Her research focuses on how African Americans think about inequality and social mobility in the post-Civil Rights Era, including their experiences with racism and discrimination and urban inequality. She is the co-author of Getting Respect: Responding to Stigma and Discrimination in the United States, Brazil and Israel (Princeton University Press 2016), which compares how African Americans, black Brazilians, Ethiopian Jews, Mizrahi Jews and Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel respond to racism and discrimination. In addition, she is currently working on another book focusing on the experiences of African Americans in Detroit, MI. The book explores how African Americans navigate severe urban decline and public sector contraction, and how this shapes their broader ideas about inequality and social mobility.