
Photo by Douglas Levere
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology
University at Buffalo
404 Park Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260
(716) 645-8476
Erin Hatton, Ph.D.
I am an associate professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. My research is centered in the sociology of work, while also extending into the fields of race and gender, culture, labor, law, and social policy.
My recent book, Coerced: Work Under Threat of Punishment (University of California Press, 2020), analyzes four very different groups of workers: incarcerated, workfare, college athlete, and graduate student workers. Drawing on more than 120 in-depth interviews across these four groups, in this book I uncover a new form of labor coercion--"status coercion"--and analyze its consequences for workers in America.
I am also editor of the recent book Labor and Punishment: Work In and Out of Prison (UC Press, 2021). This interdisciplinary volume examines the multiple and multi-directional intersections between the carceral state and labor and employment in the U.S. today.
My first book, The Temp Economy: From Kelly Girls to Permatemps in Postwar America (Temple University Press, 2011), weaves together gender, race, class, and work in a cultural analysis of the temporary help industry and the rise of the new economy. The Temp Economy won an Honorable Mention for the Distinguished Scholarly Monograph Award from the American Sociological Association's Labor & Labor Movements Section.
RECENT & FORTHCOMING
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Coerced was featured at the Newberry Library's "Big Book Event" in October
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Get 30% off Coerced with code 17M6662 at UC Press
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Labor and Punishment is out! Get 30% off with code 17M6662 at UC Press
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Listen to my talk about Coerced for Punishment & Society's digital lecture series
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NewScientist names Coerced one of "the best new books, films and games" in 2020
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Choice names Coerced as one of 2020's Outstanding Academic Titles
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Coerced is #57 on BookAuthority's list of "100 Best Labor Books of All Time"
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Check out Stacey Robinson's *amazing* artwork inspired by Coerced

THE TEMP ECONOMY
"This landmark study is essential for experts and laypersons seeking to understand the twentieth century's wide-scale transformation of work."
-Irene Padavic, author of Women and Men at Work
"This book is a must-read for students of organizations, occupations, and work; labor markets and unions; sex and gender; and economic sociology."
-Contemporary Sociology
"A detailed, lively, and convincing account. I appreciate this book not only for the content but also for the fine example of how to write qualitative analysis."
-Work and Occupations
"This interesting book is useful for scholars interested in gender, work and occupations, labor organizing, the economy, and research methods... The book is ideal for showing the explanatory power of content analyses."
-Gender & Society