I am currently working on two major streams of research. The first stream, my work in cultural sociology and organizations, considers the process of defining boundaries in culture. I am currently revising my dissertation research for publication as "From Open Spaces to Popular Culture: The National Trust and the Transformation British National Heritage, 1895-2003". This research, conducted under the direction of Stanley Lieberson, Mary Waters and Victoria Alexander, examines how definitions of national culture are produced and transformed over time.

This project considers the special role that the non-profit organizational form plays in the process of producing, framing and defining culture.  In particular, I show how organizational processes impact on how certain cultural products, and not others, come to be defined as legitimate forms of national heritage and thus worthy of preservation.  My findings suggest that the need for resources and concerns about organizational legitimacy have resulted in the transformation over time of both the definition of national heritage and the types of cultural products that are preserved in its name.

Over the last few years I have also developed a research interest and expertise in the study of work and life balance.  My current research project in this area uses survey, interview and focus group data to examine attitudes toward work and life integration across generational groupings. The survey data is derived from the Life’s Work national survey, a project I directed while at the Radcliffe Public Policy Center. The question of particular interest in this research is: have those who have come of age during the last several decades, a time of profound change for both the American family and the American workplace, developed markedly different attitudes toward work, life, and family than their older counterparts? So far my research is showing that, for a variety of reasons, young people’s attitudes—and especially the attitudes of young men—toward work-family balance are markedly different than those of their parents and grandparents.  I am in the process of revising two conference papers on this topic for publication.