Drake University

Faculty Member, Culture and Society

Assistant Professor of Sociology

College of Arts and Sciences

About

Ph.D. University of California, San Diego (2008)
M.A. University of California, San Diego (2003)
B.A. Kalamazoo College (1999)

My research explores practices of meaning-making and political contestation within organizational fields. Currently, I am examining ethical debates in market settings in two separate projects.

The first project investigates ongoing contention about the growth and rationalization of the organic foods market in the United States. I am seeking to identify cultural and institutional resources that enable these conflicts to persist and to understand how strategies of key actors have shifted over time with the evolution of the field. This project also pays particular attention to how ordinary businesspeople within this field situate themselves in respect to ethical and ecological concerns and debates.

The second project considers the proliferation of private social justice certifications for food and other products. Here, I am focusing especially on efforts in the United States to create standards for kosher food production that include environmental and social justice criteria. There are two such efforts that became prominent in the wake of the 2008 ICE raid on Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, IA: Magen Tzedek, an initiative anchored in Conservative synagogues, and Tav HaYosher, a certification created by the Orthodox social justice organization Uri L’Tzedek. My project examines the development of these standards within the cultural context of kashrut and the organizational context of the kosher industry.

A future project might examine the origins and impact of the concept of “environmental sustainability” within business schools in the US, with particular attention to the development of “green” MBA programs.

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