Ecological restoration has the potential to provide a multitude of benefits, such as conserving biodiversity and supporting natural-resources dependent livelihoods. Tropical dry forests (TDFs) occur in densely populated human-modified landscapes in the tropics and are susceptible to degradation, making them an important biome to restore when degraded. TDFs are also socio-ecological systems, where local people rely on the forest for subsistence and livelihoods and effectively manage them for desire outcomes. People’s reliance on TDFs necessitates restoration projects to take into account more than biophysical and abiotic considerations when they are designed. In this decade of restoration, while there is the much-needed impetus to restore degraded land, to achieve enduring and just outcomes at large spatial scales, restoration projects need to more intentionally address local considerations, such as traditional land tenure systems and livelihood strategies, and goals such as socio-economic development. At the same time, to guide restoration efforts and realistically forecast the consequences of these efforts in the future, there is a need for rapid and accurate assessment tools to quantify the impact of restoration on biodiversity and people at several time steps. In Chapter 1, I use India, a country with high biophysical potential for restoration, as a case study to demonstrate a people-centric approach for identifying restoration opportunities. I find that there is a large overlap between areas of high biophysical restoration potential and high poverty, indicating potential and need to pursue restoration in a manner that addresses both ecological and social goals. In Chapter 2, I study a commonly adopted livelihood strategy, seasonal migration, in forest-dependent communities in India. I find that households in more agricultural and prosperous districts experience lower rates of migration but are more sensitive to climatic variability than households in poorer districts. In Chapter 3, I examine the impact of ecological restoration of a tropical dry forest in central India (CI). I find no significant difference in the cumulative number of bird species detected, but a significant difference in bird communities across the sites. In the lower frequencies dominated by birds and insects, I find that restored sites were positively associated with acoustic space occupancy in comparison to unrestored and low Lantana density (LLD) sites. In Chapter 4, I study the combined socio-ecological outcomes of restoration in the same sites in CI. I find that in the absence of alternative, people rely on Lantana camara, an invasive shrub, for subsistence and livelihoods, in the form of firewood and farm boundaries. I do not find any significant effect of restoration or LLD on people’s perception of ease of forest use, except for the distances covered for grazing, an important indicator of restoration success in this landscape. Finally, I also find that restoration is not associated with any significant changes in soundscapes in the higher frequency ranges dominated by insects and bats. Taken together, my chapters contribute to a greater understanding of the potential for restoration to meet social and ecological goals, the vulnerability of the livelihoods of people living on forest-fringes of TDFs to climate variability and expected and unexpected socio-ecological outcomes of restoration.

This study delineates the basic concepts and analytical techniques of contemporary French structuralists, namely Levi-Strauss, Lacan, Barthes, Althusser, and Foucault, and critically examines the contribution of their formulations to sociological theory and the implication of such formulations on the methodological orientation in sociology.

Social media influencers are online content creators who seek audience support, form relationships with their audiences, and shape audience interests, opinions, and behavior. Not only is the influencer economy a cultural market in its own right, but it is also increasingly shaping other cultural industries as influencers serve as cultural gatekeepers who filter cultural products for their audiences (Hirsch, 1972). As social media influencers become powerful gatekeepers and producers, the relational nature of their activities and performance is reshaping norms in cultural industries overall. Lay audiences gain more influence and agency as their evaluations and support are critical for influencer survival and success. Then how has the evaluative landscape in cultural industries changed, and what are the broader social implications of these changes? In this dissertation, I outline the rise of social media influencers both as gatekeepers and producers in cultural markets and argue that scholarship in management and sociology must examine the unique ways in which these influencers’ activities differ from their predecessors’. Chapter 1 defines social media influencers and describes their activities and market dynamics by comparing and contrasting them to their traditional counterparts. Chapter 2 examines the relationship between influencer-audience relational interactions and performance outcomes, focusing on influencers’ role as cultural gatekeepers. Chapter 3 looks at the effects of race and race-based social movements on influencer-audience interactions, highlighting influencers’ role as cultural producers. In all three chapters, the focus is on the sociological theory of relational work, which is the process through which economic actors balance the transactional and social components of their relationships (Zelizer, 2012; Bandelj, 2020). Social media influencers serve as an ideal type to demonstrate how relational work contributes to market value and performance, given the tight balance between their relational and transactional activities. I use mixed quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze channel-, video-, and comment-level data on 1,167 BookTubers (YouTube influencers who evaluate books). I find that social media influencers indeed serve as trusted gatekeepers for their audiences, and that audiences demand not only evaluative content, but also intimate relationships with influencers. Influencers use audience interactions as relational work efforts to build trusting relationships with audiences and gain their support, but this effect is moderated by the perceived trustworthiness of the influencer. The effectiveness of influencer relational work also varies by race, and relational work thus reproduces racialized logics that underlie cultural markets. In sum, this dissertation not only highlights the rise of an important new market actor, but also contributes to theories on how relational work shapes and is shaped by inequality.

