Culture and Religion
The sociology of culture and religion is a central part of the graduate program both generally and as linked to the joint Ph.D. program in Sociology and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. Several sociology department faculty members teach courses in the sociology of religion and the sociology of culture, and numerous gradute students are conducting independent research on these topics in the department and with the support of related centers on campus. Courses conceive of culture as central to the study of mass media, material culture, everyday life, subcultures, collective action, and the numerous ways religion is present around the globe. Course offerings in Sociology are complemented by those in Anthropology, the Cultural Production M.A. program, and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies.
Core Faculty and Research Interests
Wendy Cadge: Sociology of religion, Culture, Health and Medicine, Immigration, Gender, Sexuality, Organizations, Research Methods.
David Cunningham: Social Movements/Collective Action, Community Structure, Organizations, Quantitative Inquiry, Youth Culture.
Gila Hayim: Social theory, Sociology of Law, Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Culture, Existential Sociology.
Laura J. Miller: Sociology of Culture, Mass Media, Consumption and Marketing, Urban and Suburban Studies.
Chandler Rosenberger: Nationalism, Ethnicity, Sociology of Culture, Sociology of Religion, Political Dissent, Terrorism, Modern European Politics.
Selected Ph.D. Graduates Emphasizing the Sociology of Culture and Religion
Lynn Davidman, Associate Professor of Sociology and Judaic Studies, Brown University; author of Tradition in a Rootless World: Women turn to Orthodox Judaism (University of California Press, 1991); Feminist Perspectives on Jewish Studies (Yale University Press, 1994), with Shelly Tenenbaum.
Elizabeth Long, Professor of Sociology, Rice University; author of The American Dream and the Popular Novel (Routledge & K.Paul, 1985); From Sociology to Cultural Studies: New perspectives (Blackwell Publishers, 1997); and Book Clubs: Women and the uses of reading in everyday life (University of Chicago Press, 2003).
Benjamin Phillips, Associate Research Scientist, Steinhardt Social Research Institute and the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University and a lecturer in ther Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program.
Kathleen Jenkins, Assistant Professor of Sociology, College of William and Mary. Her first book, Awesome Families: the Promise of Healing Relationships in the International Churches of Christ, was published with Rutgers University Press in 2005. Her current research project represents four years of ethnographic research exploring the experience of divorce and uncoupling in five religous traditions. She is working on a book manuscript based on this research now titled, Sacred Divorce: Religion, Uncoupling, and Therapeutic Culture.