional Labor" examines how organizations' metrics of authenticity impact their adoption of AI tech. Read more at the WIP blog:
Undervalued Work, Replaceable Worker: What AI Reveals about Emotional Labor – Work in Progress
wipsociology.org
When does a lost wallet get returned? Shannon Rieger, Maria Abascal, and Delia Baldassarri discuss the results of their experiment on wallet return rates by neighborhood in their new publication, "It’s not diversity that erodes community — it’s poverty" Read more on the WIP blog:
It’s not diversity that erodes community — it’s poverty – Work in Progress
wipsociology.org
How do people perceive socioeconomic insecurity? Where do their perceptions come from, and what are the consequences? Elena Ayala-Hurtado's new piece on the Work In Progress examines cross-national differences in perceptions of socioeconomic insecurity between Spain and the U.S. Read more here:
Making meaning of socioeconomic insecurity in Spain and the U.S. – Work in Progress
wipsociology.org
How do elite families stay elite for generations? Shay O'Brien's latest post on the Work In Progress blog examines why some elite families successfully entrench themselves in the upper class while others don't. Read more on the WIP blog:
Kinship interlocks: How elite families stay elite for generations – Work in Progress
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How do platform workers experience freedom and control at the same time? Lindsey D. Cameron, Vanessa M. Conzon, and Laura Lam examine the platform paradox, or how platforms tighten control over workers in their newest post on the Work In Progress blog. Read more on WIP:
The Platform Paradox: How Platform Workers Experience Freedom and Control at the Same Time – Work in Progress
wipsociology.org
How are commodities converted into profit? A new book by Eileen Otis focuses on the understudied processes of realization labor, examining how Walmart workers in China navigate uncertain consumer markets in the stores' internal supply chains. Read more on the WIP blog at:
Walmart: Made in China – Work in Progress
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How have retail giants like Walmart and Amazon come to dominate so many facets of our everyday lives? Read Steven Vallas' review of Kathleen Theren's new book, "Political Roots of the Amazon Economy: A Review of Kathleen Thelen’s Attention Shoppers!" on the WIP Sociology Blog:
Political Roots of the Amazon Economy: A Review of Kathleen Thelen’s Attention Shoppers! – Work in Progress
wipsociology.org
How do groups maintain power in organizations? Heba Alex's newest post, "Fuzzy Boundaries and the Power of Ambiguity" addresses this through the concept of strategic ambiguity, or tools that are intentionally flexible and selectively applied despite appearing to be neutral. Read now on WIP:
Fuzzy boundaries and the power of ambiguity – Work in Progress
wipsociology.org
How do Chinese language job platforms in the U.S. recreate informal, offline labor-market norms online and reinforce occupational segregation in the ethnic economy? Anna Zhang's newest post examines how advertisements encode and circulate gendered job criteria. Read more on Work In Progress:
Constructing Gender: How Online Job Platforms Reinforce Occupational Segregation – Work in Progress
wipsociology.org
How do class and race shape the aesthetics of surveillance for security guards in Mexico City? Eldad Levy's (eldadlevy.com) newest post on Work In Progress, "A New Body for Surveillance", examines the aesthetic labor involved in the production of vigilance. Read more at the Work In Progress blog:
A New Body for Surveillance – Work in Progress
wipsociology.org
How do Americans really view the occupational hierarchy? A new article by Freda B. Lynn, Yongren Shi, and Kevin Kiley (@kkiley.bsky.social) finds less agreement on the status of occupations than estimates suggest. Read more on the Work In Progress blog:
One, True Occupational Ladder? – Work in Progress
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How does being overlooked or overrewarded shape how people go on to evaluate others? Read the newest post on the Work In Progress blog by Mabel Abraham and Tristan Botelho (@tristanbotelho.bsky.social):
Why Getting Overlooked—or Overrewarded—Can Affect How You Evaluate Others – Work in Progress
wipsociology.org
A post by Donald Tomaskovic-Devey (@dont-d.bsky.social) on the newest edition of Recapitalizing America is now available on the Work In Progress blog:
Recapitalizing America Redux – Work in Progress
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My 40 year old book, Recapitalizing America was reissued. Here is my reflection today. www.wipsociology.org/2025/07/02/r...
Recapitalizing America Redux – Work in Progress
wipsociology.org
How do crowdworking platforms like TalentFinder control workers' behavior? Transcript of the Author Meets Critics session for Hatim Rahman's award-winning book "Inside the Invisible Cage" with Lindsey Cameron and Steven Vallas now available on the WIP blog at: www.wipsociology.org/2025/05/20/a...
How has Elon Musk's gamified mindset reprogrammed power in tech firms—and now in the state itself? Sociologist Tongyu Wu draws on the framework of her new book, "Play to Submission: Gaming Capitalism in a Tech Firm" to examine this phenomenon at the Work In Progress blog.
Play, obey, submit: How Elon Musk’s gamer brain conquered Silicon Valley—and now America – Work in Progress
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