Stephen F. Ostertag is an associate professor of sociology at Tulane University. His scholarly interests are in culture, emotions and cognition, communication, trust, reciprocity, and human connection. He’s researched the healthcare use of injection drug users, news judgements, citizen newsmaking and social media, disaster/crises recovery, and local civil and political societies. He is the author of Connecting After Chaos: Social Media and the Extended Aftermath of Disaster, which examines how people used social media to cope with trauma and restore their lives in the months and years after hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans. Stephen’s current projects involve new theoretical work on culture and motivated action, called “cultural work,” and an empirical project using cultural sociology to understand healthcare avoidance and inform practical approaches to healthcare outreach.
