Rachel L. Einwohner

Ph.D., University of Washington (1997)

M.A., University of Washington (1991)

B.A., University of Pennsylvania (1988)

Specialization

social movements; political sociology; qualitative methods, gender

Rachel L. Einwohner is a political sociologist who studies social movements. Her research focuses on the dynamics of protest and resistance and her interests include questions related to protest emergence and effectiveness, the role of gender and other identities in protest dynamics, protesters’ sense of efficacy, and the creation of solidarity in diverse movements. She has explored these topics with theoretically-driven analyses of a diverse set of movements and cases of protest, including the U.S. animal rights movement, the college-based anti-sweatshop movement, and Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. Her published work has appeared in journals such as the American Sociological Review, the American Journal of Sociology, Social Problems, and Mobilization and has received funding from the NSF and the NEH. Her 2022 book, Hope and Honor: Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust (Oxford University Press) received the 2023 Charles Tilly Book Award from the American Sociological Association’s Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements. She has also co-edited four volumes: Coalition-Building and Solidarity across Difference (with Michelle I. Gawerc; forthcoming in series on Research in Social Movements, Conflicts, and Change, Emerald Publishing); Handbook of Gender and Activism (with Jo Reger and Kelsy Kretschmer; Edward Elgar Press, 2025), The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Women's Social Movement Activism (with Holly J. McCammon, Verta Taylor, and Jo Reger; Oxford University Press, 2017) and Identity Work in Social Movements (with Jo Reger and Daniel J. Myers; University of Minnesota Press, 2008). She has been on the Editorial Boards of numerous academic journals and previously served as Deputy Editor for Gender & Society.