My current research focuses on two topics: 1) altruism, volunteering, and charitable giving, and 2) torture. I have also written a biography of the Union Civil War general George Thomas, and a book on the American asylum system.
Altruism, Volunteering, and Charitable Giving
National Giving Campaigns in the United States: Entertainment, Empathy, and the National Peer Group, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (2012)
This study presents a narrative history and quantitative analysis of national campaigns in the United...
Daily Spiritual Experiences and Prosocial Behavior, Social Indicators Research (2011)
This paper examines how the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES) relates to range of prosocial...
Religion and Helping Others: The Role of Values, Ideas, and Language, Sociology of Religion (2011)
This study used life narrative interview data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS)...
The Timing of Generative Concern: Evidence from a Longitudinal Survey, Journal of Adult Development (2011)
Longitudinal data taken at a ten year interval from a large, nationally representative sample were...
Who Volunteers? Constructing a Hybrid Theory (with Susan M. Chambre), Baruch College Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management Working Papers (2011)
This paper is an effort to initiate the development of a hybrid theory of volunteering....
Torture
Explaining Abu Ghraib: A Review Essay, Journal of Human Rights (2009)
Four books written by social scientists and published in 2007 are reviewed: The Trials of...
The Fall and Rise of Torture: A Comparative and Historical Analysis, Sociological Theory (2007)
Torture was formally abolished by European governments in the nineteenth century, and the actual practice...
General George Thomas
George Thomas: Virginian for the Union (2007)
George Thomas was one of the Civil War's most prominent Southern Unionists, known for his...
Other publications
Sorority Membership and Risk for Campus Sexual Assault (with Jacqueline Minow), Violence Against Women (forthcoming) (2009)
This study tested the relationship between sexual assault victimization, sorority membership, and participation in a...
The Mercy Factory: Refugees and the American Asylum System (2001)
The Mercy Factory presents the stories of five asylum seekers, fleeing torture and persecution in...