Kristina Kahl's Ph.D Dissertation on Alternatives
AbstractTable of Contents
Meeting Kristina: Gerald's travel journal post #225
SLW! Podcast Ep. 52: Kristina's 'Alternative' Ph.D. Dissertation
To order a complete copy or to give feedback, contact: knkahl@fortlewis.edu
Kahl, Kristina Noelani (Ph.D., Sociology)
The Crisis of Social Change for Simple Livers:
How a Faith-Based Organization and its Members Affect the Voluntary Simplicity Movement
Dissertation directed by Professor Leslie Irvine
ABSTRACT
This research examines how a faith-based simple living organization and its members, Simple Livers, navigate and give meaning to the idea of living a simple lifestyle within the context of their religious faith. Analyzing data from four years of participant observation, interviews, and textual analysis of organizational documents and drawing from symbolic interaction and social movement literature, especially the literature on lifestyle movements, I describe the ways Simple Livers produce and negotiate individual and organizational identities situated within systems of religion, race, class, gender and emotions. I examine the interplay of emotions with Christian and voluntary simplicity ideologies, which creates an over-conforming moral self, a distinctive identity that is rooted in the belief that a Simple Liver should be more moral than the general population. I also discuss participants' boundary work and describe an intragroup boundary crisis, a situation that occurs when groups cannot create or maintain an organizational identity because of conflicting inclusive and exclusive boundaries at the individual level.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION: 6
II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: 15
III. SETTING AND METHODS: 36
IV. SOCIALIZATION INTO SIMPLE LIVING: 56
V. 'DOING' VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY: EMOTION AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF MORAL IDENTITY: 81
VI. 'DOING' VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY: RELIGION, RACE, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: 110
VII. ORGANIZING VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY: THE CHALLENGES OF ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION: 132
VIII. HOW THE ORGANIZATION FOLDED: 167
VIIII. CONCLUSION: 172
BIBLIOGRAPHY: 186
APPENDIX
A: 216
B: 217
C: 218
May 27, 2015
Hi Jerry,
What a great surprise to hear from you! I hope all is going well with you and Rita. It is good to see that you are keeping the organization-at least the materials- alive and well.
I would be glad to pass the dissertation along. Just to be clear - it is a dissertation not a thesis. Thesis is for Masters. Dissertation is PhD. I am only articulating this difference because while it might seem insignificant and hair-splitting, I assure it is not. Dissertations are a very big endeavor. And as you know- I spent many a years with organization so as to produce such a product.
That being said, this is a project that uses a sociological mindset. Again, another perspective that gets misunderstood. Most people align it with psychology. Not the case. Sociology looks at how people and society interact. It is more of the nature vs nurture argument - sociology being the nurture. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the dissertation. I worked really hard on it and feel it offers a strong qualitative account of simple living, the relationship between faith based beliefs and simple living, as well as the role a national organization played in the larger conversation of simple living.
Please note that I have also used pseudonyms for the organization and all people I interviewed. Let me know if you have any questions! I would also love your feedback!
Best,
Kristina
Page updated 27 Aug. 2015
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