Within this period, she worked as a lecturer in the Department of sociology, Anthropology, and Economics at State University of New York, Purchase.
In 1998, she became an associate professor in sociology and women's studies at University of California, Irvine.
[5][6] Naples has been chair of organisations, including the Race, Gender and Class Section of the American Sociological Association, the Discrimination Committee of Sociologists for Women in Society, and the Conflict, Social Action and Change Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems.
[8] Naples works with ethnographic, discourse analysis, archival, and comparative research methods to explore the connection between social actors and economic and political structures and policies.
[9] Her work has addressed rural economic development, community activism, globalization, and welfare.