Research Interests: Political Sociology, Human Rights, Terrorism and Counterterrorism, Environmental Sociology, Gender and Sexuality, Sociology of Sport,

Ethnic Relations, Media Studies, and Sociology of Health.  

Teaching Experience: Research Methods, Statistics, Sociological Theory, Introduction to Sociology, Social Psychology, and Introduction to Psychology.

Current Research Projects:

In my doctoral dissertation I examine the factors that shape and determine state response to terrorism, relying on a combination of longitudinal cross-national databases and case studies. In particular, I pay close consideration to the intricate nexus of terrorism and human rights, which has been in the center of much of my previous work (published in Social Problems and in Sociological Perspectives). Employing an interdisciplinary approach, I contrast theoretical approaches coming from international relations literature with sociological, cultural and organizational thought.

Pursuing my interests in gender and sexuality, I have recently completed a study on attraction between same-group members in Israeli kibbutzim (published in the American Journal of Sociology). According to the current consensus, supported mainly by sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists, growing up in close proximity should lead to feelings of sexual aversion. However, the results of 60 interviews I conducted with those who grew up in the communal education system of Israeli kibbutzim show that mutual attraction was in fact quite common. Relying on both qualitative content analysis and statistical logistic regression, I question the reigning psychological and biological views and offer alternative sociological explanations to the classic debate over the origins of incest avoidance and the incest taboo.

Another project I am involved in looks at the global mobilization of non-governmental organizations to reduce various forms of environmental degradation such as water pollution, deforestation, and ecological footprints. Research coming from this project has been published in journals such as Journal of World Systems Research, Human Ecology Review, and Organization and Environment.

In my MA thesis I examined the presentation of non-Jewish athletes in Israeli media. Building on this work I have since written a few articles on the subject, using theories of race and ethnicity, as well as literature on gender and masculinity. Bridging my interest in the sociology of sport with my interest in organizations, I have also written on the organizational dimensions of the interrelations between media and sport organizations.

Finally, over the last 4 years I have been closely involved in three large statistical meta analyses projects. These projects explore the effects of various social determinants (stressful life events, social relationships and social support, and immigration) on health and on the general and cardiovascular mortality of people in different countries and under varying conditions.