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Sharon Mastracci

Professor of Political Science, University of Utah
Chapter Member: Utah SSN
Areas of Expertise:

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About Sharon

Mastracci's research focuses on the experience of working in the public sector and covers such topics as emotional labor and gender.

Contributions

In the News

Sharon Mastracci's research on Katie J.M. Baker, "Weight Watcher's Female Leaders are Devoted, Underpaid," Jezebel, February 26, 2013.

Publications

"Public Agencies, Gendered Organizations: The Future of Gender Studies in Public Management" (with Lauren Bowman). Public Management Review 17, no. 6 (2015): 857-875.

Concludes with a discussion of research projects taking a gendered-organizations approach and propose topics for further inquiry.

"Emotional Labor in Crisis Response" (with Mary E. Guy and Meredith A. Newman) (ME Sharpe, Inc, 2012).

The author's of the award-winning Emotional Labor now go inside the stressful world of suicide, rape, and domestic hotline workers, EMTs, triage nurses, and agency/deparment  spokespersons, to provide powerful insights into how emotional labor is actually exerted by public servants who face the gravest challenges.

"Emotional Labor: Putting the Service in Public Service" (with Marry Ellen Guy and Meredith A. Newman) (Business & Economics, 2008).

Most public service jobs require interpersonal contact that is either face-to-face or voice-to- voice-relational work that goes beyond testable job skills but is essential for job completion.  This unique book focuses on this emotional labor and what it takes to perform it. The authors  weave a powerful narrative of stories from the trenches gleaned through interviews, focus  groups, and survey data. They go beyond the veneer of service delivery to the real, live,  person-to-person interactions that give meaning to public service. 

"Breaking Out of the Pink-Collar Ghetto: Policy Solutions for Non-College Women" (Routledge Press, 2016).

reports on the successes of innovative training opportunities for non-college women who end up in low-paying, low-mobility, pink-collar jobs. The author examines the relative effectiveness of various programs in helping these women gain access to high-wage, high-mobility employment opportunities.