Author: Mary Romero

  • Critical Race Theory

    Critical Race Theory

    In this contribution to the Cambridge Handbook of Sociology, Mary Romero provides a comprehensive overview of critical race theory as an analytical framework for sociological research. The chapter traces the intellectual origins of CRT in legal scholarship and charts its expansion into sociology, education, and other disciplines where it has become an essential tool for analyzing systemic racism.

    Romero examines how CRT’s core tenets — the permanence of racism, interest convergence, the social construction of race, intersectionality, and counter-storytelling — have been applied to empirical research questions across a range of social institutions. The chapter pays particular attention to how CRT intersects with Latina/o critical theory (LatCrit) and other frameworks that center the experiences of communities of color.

  • The Ghosts of Bisbee

    The Ghosts of Bisbee

    Bisbee, Arizona was once a thriving copper mining town — until 1917, when over a thousand striking miners and their supporters were rounded up at gunpoint, loaded into cattle cars, and deported to the New Mexico desert. In The Ghosts of Bisbee, Eric Margolis and Mary Romero revisit this largely forgotten episode of American labor history, examining how the memory of the Bisbee Deportation haunts the town and the nation.

    The article combines historical research with visual documentation to explore how places carry the traces of past violence, and how communities choose to remember or forget the conflicts that shaped them. The authors find in Bisbee a microcosm of larger American struggles over labor rights, corporate power, and the suppression of dissent.

  • The Maid’s Daughter: Living Inside and Outside the American Dream

    The Maid’s Daughter: Living Inside and Outside the American Dream

    The Maid’s Daughter offers a complex rendering of the upbringing of Olivia — the daughter of a live-in maid to a wealthy family. This ethnographic study traces how Olivia navigated between two worlds: the affluent household where her mother worked and the working-class community where she grew up.

    “Romero gives us an intimate portrait of how class, race, and gender intersect in the daily lives of domestic workers and their families, illuminating the hidden costs of care work and the resilience of those who perform it.”

    Winner of the Americo Paredes Book Award and 2012 Distinguished Book Award — Honorable Mention from the ASA Latin@ Sociology Section.

    Author: Mary Romero Publisher: NYU Press Year: 2011 (paperback 2012)
  • Research Handbook on Intersectionality

    Research Handbook on Intersectionality

    Critical intersectional scholarship enhances researchers’ and scholar-activists’ ability to open novel research frontiers. This forward-thinking Research Handbook demonstrates how to pursue fluid and innovative research approaches that address the complexities of social inequality.

    As editor, Mary Romero brings together leading scholars to examine how intersectionality as an analytical framework can be applied across disciplines to produce more nuanced and comprehensive understandings of power, privilege, and inequality.

    Editor: Mary Romero Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Series: Research Handbooks in Sociology Year: 2023
  • Introducing Intersectionality

    Introducing Intersectionality

    Introducing Intersectionality addresses how to understand social inequality by considering race, class, and gender in tandem, along with sexuality, citizenship, and ableism. The book demonstrates how inclusive analysis of domination moves toward solutions for diverse populations.

    “Romero provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the concept of intersectionality and its application to understanding the complex ways in which social identities and systems of power interact to shape individual experiences and social structures.”

    Now in its second edition (2025), this essential text continues to serve as a key resource for students and scholars across the social sciences.

    Author: Mary Romero Publisher: Polity Press, Cambridge Year: 2018 (2nd edition 2025)
  • Maid in the U.S.A.

    Maid in the U.S.A.

    Maid in the U.S.A. is a groundbreaking study of Chicana domestic workers that examines the unequal distribution of reproductive labor as a paid commodity and its role in reproducing social inequality.

    “Romero’s pioneering work transformed the study of domestic labor, revealing how race, class, and gender intersect in the most intimate spaces of American life. This book remains essential reading for understanding care work and social inequality.”

    The Tenth Anniversary Edition (2002) includes a new introduction and afterword by Dorothy Smith. The book has been widely reprinted and cited across sociology, feminist studies, and labor studies.

    Author: Mary Romero Publisher: Routledge (1992; Tenth Anniversary Edition 2002) Year: 1992

  • When Care Work Goes Global

    When Care Work Goes Global locates the social relations of domestic work in a global context. Co-edited with Valerie Preston and Wenona Giles, this volume examines how care work is organized, experienced, and contested across national borders.

    The book brings together international scholars to analyze the migration of domestic workers, the globalization of care chains, and the political economy of reproductive labor.

    Editors: Mary Romero, Valerie Preston & Wenona Giles Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Surrey Year: 2014

  • Interdisciplinary and Social Justice

    Interdisciplinary and Social Justice: Revisioning Academic Accountability examines how social justice commitments can reshape academic practice. Co-edited with Joseph Parker and Ranu Samantrai.

    The volume brings together scholars from across disciplines to explore how interdisciplinary approaches can advance social justice goals within and beyond the academy.

    Editors: Mary Romero, Joseph Parker & Ranu Samantrai Publisher: SUNY Press, Albany, NY Year: 2010

  • Latino/a Popular Culture

    Latino/a Popular Culture examines the role of popular culture in shaping Latino/a identity, community, and politics in the United States. Co-edited with Michelle Habell-Pallán.

    Editors: Mary Romero & Michelle Habell-Pallán Publisher: NYU Press Year: 2002

  • Women’s Untold Stories

    Women’s Untold Stories: Breaking Silence, Talking Back, Voicing Complexity. Co-edited with Abigail J. Stewart, this collection amplifies women’s voices and experiences that have been marginalized in academic and public discourse.

    Editors: Mary Romero & Abigail J. Stewart Publisher: Routledge Year: 1999