Eli Wilson
Assistant Professor
Organizations, Information & Learning Sciences, University of New Mexico
- Email:
- erwilson18@unm.edu
- Office:
- SSCI 1076
- Website
Education
PhD, Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles (2017)
Research Interests
Race and Ethnicity, Inequality, Culture
Work and Occupations, Immigration, EthnographyResearch Statement:
Books:
Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us
Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us takes readers on a lively journey through the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of the modern beer world. This book illustrates that beer is far more than a beverage. As a finely-crafted cultural product, beer can be a part of our identity, a source of pleasure and camaraderie, an object of connoisseurship, and a livelihood for those who are behind the beer itself. Drawing on leading sociological and psychological perspectives, the authors argue that our enduring relationship with beer reflects the very roots of our society, including its collective values and norms, power structures, and persistent inequities based on race, gender, sexuality, and social class. Beer and Society explores beer as an embodiment of who we are and a force to energize social change.
Wilson, Eli R. and Asa B. Stone. 2022. Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us. Rowman & Littlefield.
Available for purchase here.
Front of the House, Back of the House: Race and Inequality in the Lives of Restaurant Workers
Two unequal worlds of work exist within the upscale restaurant scene of Los Angeles. White, college-educated servers operate in the front of the house—also known as the public areas of the restaurant—while Latino immigrants toil in the back of the house and out of customer view.
In Front of the House, Back of the House, Eli Revelle Yano Wilson shows us what keeps these workers apart, exploring race, class, and gender inequalities in the food service industry.
Drawing on research at three different high-end restaurants in Los Angeles, Wilson highlights why these inequalities persist in the twenty-first century, pointing to discriminatory hiring and supervisory practices that ultimately grant educated whites access to the most desirable positions. Additionally, he shows us how workers navigate these inequalities under the same roof, making sense of their jobs, their identities, and each other in a world that reinforces their separateness.
Front of the House, Back of the House takes us behind the scenes of the food service industry, providing a window into the unequal lives of white and Latino restaurant workers.
Front of the House, Back of the House was awarded 'Outstanding Academic Title' by Choice Magazine in 2021 along with recieving an honorable mention from Komarovsky Book Award from the Eastern Sociological Society.
Available for purchase here.
Recent/Select Publications:
Wilson, Eli R. "Privileging Passion: How the Cultural Logic of Work Perpetuates Social Inequality in the Craft Beer Industry." Socius 8: 1-12. DOI: 10.1177/23780231221121064.
Wilson Eli R. “'It Could Never Be About Just Beer': Race, Gender, and Marked Professional Identity in Craft Beer.” Journal of Professions and Organization. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpo/joac010.
Wilson, Eli R. "Privileging Passion: How the Cultural Logic of Work Perpetuates Social Inequality in the Craft Beer Industry." Socius 8: 1-12. DOI: 10.1177/23780231221121064.
Wilson, Eli R. and David Schieber. 2022. “Sticking to it or Opting Out: Managing Contested Work Identities in Nonstandard Work.” Qualitative Sociology. https://link-springer-com.libproxy.unm.edu/article/10.1007/s11133-021-09506-y
Wilson, Eli R. 2021. "Panethnic Boundaries and the Making of White-Collar Minority Identity in Hawaii‘i. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2021.1960805
Awards:
- Outstanding Academic Title 2021, Choice Magazine, American Library Association
- Honorable Mention, Komarovski Book Award 2022, Eastern Sociological Association.