From the Factory Floor to the Retail Aisle
Reconstructing Burawoy’s Labor Politics in the Age of Merchant Capital
Critical Sociology (2026)
Read articleEileen M. Otis
Associate Professor of Sociology and
International Affairs
Northeastern University
I am a sociologist whose research examines labor, organizations, gender, and political economy through ethnographic studies.
More about my work
Walmart: Made in China
Based on years of ethnographic research in Walmart stores across China, Walmart: Made in China offers a rare inside look at how Walmart adapted its retail operations to China and how workers negotiated labor, legality, surveillance, and power while managing the ceaseless flow of commodities across the service floor.
Learn more“Eileen Otis’s ethnography of Walmart in China reveals how value is made—and contested—on the selling floor. A deeply original contribution that offers a rare, humane look at globalization from the shop floor.”
Selected Writing
Walmart: Made in China
An essay on retail work and global capitalism
Work in Progress
Read essayMarkets and Bodies
Women, Service Work and the Making of Inequality in China
Stanford University Press, 2011
Learn moreTeaching
Courses include Sociology of Gender, Sociology of Work, and International Affairs Capstone.