I am a sociologist who seeks to understand the social construction of difference. I use a combination of quantitative, qualitative, and computational methodologies and data, including longitudinal interviews, national survey data, and custom text datasets. In my dissertation, From Deviance to Diagnosis: Cultural Meanings of Mental Health, I explore mental health and illness as an axis of difference that has shown dramatic change over time. I use computational text analysis to analyze discourse around mental health in the news media and on social media, focusing on how mental health and illness are normalized and “otherized” in the cultural imagination.

I’m also passionate about equitable and inclusive teaching, particularly of quantitative methods and statistical software.

I have a BA from Wellesley College, where I majored in Sociology and Spanish. In addition to my work in the Stanford Sociology Department, I work as a Center for Teaching and Learning graduate student consultant, as a graduate research assistant at the Stanford VMWare Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab, and as a software consultant for Stanford Library’s Software and Services for Data Science (SSDS).

Contact me at aljohnson [at] stanford [dot] edu