This study is the first to chart the national scope of the criminal prosecution of incarcerated people and to investigate the consequences of this social process. Using an interlocking set of data sources and methods, including interviews, ethnographic observations, and administrative records, I provide answers to some basic questions about...
This dissertation seeks to explain the discursive origin, development, and transformation of “Republican anticommunism,” and how and why this state-originated ideology continues to shape Vietnamese exile communities today. The dissertation focuses on examining mechanisms that allows certain narratives produced by the Republic of Vietnam to persist, despite the regime changes,...
From visualizing thousands of social relationships, operationalizing measures that offer us insight into our theories, to characterizing cultural change over the span of centuries, computational methods appear to provide sociology a means to reveal patterns otherwise unknowable. While these methods are persistently critiqued for their inability to generate social theory,...
The dissertation’s topic is the creation of quotidian judgements and practices related to food, amid the enduring social and spatial stratification of everyday life. The sites are two large and diverse cities: Paris and Chicago. The method is ethnographic and contextual.Chapter 1 documents the dietary tastes and culinary practices of...
This thesis studies inter vivos transfers in twenty European countries during the years 2004 to 2017. Inter vivos transfers are transfers made during the lifetime of the donor and the donee. They participate in the intergenerational transmission of inequality and they are an expression of familial values of solidarity and...
The study of digital inequality has advanced our understanding of how existing socioeconomic disadvantage – such as by income, education, age, gender, and race – translates into disadvantage in the digital realm. Yet, our understanding of the relationships between the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and broader processes...
In this dissertation, I combine quasi-experiments and computational tools with large-scale data in new ways to address questions that revolve around the Matthew Effect of status. My dissertation is a collection of four empirical papers on status at both the organizational and the individual levels. I employ two distinct empirical...
Automobile transportation is among the leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and reducing vehicle miles traveled must be part of our climate change mitigation efforts. One recent trend that, if accelerated, could aid in this effort is the increase in bicycling for transportation in large US...
Efficiency and equity have always been the key dilemma in local economic developments. On the one hand, economic prosperity is crucial for sustainable growth; on the other hand, the neighborhoods might undergo gentrification, transforming the area to appeal to high-end markets. Hence, vulnerable or indigenous residents might face displacements, and...
This dissertation examines the birth and rise of orthorexia nervosa, a proposed psychiatric diagnosis described as a pathological fixation with healthy eating. Orthorexia made its first public appearance in the pages of a popular magazine for yoga practitioners in 1997, and later in a self-help book on the subject. Despite...