#  Katherine Kang-Ning Chen 

 

 



   ![chen](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/sociology/files/katherine-chen.jpg?itok=di2GkIqG) 

 



 

 laptop\_windows [Katherine Chen's Website](https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/profiles/katherine-chen) 

 

 



 

 (Sociology, June 2004)  
*Thesis Title:* The Burning Man Organization Grows Up: Blending Bureaucratic and Alternative Structures  
*Committee:* Peter V. Marsden (chair), J. Richard Hackman, David John Frank  
*Initial Placement:* Postdoctoral Fellow, Derek Bok Teaching Center, Harvard University  
*Current Position:* [Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, The City College of New York](https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/profiles/katherine-chen)

 Katherine K. Chen’s research specialty is the study of organizations; her other research interests include work and occupations, economic sociology, social movements, urban community, and cultural sociology. Her ethnographic studies include research on the growing organization behind the annual [Burning Man event](http://www.burningman.com/). Her award-winning book, [*Enabling Creative Chaos: The Organization Behind the Burning Man Event*](http://www.enablingcreativechaos.com/)*,* shows how an enabling organization can support members’ efforts without succumbing to either under-organizing’s insufficient structure and coordination or over-organizing’s excessive structure and coercive control



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Alumni Position Type
    
     [R1](/alumni-position-type/r1)
- ## Early Placement (Alumni only)
    
     [Postdoctoral Fellow](/early-placement-alumni-only/postdoctoral-fellow)
- ## Alumni category (for alumni profiles only)
    
     [Doctor of Philosophy](/profile-alumni/doctor-philosophy)