Professor
| Phone: (609) 771-2546
Email: lirebecc@tcnj.edu Office: Social Science Building 314 Spring 2023 office hours: Mondays 3:30-5:30pm and Thursdays 3:30-4:10pm or by appointment |
Degrees Earned
- Ph.D., Sociology, University of California – Riverside
- M.A. Sociology, University of California – Riverside
Courses Taught
- Development of Socio-cultural Theories
- Social and Cultural Change
- Introduction to Sociology
- Self and Society
- Faculty-Student Research Course
- Senior Seminar in Sociology
Research Interest
- Sociology of Religion
- State breakdown in Arab Spring Countries
- Changing Quality of News Reports
- Commemoration and Social Movement
Recent Research & Activities
- Examining the social origin of creativity among modern Buddhist thinkers
- Exploring the intersection between sociological theory and Buddhist practice
- Examining the structure of commemoration rituals and their contribution to the democratic movement
- Examining the varying degrees of territorial disintegration in the aftermath of the 2011 uprisings in Syria, Egypt, and Tunisia using state breakdown theories
Publications
- 2021. “Contributions of Jonathan H. Turner to Theoretical Sociology” in Theoretical Sociology: The Future of a Disciplinary Foundation, edited by Seth Abrutyn and Kevin McCaffree. London & New York: Routledge
- 2020. “The Social Origin of Creativity: A Sociological Analysis of Master Taixu and Master Sheng Yen as Buddhist Thinkers” Studies of Master Sheng Yen 13: 583-626.
- 2020. “Chan Practitioners as Agents of Social Change.” Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies 15: 25-51
- 2016. “Changing Developmental-ness of the State—The Case of China.” in The Asian Developmental State: Reexaminations and New Departures. Edited by Yin-wah Chu. NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
- 2015. “Review of Confronting Decline: The Political Economy of Deindustrialization in Twentieth-Century New England.” Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews 44: 669-670.
- 2005. “Theoretical Contributions of Randall Collins.” In George Ritzer (ed.) The Encyclopedia of Social Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- 2003. “Why Territorial Disintegration Has Not Occurred in Russia: Applying State Breakdown Theories to Explain Stability.” Sociological Inquiry . 73:3. p. 387-412.
- 2002. “Alternative Routes to State Breakdown: Toward an Integrated Model of Territorial Disintegration.” Sociological Theory. 20:1. p. 1-23.
- With S. Brint & W. Cunningham. 1997. “The Politics of Professional in Five Advanced Societies,” in Terry Nichols Clark and Michael Rempel (eds.), Citizen Politics in Post-Industrial Societies. Boulder, CO: Wesview Press.
- With J. Turner. 1997. “Theories of Revolutions within Historical Sociology,” in Jonathan H. Turner’s, The Structure of Sociological Theory, 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.