Veganism has seen a sharp increase in adherents in the past five years. It is generally known that people become vegan for animal rights, environmental concerns, and/or health reasons, but how do people become vegan, considering the sharp increase in veganism? Are social ties significant to recruitment and persistence in veganism and what about the role of digital media? This study is based on 30 interviews collected from two vegan festivals in California’s Bay area, contacts through social media, and through personal networks. In this study, I explore both the mobilization period (becoming vegan) and persistence period (staying vegan) of veganism as a lifestyle movement and ask whether the same factors that are influencing people to become vegan are the same factors that are influencing their persistence and maintenance. Additionally, I consider the role of social ties and digital media and how they factor into this process over time.

This study seeks to fill the gap in the literature on attitudes towards homosexuality, and more specifically, to do this from the perspective of Muslim Americans rather than the usual Christian viewpoint. While analyzing the experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) individuals is important, to have a comprehensive understanding of different forms of homophobia, one must explore the attitude formation of non-LGBTQ individuals. Studies on attitudes towards LGBTQ issues tend to be scarce, but in the literature that does exist, it is common for religion to play a role in predicting whether attitudes are negative or positive. Using 21 in-depth interviews with self-identified Muslim Americans, this study seeks to understand how college-aged Muslim Americans navigate and express their attitudes towards same-sex relationships. I found that Muslim Americans fall in line with the literature on Christian attitudes towards homosexuality in the following ways: 1) adhering to traditional gender beliefs tends to predict negative attitudes and 2) heightened exposure to LGBTQ individuals results in more positive attitudes. However, I found that Muslim Americans are more unique in ways than they are similar: 1) higher levels of religious practice among Muslim Americans do not have a positive relationship with negative attitudes towards same-sex relationships, 2) they do not fall neatly into attribution theory’s notion that one’s belief in the cause of homosexuality would predict their attitudes towards it, and 3) despite little to no discussion of homosexuality within Muslim communities in comparison to Christian communities, my participants were similar to one another in their negotiation practices and ideologies regarding homosexuality.

Doulas are specialized caregivers who provide emotional support, information, comfort measures, and advocacy to women during their childbearing year, with a focus of continuous companionship during labour and delivery. This dissertation is a sociological study of the emergence of birth doulas as an occupation seeking legitimacy within maternity care. Findings are drawn from in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with twenty birth doulas from the same Midwestern metropolitan area in 2012-2013. Doulas in this sample, both volunteer and paid, ranged in certification status, birth experiences, and encounters with medical staff. An interview was also conducted in 2011 with two key informants from the largest doula membership organization.

This study addresses a gap in the literature on professionalization to account for the expanding doula occupation seeking legitimacy. The findings demonstrate many ideological tensions and paradoxes of how doulas strive to establish themselves as professionals. I find that the demands of professionalization may contradict the very essence of doula work. This creates tension between pursuing legitimacy while still desiring autonomy and self-regulation. Another paradox is how doulas need support in order to give support. Inadequate theories of worker emotion management provide an opening to discuss doulas' needs for peer support. I find that although doula work is mostly solo and isolating, there persists a strong need for collegiality. Doulas especially find benefits to debriefing with other doulas or birth workers when they are no longer with a client. I expand Goffman's concept of teammates, who co-operate on stage in performance and gossip back stage, to include doulas need for such support when they are not working in order to be successful caregivers.

Clinical research has found the presence of a doula is associated with more positive birth experiences and outcomes. However, very little is known about which types of social support that doulas provide contributes to improving health outcomes. I analyzed a sample of 198 clients who received one of 85 volunteer doulas in 2005-2007. I ran logistic regression to demonstrate that when volunteer doulas of similar training provide massage and visualization/relaxation, women have a significantly lower risk of having an unexpected c-section.

In this paper, I put forward a theory of lone wolf violence that unites white male perpetrated acts of terroristic and non-terroristic mass violence, based on demographic and teleological symmetry. My research is novel in that it interrogates proximal and movement related pressures within bounded regions where such lone wolf violence occurs, rather than analyzing individualistic factors associated with specific perpetrators. Specifically, I employ fsQCA on 16 county level cases of lone wolf violence between 2010 and 2015, analyzing how interactions of right-wing organizational presence, homogeneous white communities, perceived immigrant threat, economic power devaluation, relative deprivation, and low educational attainment relate to the articulation of such violence. I find right-wing presence and mid to upper levels of educational attainment are necessary conditions of lone wolf violence, underscoring the impact social movements can have on unaffiliated actors. Moreover, I find two configuration of communities with these necessary conditions that experience such violence 1) diverse communities with high levels of income inequality; and 2) homogenous white communities with economically stable residents. I theorize right-wing organizations within these regions frame economic ills fomenting violence. Finally, I suggest regional research such as this be used to delimit populations profiled with traditional, individualistic methods.

Misogynist extremism has increasingly become a topic of concern for many researchers. Most research on misogynist extremism examines the online context that encourages the development of related ideologies. Using secondary data from a multitude of government and non-government sources, such as the Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) and the American Community Survey (ACS), I conduct logistic regression and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to examine the regional factors that are associated with misogynist extremist presence in a county. I argue that gender-related, race-related, and economic regional factors help cultivate a hypermasculine social climate prime for misogynist radicalization. In the full regression model, only militia group presence is associated with misogynist extremist presence in a county. No sets were identified as true according to the inclusion ratio for sufficiency or the coverage of the outcome measure under QCA. Overall, there is some support that gender-related regional factors may contribute to misogynist radicalization.

To address growing rental costs and a lack of affordable housing in metropolitan areas across the United States, city governments are partnering with affordable housing developers to create income-based housing for low-income families and individuals; however, proposed developments often meet a mix of community opposition and support. While current research focuses on how Not in my Backyard (NIMBY) arguments affect the location and development of affordable housing complexes, little research centers the experiences of potential affordable housing recipients – individuals often associated with racist and classist stereotypes through NIMBY rhetoric. This study utilizes experimental survey data to demonstrate the implications of NIMBY and Yes in my Backyard (YIMBY) community rhetoric on the mental health of potential affordable housing recipients. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three vignettes that mirrored a neutral factsheet, NIMBY arguments, or YIMBY sentiments. I discover that the self esteem of individuals in the control and YIMBY group increased while the change in self-esteem among NIMBY group participants was insignificant. Findings indicate that neutral and supportive rhetoric surrounding affordable housing development can have a positive effect on potential recipients’ self-esteem. This study contributes to the present literature on both the effect of positive rhetoric on mental health and affordable housing.