A sociology graduate of Antioch College, Ohio (Bachelor), and Northwestern University, Illinois (Master of Arts & Doctor of Philosophy), she is an Honorary Professor of the University of Warwick, England and Visiting Professor of Birkbeck, University of London.
Currently, Professor Emerita of History, Sociology and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan, she held the position of Natalie Zemon Davis Collegiate Professor of History, Sociology, and Women"s Studies, from 2002 until her retirement in 2006. Rose is an expert in the role of gender identity in British history, with a particular emphasis on the role of the woman in industrial development during the 19th and 20th centuries, and domestically during World World War World War II She has conducted detailed research into the capitalist society, industrialization and the role of women in factories during these periods, including an insight into the age of women with children working in factories, in professions such as lace clipping in Nottinghamshire. Historian Angela Woollacott notes that according to Rose, class and gender are not separate systems or structures in 19th century industrial England, but the "content of class relations is gendered and the content of gender distinctions and gender relations is "classed"".
Rose has also commented on the roles of civic republicanism and citizenship during World World War World War II: national identity and citizenship in Britain, 1939-1945 (2003).
Other works include "Gender at work": Sex, class and industrial capitalism and Which people"s war?.