For nearly three decades, the United States of America has been the consistent leader in incarceration rates worldwide. A number of structural social problems have contributed to this reality (e.g., the school-to-prison pipeline, the 1994 Crime Bill, and aggressive surveillance and policing of poor and minority neighborhoods). Recently, a number of structural solutions have presented themselves in effort to decarcerate prisons and consider pathways for returning citizens with emphasis on housing, healthcare, and education. This dissertation focuses on the education component with an eye toward higher education-in-prison programs (HEPPs). The last decade denotes an inflection point for mass incarceration and HEPPs in part due to increased funding from public and private sectors as well as bipartisan support for making higher education accessible for incarcerated people. In the midst of cross-sector support for these programs, the colleges and universities providing the core elements – teaching and learning – have been mostly silent actors. This study looks at partnerships between prisons and higher education institutions and centers the voices and narratives of higher education faculty and administrators responsible for leading HEPPs. Drawing on the civic mission of higher education, as well as participants’ conceptions of their work, this study considers how faculty and administrators describe the intent and function of their HEPPs and the extent to which they align with the civic mission of higher education. Through a qualitative multisite case analysis of three higher education institutions in New York State, the findings of this study reveal that these programs view themselves as being responsive to historical structures of inequity in higher education and broader society. They also conveyed a desire for their programs to become an institutionalized component of their college or university. There were five patterns, across cases, that provided insight into these programs and multiple levels including: (1.) program professionals, (2.) program place and space, (3.) programs in service to the institutional mission and civic mission, (4.) program attentiveness to external factors, and (5.) program conceptualization: the two-way partnership misnomer. These patterns might also prove relevant to university partnerships more broadly. The study concludes with implications for theory, practice, and future research related to HEPPs with emphasis on the need to situate all aspects of these programs not, as they often are, in economic and workforce metrics, but rather in the experiences of faculty, staff, and students participating in college-in-prison as well as returning citizens attending college.

Comparatively little literature has been written about the wind-band as a musical institution.1 still less has been recorded regarding the integrative social potenti- alities of the wind-band in American musical life--especi- ally for the horden of "Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen" who constitute the back-bone of our Nation's communities. Specialized and localized efforts are being made throughout the country toward making musical life a definite part of community life. General observation tends to leave us believing that strides in this direction are just beginning and that the impetus will increase.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Background: Emile Durkheim (1897/1985) theorized that sociological variables (e.g., social, political, economic) are more helpful for understanding suicide than individual or psychological explanations. This study extends the previous sociological work on suicide by testing a theoretical model that includes economic, political, and social variables. The purpose of this study was the development and testing of a predictive model of firearm suicide among the general population and among older adults in the US.

This paper reports on efforts to improve socioeconomic conditions and natural resource use in the El Pina lito community, department of Chiquimula, Guatemala. Students participating in supervised practical training at Centro Universitario de Oriente/Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (CUNORI) developed projects to address these issues. A general diagnostic instrument was created for this community to assist in the development of specific work projects. Students prepared community first-aid kits, agricultural activities with school children, and instructional sessions with farmers on how to prepare a family garden and efficiently manage domestic animals. Other activities included ornamental tree preparation for female participants and a yucca demonstration plot for the Maraxco village.

In 2007, juveniles were involved in a minimum of 1,063 murders in the United States (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2008), and a concern over juvenile homicide offenders remains. While increasingly more macrolevel research on juvenile homicide offending has been accumulated, particularly since the 1980s, research focusing on macrolevel correlates of juvenile homicides is still relatively scarce (MacDonald & Gover, 2005; Ousey & Campbell Augustine, 2001). In the first part of this study, several variables relating to the offender, victim, setting, and precursors to the homicide by race and gender were examined in order to provide details on the context of youth homicides between 1965 and 1995 in Chicago. The Homicides in Chicago, 1965-1995 data set and Census data for 1970, 1980, and 1990 were used in this study. The results indicate that changes in youth homicides over the 31-year time period involved increases in lethal gang altercations, particularly among Latinos, and increases in the use of automatic weapons. Young females had very little impact on homicide rates in Chicago. The second part of the study examined whether measures of social disorganization can aid in the prediction of homicides committed by youths, and a total of ten negative binomial models were run. The results of the analyses in the three time periods indicate that racial/ethnic heterogeneity, educational deprivation, unemployment, and family disruption are significantly and positively related to homicides. Foreign-born population and median household income were found to be significantly and negatively related to homicides. The significant indicators of social disorganization varied in the seven models for the disaggregated groups. Overall, the results reflect support for social disorganization theory. Limitations, suggestion for future research, and policy implications are also addressed.

