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Overcoming the flexible work stigma


Last updated March 3, 2014

By News administrator

work-from-home

Sociology professor Christin Munsch is looking at attitudes toward flexible work schedules.

Furman sociology professor Christin Munsch has been conducting research on “flexible work arrangements” and how they are viewed in the workplace. She discovered that while most people have favorable attitudes about flexible work and the people who request it, they mistakenly believe other people hold unfavorable attitudes. As a result, people tend to publicly express unfavorable attitudes toward flexible work situations despite their personal beliefs.

Munsch, along with Stanford sociologist Cecilia Ridgeway and UC Hastings Law Professor Joan Williams, completed a series of experiments to better understand the mechanisms producing the flexibility stigma—along with possible solutions for lessening it. Their findings were published in the February issue of Work & Occupations and in Stanford University’s Gender News.

Munsch joined the Furman sociology faculty this fall.  A graduate of the University of Virginia, she holds a M.S. degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Ph.D. from Cornell University.  She completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Stanford’s Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research. Her current research focuses on the social psychological underpinnings of gender inequality in work and in families.

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