Ray was originally a History major and later decided to specialize in sociology due to her interest in issues of unequal power and her desire to solve social inequalities.

When discussing obstacles in her education and career, as a woman of color, Ray highlights that this was not something she experienced (in India) until she moved to the United States.

She has highlighted the lack of critique of postcolonial theory, due to ‘sociology’s attachment to its own modernist foundations and to universalism’.

[4] Ray argues that the ‘founding fathers of sociology’ (Marx, Weber, Durkheim) have overlooked the importance of colonialism in the making of European modernity.

This struggle between North-South impacts the idea of ‘global sisterhood’ and creates social and economic divides between former colonies and former colonizers.

[4] She continues, "colonialist representations shape contemporary understandings in Europe and North America about gender relations in postcolonial countries".

[4] Ray asserts that these images misrepresent the women and men of postcolonial countries because they are rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of gender in these parts of the world.

Both her personal life and later professional specializations have been influenced by political events such as ‘violence, social movements that inspire, the rise of the Right’.

[4] More specifically, she cites Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Pierre Bourdieu, and Nancy Fraser as having had a profound influence on her work, as well has her teachers, students, colleagues such as Michael Burawoy and the late Saba Mahmood.

Ray argues that, while ample intersectionality scholarship is devoted to exploring the concept of ‘femininity’, the same task has not been adequately performed regarding ‘masculinity’.

According to Ray, as household structures have shifted and the premise of the family wage has declined in Post-Fordist economies, male class and gender identities are seen and felt to be increasingly precarious.