Where platforms, power, and care collide

publications

Books

  • Stein, K. (In progress). And How Does That Make You Feel? Theratainment and the Digital Commodification of Mental Health. University of California Press (Economics and Technology Studies).

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

  • Stein, K., & Gray, K. (2026). “Not a detour from rigor”: Teaching as care, organizing, and collective world-making. Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture, 26(1), 1–17. Invited commentary; selected to lead issue.
  • Stein, K. (2023). YOU BETTER WORK! Drag Queen performativity and visibility on #dragqueen TikTok. Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture, 8(2), 139–157.
  • Stein, K., Yao, Y., & Aitamurto, T. (2022). Examining communicative forms in #TikTokDocs’ sexual health videos. International Journal of Communication, 16, 1309–1331.
  • Psarras, E., Stein, K., & Shah, P. (2021). “You’re not here for the right reasons!” From The Bachelorette to Instagram influencer. Feminist Media Studies, 23(2), 571–578.
  • Gray, K., & Stein, K. (2021). “We ‘said her name’ and got zucked”: Black women calling out the carceral logics of digital platforms. Gender & Society, 35(4).
  • Stein, K. (2021). What do TV, rhetorical analysis, and Black men living on the down low all have in common? The Oprah Winfrey Show. Popular Culture Studies Journal, 9(1), 321–338.
  • Aitamurto, T., Stevenson Won, A., Sakshuwong, S., Kim, B., Sadeghi, Y., Stein, K., Royal, R., & Kircos, C. (2021). From FOMO to JOMO: Fear and joy of missing out in 360° video viewing experiences. Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’21). ACM.
  • Stein, K. (2016). The taming of homosexuality on the popular sitcom Will & Grace. Popular Culture Studies Journal, 4(1–2), 212–239.
  • Stein, K. (2016). Developing and implementing a flipped classroom for business communication. Journal for Research and Practice in College Teaching, 1(1).
  • Jennings, N., Gruber, F., Lahusen, S., Hildebrand, E., Koray, S., Baykal, G. E., Gomez, P., Toro, Y., Klempin, A., Sirichotchumnarn, P., Warinnet, T., Talbot, S., Stein, K., & Götz, M. (2016). What shapes myself. TELEVIZION, 29, 14–19.

Book Chapters

  • Stein, K. (2028, anticipated). [Provisional title TBD]. In D. Jaramillo-Dent, D. Craig, J. Lin, T. Divon, & C. Goanta (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Creator and Influencer Studies. Routledge. Invited contributor.
  • DeVeaux, C., Gray, K. L., Stein, K., & Frey, W. R. (2027). Techno-ratchery: How Cita’s World innovated Black digital engagement. In A. S. Halliday (Ed.), A 90s Kind of World: Black Girls’ and Women’s Popular Culture. University of Illinois Press.

Research Methods and Reference Entries

  • Stein, K. (2026). Visualizing visibility: Inclusive methodologies for analyzing race, gender, and algorithmic bias in Drag Queen TikTok videos. In SAGE Research Methods Case Collection. SAGE Publications. Invited contributor.
  • Stein, K. (2025). Shaping body image: The influence of reality television and social media. In The American Mosaic: Women’s History in the United States. Bloomsbury / ABC-CLIO. Invited contributor.

Reviews

  • Stein, K. (2022). Review of Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need by Sasha Costanza-Chock. Communication Research Trends, 41(2), 17–19.
  • Stein, K. (2022). Review of #HashtagActivism by Sarah Jackson, Moya Bailey, and Brooke Foucault Welles. Television & New Media, 24(2), 242–244.
  • Stein, K. (2022). Review of Custodians of the Internet by Tarleton Gillespie. International Journal of Communication, 16, 2387–2389.
  • Stein, K. (2021). Review of How Artifacts Afford by Jenny Davis. Communication Research Trends, 40(1), 36–37.
  • Stein, K. (2020). Review of Games Girls Play by Carolyn Cunningham. Communication Research Trends, 39(4), 36–38.

Columns, Interviews, and Video Essays

  • Stein, K., & Reinhard, C. (2023). Fandom during the pandemic: Impacts of COVID-19 on people’s fandom experiences. Popular Culture Studies Journal, 11(1), 123–129.
  • Stein, K. (2020). “That is fiiiiiierce!” Drag queen culture on TikTok. In Media Res (TikTok Theme Week).
  • Stein, K., & Talbot, S. (2016). Identity, family, and the documentary I Am Leo: A conversation with Kez Margerie. TELEVIZION, 29, 31–32.
  • Stein, K., & Talbot, S. (2016). “When transgenderism isn’t a taboo…” A conversation with Els Van Driel. TELEVIZION, 29, 36–37.

Works in Progress
Articles in Revision

  • Maddox, J., Reynolds, C., Stein, K., & Bendefaa, N. In defense of qualitative description: Reclaiming “small t” theory as a site of knowledge advancement. Communication Theory (in revision).
  • Schellewald, A., Stein, K., Siles, I., Firth, E., & Maddox, J. This program was brought to you by the algorithm: Rethinking television via TikTok. Convergence (in revision).
  • Stein, K., & Navar-Gill, A. Lana Knows Best: Reality television and the rise of the technochauvinist imagination. Journal of Cinema and Media Studies (in revision).
  • Stein, K., & Rauchberg, J. Disabled academics know: Co-reflections on crip spacetime, conferencing, and the labor of showing up. Journal of Autoethnography (in revision).
  • Stein, K., & Taylor, Z. From screen to store: Exploring the reality TV to influencer pipeline on Love Island. Television & New Media (in revision).
  • Stein, K. Candy-colored control: Technofemme aesthetics from bedrooms to platforms. Feminist Media Histories (in revision).
  • Stein, K. Scrolling for sanity: How TikTok’s platform politics shape mental health creators. European Journal of Cultural Studies (in revision).

Articles Under Review

  • Stein, K. Humilitainment 2.0: Crime as clickbait and the digital amplification of policing and punishment on COPSTV. Popular Communication (under review).