This sociological study delves into the enduring social and psychological consequences of domestic violence on women in Sweden. Through a qualitative approach, employing semi-structured interviews with seven survivors, the research uncovers the multifaceted aftermath of such violence in their lives. Central to this inquiry is the exploration of changes in self-esteem, trust in relationships, and mental health, framed within the context of existential sociology and coping theory. The findings reveal a significant shift in the women's perception of self and others, marked by increased vigilance, skepticism in new relationships, and a profound impact on mental well-being. The study employs existential sociology to interpret these shifts, viewing them as part of a broader existential crisis and a reevaluation of life’s meaning post-trauma. Coping theory is also utilized to understand the varied strategies these women adopt in response to their experiences, highlighting the role of individual coping capacities in their recovery processes. Economic impacts were found to be diverse among the participants, with some experiencing financial exploitation, underscoring the intersection of economic and personal abuse. A critical examination of the role of support systems, including women's shelters, social services, and legal frameworks, reveals gaps and challenges in addressing the complex needs of domestic violence survivors. This thesis contributes to the sociological understanding of domestic violence, emphasizing the necessity for nuanced support systems and policies that acknowledge the long-term sociopsychological challenges faced by survivors. It advocates for a comprehensive approach, integrating sociological theories to better comprehend and address the aftermath of domestic violence in women’s lives.

Thesis advisor: Christopher R. Matthews / Thesis advisor: Thomas D. Stegman / Previous scholarship on Paul in Acts focuses on reconstructing the historical Paul from a critical comparison of the discordant portraits of the apostle in the letters and in Luke’s second story. As such, the throbbing question that drove not a few scholars was “Which depiction reveals the real Paul?” With a productive surge in the narrative criticism of Acts, many literary critics have redirected their efforts to Luke’s sociologically tinged rhetoric, which undergirds a more pertinent concern: “What is Luke describing through his depiction of Paul?” Scholars representative of a narrative reading of Acts include: Richard I. Pervo, Daniel Marguerat, and François Bovon, to name a few. They all agree that the portrayal of Paul in Acts tells the reader more about the sociocultural situation of Luke’s group than about the historical Paul. Despite this scholarly achievement, the air of anti-Semitism still saturates the atmosphere of Acts scholarship. Hence, it is evident that narrative criticism by itself is insufficient to decipher the subtle rhetoric Luke employs to relate his story. Couched in a tensed tale of sibling rivalry, the familiar lexeme, “the Jews,” which is frequently correlated with the “Christian” Paul, is imbued with a subtle nuance: diaspora Jewishness. Neglectful of recent critical discussions on the parting of Judaism and early Christianity and the foci of the Redescribing Christian Origins project of the SBL, many well-intentioned narrative critics of Acts have succumbed to a traditional reading of Acts evincing an anti-Semitic worldview. This cannot be further from the truth. By contrast, I argue in this work that if narrative criticism is refined by means of the critical deductions of social scientists, and if these conclusions are polished by the perceptive study of historians of religion, it will lead to the articulation of a setting in which Luke’s project may be viewed as participating in “Jewishness.” In lieu of mirroring the replacement of Jewishness by Christianness, Luke’s narrative relates the tale of Christ-believing diaspora Jews who are steeped in imperial life and culture. The pseudo-dichotomy that is repeatedly reaffirmed by scholars thus should be jettisoned forthwith, because it is blind to the intricacies of social becoming and identity formation. Aided by studies in social identity and collective memory, Acts may be seen to reflect the fervent struggle of Christ-believing diaspora Jews who upheld the messiahship of Jesus, the non-Judaizing of pious Gentiles, and subservience to imperial authorities as signature traits of diaspora Jewishness: the dual commitment to Jewish ancestral customs and active participation in the Greco-Roman society. So Acts is definitely about Jewishness without precluding Romanness. The key to this clarification is the type of Jewishness Luke espouses—diaspora Jewishness. Approaches to Acts that reinforce a spurious dichotomy (i.e., Judean or Greco-Roman) are methodologically flawed, because they ignore the subtle rhetoric of Luke: overwhelmingly situating references to “the Jews” in coastal cities around the Aegean Sea, mostly Greece and Asia Minor. In line with the principles of literary cartography, Luke’s siting of “the Jews” in these cities has nuanced its denotation: diaspora Jews. Previous scholarship has ignored this subtlety and has created a hermeneutical quandary: Is Luke’s sociocultural milieu Judean or Greco-Roman? The story underlying Luke’s astute application of the familiar lexeme, “the Jews,” leaves no room for speculation or contradiction. The rhetoric is lucid: Jews residing in Asia Minor and Greece. These Jews are the historical referents of Acts. Hence, Luke’s second story evinces ideological tensions characteristic of social becoming and identity formation. Using the sociological principles espoused by Mark Currie, hostility is fiercer when competitors have more in common. The competing groups described in Acts are not dissimilar (Jews and Christians) but are rivals (non-Christ-believing diaspora Jews and Christ-believing diaspora Jews). Each earnestly strives to defend its unique understanding of diaspora Jewishness. Nor is Christianness indicative of a new “religion” but rather is a legitimate expression of diaspora Jewishness. / Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.