Dr. Zsuzsa Gille

My research lies at the intersection of transnational sociology (with a focus on the European Union andpostsocialist countries), environmental sociology, and the sociology of consumption. Rather than constituting myself as a narrowly focused specialist in these subdisciplines, I make them speak to each other in ways that open up new research directions. My empirical inquiries have been motivated by theoretical questions concerning the nature of local-global relations, the role cultureplays in large-scale social transformations, and the role of nature and thematerial object world in shaping society. I pursue these questions empirically in my qualitative and historical research, which explores the relationship between identity politics and economic grievances that emerge from the effect of globalization and EU legal harmonization in the areas of the environment andagriculture. I am particularly interested in environmental, safety and ethical standards in food production and their effects on economic inequality. Most recently I have turned to the investigation of materiality, that is how nature and the object world help shape society. The methodological approach I apply, which is informed by the extended case method,relational comparison and global ethnography, allows me to study individualcases in great depth while at the same time tying them to large-scale social transformations.