About Me

I am a PhD candidate in Sociology at Boston University. My research areas are economic sociology, organizations, culture, urban sociology, political sociology, and social psychology.

Dissertation Research

How does identity shape market competition in creative industries? My dissertation analyzes the film and television industry in Turkey across micro, meso, and macro levels, examining how culture, identity, and market structures influence investment strategies and outcomes in a field where symbolic value and competition intersect.

Committee: Jonathan Mijs (Chair), Alya Guseva, Neha Gondal, Ezra Zuckerman

Publications

Girgin, Yasemin, and Tuna Kuyucu. 2024. “ “My tears have dried from crying, I want to laugh now!”: Role Diversification Patterns and Gendered Accumulation of Status in the TV-Acting Field in Turkey” The Sociological Quarterly.

Mijs, Jonathan J. B., and Yasemin Girgin. 2024. “Review of ‘The Accidental Equalizer: How Luck Determines Pay After College.’” Social Forces.

Works in Progress

• Symbolic Annexations: Politics of Gentrification and Cultural Contestation in Istanbul (Under Review)
• Attention Capital as Legitimacy Broker (In preparation)

Teaching Experience

Teaching Fellow at Boston University

• Advanced Research Practicum (Spring 2025)
• Introduction to Sociology (Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024)
• Sociology of Gender (Summer 2023, Summer 2024)

Research Experience

Research Assistant

• Pricing and Valuation in Comic Book Markets. Supervisor: Joseph Harris (May 2025 - Present)
• “Digital Public Diplomacy of Terrorist Organizations: Cases of Syria & Iraq”, funded by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey). Supervisor: Akın Ünver (June 2021– August 2022)
• “The Effects of COVID-19 Uncertainty on Social, Economic, and Political Behavioral Patterns: Role of Risk Perception”, funded by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey). Supervisor: Arhan S. Ertan (July 2020 – February 2021)

Conference Presentations

• August 2025, “Attention as Legitimacy Broker”, OOW Session on Future of Work, ASA Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA
• March 2025, “Echoes of Glory: How Culture Shapes Political Narratives of Nostalgia”, ESS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, USA
• June 2023, “Gendered Accumulation of Status in the Field of Acting”, 15th INAS Conference, Princeton University, NJ, USA
• February 2021, “Role Diversification Patterns and Relational Dynamics of the TV Acting Field in Turkey”, ISA IV. Forum of Sociology, Online Conference.
• June 2019, “Actors’ Career Trajectories”, 3rd National Congress of Relational Social Science, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Professional Service

• July 2025 - Present, Graduate Student Representative-at-Large, Sociology Department, Boston University.
• May 2023 - Present, Editorial Board Member, ASA Economic Sociology Section Newsletter, ACCOUNTS.