Krista Brumley

Faculty Profile

Associate Professor
dx4900@wayne.edu

Fax

313-577-2930

Office

2265 Faculty/Administration Building

Biography

Krista M. Brumley is associate professor of sociology at Wayne State University. Her research focuses on gender, the work-family nexus, and organizations in the U.S. and Mexico. She is the principal investigator on a NSF RAPID grant that uses mixed methods (surveys and interviews) to assess work, family, and social well-being among dual-income couples within the context of COVID-19. Another study examines how U.S. workplace conditions affect employee experiences and work-family conflict among mothers and fathers who hold managerial and professional positions in the automotive industry. This qualitative study pays particular attention to flexible work arrangements and the mental load of the division of household labor. Her earlier research involves two extensive qualitative fieldwork studies in Mexico. One examines gendered organizational change post-NAFTA at a Mexican-owned multinational manufacturing corporation. The other is a case study of non-governmental organizations and political participation in Monterrey, Mexico.

She has published on these topics in Society and Mental Health, Community, Work, and Family, Gender & Society, Social Currents, Sociological Focus, Gender, Work and Organizations, the Journal of Family Issues, and the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography.

She also serves as the principal investigator on the National Science Foundation ADVANCE ADAPTATION: Gender Equity Advances Retention in STEM grant (WSU-GEARS) and is PI on the ADVANCE PARTNERSHIP: STEM Intersectional Equity in Departments (SIEDS): A Partnership for Inclusive Work Cultures, with Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, and Wayne State University.

She received her PhD in Sociology in 2004 from Tulane University. She also has a Master's of Public Health from Tulane University, and earned her BA in Political Science from SUNY-Oswego.

Selected publications

  • Montazer, Shirin, Laura Pineault, Krista M. Brumley, Katheryn Maguire, and Boris Baltes. 2023. "Social Change in the Turbulent Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impacts of Work-related Demands on Work-to-Family Conflict, Mastery, and Psychological Distress." Society and Mental Health. doi.org/10.1177/211568693231218256.
  • Montazer, Shirin, Krista Brumley, Laura Pineault, Katheryn Maguire, and Boris Baltes. 2022. "COVID-19 Onset, Parental Status and Psychological Distress among Full-Time Employed Heterosexual Adults in Dual-Earning Relationships: The Explanatory Role of Work-family Conflict and Guilt." Society and Mental Health. DOI: 10.1177/21568693221096189.
  • Brumley, Krista M. and Megan St. George. 2023. "Behind the Scenes: Gendered Household Labor Schemas of Managers and Helpers." Community, Work, and Family. doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2023.2236290.
  • Brumley, Krista M. and Megan E. St. George. 2022. "Rules of Engagement: Flexplace and Ideal Workers." Social Currents 9(6):573-591.
  • Brumley, Krista M., Katheryn Maguire, and Shirin Montazer. 2021. "The Paradox of Time: Work, Family, Conflict, and the Social Construction of Time." Sociological Focus 54(4):310-330.
  • Montazer, Shirin, Krista M. Brumley, and Katheryn Maguire. 2020. “Overnight work-travel, work-to-family conflict, and psychological distress. The Social Science Journal. DOI: 10.1080/03623319.2020.1756175
  • Brumley, Krista M. 2018. "'It's more appropriate for men:" Management and worker perceptions of the gendered ideal worker." Sociological Spectrum 38(6):406-421
  • Brumley, Krista M. 2018. "Involved Fathers, Ideal Workers? Fathers' work-family experiences in the U.S." Comparative Perspectives in Family Research (Fathers, Childcare, and Work: Cultures, Practices, and Policies) Vol. 12:209-232
  • Brumley, Krista M. 2014. “The gendered ideal worker narrative: Professional women’s and men’s work experiences in the new economy at a Mexican company.” Gender & Society 28(6): 799-823
  • Brumley, Krista M. 2014. “‘You care for your work; I’ll care for your family:’ Perceptions of managerial behavior at a Mexican company.” Community, Work & Family 17(4)467-485
  • Brumley, Krista M. 2014. “Organizational commitment over the gendered life course at a Mexican company.” Sociological Inquiry 84(4):601-625
  • Brumley, Krista M. 2014. “‘Now, we have the same rights as men to keep our jobs:’ Gendered perceptions of opportunity and obstacles in a Mexican workplace.” Gender, Work, & Organization 21(3):217-230
  • Brumley, Krista M. 2014. ‘It was like a revolution:’ Women’s perceptions of work-family practices at a Mexican multinational corporation.” The Journal of Family Issues 35(6):776-807.

Research Description

My research uses qualitative methods to study gender, work, organizations, social movements, and globalization in Mexico. I conducted ethnographic field research at a Mexican multinational company, including in-depth interviews, participant observation, and archival research. My earlier research was an extensive case study of non-governmental organizations and political participation in Monterrey, Mexico. My current research project is a qualitative case study of employees in professional, managerial, and executive level positions who work at major manufacturing multinational companies in the Detroit metro area. This research grows out of my interest on gendered work organizations, particularly as the increasingly unregulated global economy disrupts and complicates everyday life. The study examines the meanings employees’ attach to work and their career, and how they balance this with their family and other responsibilities outside of work.

Affiliated Departments