Global vs. Local: Panel Analyses of Environmental, Economic, and Political Gender Inequalities in Late Capitalism

This dissertation is an empirical attempt to bridge and synthesize two distinct sets of theories in the sociology of development and the study of cross-national inequalities. Through this study, I gather data on three types of inequality (i.e., environmental, economic, and gender/political) observed between and within nations of the world and create panel datasets that track countries’ profiles over time. By using a growth curve modeling (GCM) approach, I study the trajectories of inequality and explain them by time-invariant contextual (local) and time-varying external (global) factors. This dissertation aims to contribute to the development of a more general and comprehensive framework for studying the observed trends of inequality in the last three decades by implementing a methodology that effectively incorporates theoretical elements from multiple schools of thought. By discovering the underlying trajectories and contributing factors to nations’ inequality trends, this dissertation implies several policy suggestions in the conclusion section that can benefit the international, national, and local actors and policymakers concerned with the overall well-being of societies and people in both developing and developed countries

Elective Affinities in the Anthropocene: Christianity and the Natural Environment Reconsidered

To reach a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between religion and the natural environment, it is important to move beyond essentializing any religious tradition as having a pro-environmental or anti-environmental ethic. Rather, prior work has shown that the canonical, scholarly, and popular literatures and discourse of a number of religious traditions can and have been socially and rhetorically constructed as supporting an array of positions, from preservation to profligacy, and much in between those two ideal types. In this paper, we develop Max Weber’s theory of “elective affinities” and adapt it to the Anthropocene, to make the case that in a fragmented society, people and communities of convenience tend to choose the tropes and framing from the dominant culture to justify self-interested action. That often can take the form of religious discourse. In the sense of finding a wide array of practical interpretations relative to the environment, the theory is largely supported, although we do find important nuances. It is instructive to look at how the language and legitimacy of one institution (e.g. religion) has been used to justify and legitimate that of others (e.g. the polity). While these processes of institutional co-optation can be effective in the short run, they may have corrosive longer-term effects. Key rhetorical, and in fact political, battles in the Third Millennium, will likely be organized around how to adapt pre-industrial religion to late industrial and perhaps post-industrial times, and it remains to see how central the natural environment will be in what communities hold sacred

HIV/AIDS Related Stigma in Iran: A Qualitative Study

Abstract: HIV/AIDS is considered by many one as the most dangerous disease emerged i

Is Islam Pro- or Anti-Environmental? Interpretations and Implications

Religion has, throughout the centuries, been a powerful institution on the macro level, yet also stands as a force having significant influence in people’s personal lives. This does, however, lead to questions of how a traditional institution such as religion may or may not be adequate to address problems of the Late Industrial Era, most notably the environmental crisis. In this paper, we inquire how various dimensions of Islamic literature and thought can contribute to preserving the natural environment. We find that concepts such as “dominion of men over the earth” and “specialness of humankind” can lead to anti-environmental interpretations of Islam. Nevertheless, other interpretations of Islamic teachings emerge that are compatible with environmental stewardship. However, a number of Islamic governments have shown a decided bias against environmental stewardship, particularly in cases where there is an authoritarian government and one placing an emphasis on economic “development”. In counterpoint, Islamic Mysticism, or Sufism, can provide a spiritual context for environmentally conscious action

Ecologically unequal exchange and disparate death rates attributable to air pollution: A comparative study of 169 countries from 1991 to 2017

Ambient air pollution is among the most pressing environmental problems in our contemporary world that poses significant risks to global ecological and public health. This study analyzes cross-national heterogeneities in trajectories of death rates attributable to ambient air pollution. Compiling panel data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, the Direction of Trade Statistics (DOTS), and the World Development Indicators, we create a dataset that tracks 169 countries from 1991 to 2017. Using growth curve models (GCMs), we estimate country-specific trajectories of death rates attributable to air pollution, and condition them on time-invariant and time-varying independent variables. The results suggest that while the global death rate attributable to air pollution has been continuously decreasing, there are heterogeneities in countries’ death rate trajectories based on their geographic location and position in the world economy. High-income countries of the global North have perpetually witnessed lower death rates attributable to air pollution compared to middle- and low-income countries of the global South. Moreover, our results indicate that increased export to high-income countries, as a proxy for ecologically unequal exchange, leads to higher death rates from air pollution in middle- and low-income countries

Human Interaction with the Natural Environment: The POETICAS Model as a Framework for Understanding and Praxis in Late Modernity

Using the acronym POETICAS, we explore eight major facets of humankind’s relationship with the natural environment. We make the case that, while they are not mutually exclusive, they are nonetheless analytically distinct. We explore the roles of: 1) Population & demography; 2) Organizations & institutions; 3) Ecology; 4) Technology; 5) Illness & health; 6) Culture; 7) Affluence & inequality; and 8) Scale & time. We examine each of these facets in turn, looking not only at their main effects, but also considering many of the interactions among these factors in a broader ecological context. Building on earlier models, we make a case that this broader and more robust model can offer a framework for civic discourse about the human-environment interface that is useable to a wide array of audiences, including students and researchers as well as policy makers, members of social movement organizations, and engaged citizens seeking an overarching framework that can help make sense of a variety of otherwise disparate findings