Jonathan Schunnesson

I teach and learn about contemporary work life, drawing on qualitative fieldwork and social theory to understand problems around meaning and (un)freedom in the workplace.

In my dissertation, I studied how young professionals navigate early careers by pursuing flexibility and opportunity, often at the cost of stability and connection, to avoid making commitments that might limit their future. This approach appears liberating, but demands a focus on performance over substance and motion over direction.

These tensions run through my current project, where I am studying how social relations at work are changing under hybrid work arrangements. Together with my colleagues, I examine how work narrows and relations thin as workplaces become less like shared spaces and more like spaces to share.