research overview
- Professor Ashcraft's research examines how relations of difference, such as gender and race, come to matter in work and organizational life. She addresses a range of contexts, from bureaucratic and alternative forms of organizing to specific industries, spanning occupations as diverse as commercial aviation, social services, and academic labor. Her work has appeared in such outlets as Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization, and Communication Monographs, as well as in two co-authored books, Reworking Gender (Sage, 2004) and The Work of Communication (Routledge, 2017). She received the 2013 Best Article of the Year award from the Academy of Management Review for her formulation of the “glass slipper,” which captures how communication generates occupational identity and professional privilege through bodily association. Her current work considers how new materialisms can enrich communication theory and practice amid contemporary capitalism.
