Stephanie M. Ortiz, Ph.D.

I’m an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.

I earned my PhD in Sociology at Texas A&M University in 2020, and MA in Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University in 2014.

CV

Race, Gender, & Inequality in Everyday Life

I’m a sociologist specializing in the everyday reproduction of racism and sexism.

I use qualitative methods to explore how social actors make meaning of racial and gender inequalities in higher education, at work, across digital spaces, and in their intimate relationships. I’m especially interested in how emotional labor provides a mechanism for those inequalities to persist.

I show how those meanings inform the strategies and ideologies people develop to uphold or challenge the social order. My research reveals how racism and sexism—as systems of oppression—are produced, sustained, and resisted within everyday life.

Sample Publications

Sociology Compass

“Beyond Reverse Racism: A Research Note on How White College Students Construct the Myth of Silencing in the Classroom.”

Du Bois Review

“There is Queer Inequity, but I Pick to be Happy: Racialized Feeling Rules and Diversity Regimes in University LGBTQ Resource Centers”

Feminist Media Studies

““If Something Ever Happened, I’d Have No One to Tell:” How Online Sexism Perpetuates Young Women’s Silence”

Ethnic and Racial Studies

“Racists without racism? From Colourblind to Entitlement Racism Online”

Sexuality & Culture

“Women Partners, Feeling Rules, and the Gendered Consequences of Porn Addiction”

New Media & Society

“The Meanings of Racist and Sexist Trash Talk for Men of Color: A Cultural Sociological Approach to Studying Gaming Culture”