Sociology of Religion

  • STH TR 802: The Sociology of Religion
    This course will introduce students to the basic ideas and methods with which sociologists have analyzed the relationship between religion and society. It will explore what it means to think about religious language, symbols, communities, and practices a social phenomenon. We will also explore the social processes at work in congregations and denominations, new religious movements and conversion, religious communal identity and ethnic conflict. (Cluster 2)
  • STH TR 813: Congregations and Communities
    The increasingly global and transnational work of ministry, social activism, and non-profit service often takes place within or alongside religious congregations. Such congregations function as communities, and are in turn embedded within larger communities such as neighborhoods, ethnic groups, political blocs, and countries. The purpose of this course is to help students theorize religious "community" in a sophisticated and nuanced way, as well as introduce concepts and methods for the engaged sociological study of congregations within their international contexts. From this vantage point we will then discuss current issues of racial/ethnic diversity and inclusion, globalization, and "millennial" spirituality. (Cluster 2)
  • STH TR 814: Advanced Qualitative Research
    This course is for students involved or interested in independent qualitative research, including interviews, ethnographic projects, and/or content analysis. It will function much like a workshop, providing extensive guided practice with project conceptualization and design, finding funding, meeting university ethics requirements, gaining access to communities, recruiting participants, managing and storing data, creating coding schemes and using software, integrating mixed types of data to support an argument, balancing "home" and "field," being reflexive, and exercising respect and care for both oneself and one's interlocutors. Relative attention to these issues will depend on the needs and interests of the students. It can fruitfully be taken either separately or in addition to TR 800, Ethnographic Research. (Cluster 2)
  • STH TR 900: Ethnographic Research
    This seminar aims to train students in the understanding and application of ethnographic research methods. The research methods covered in this course are qualitative in nature, focusing on projects which require practitioners to go into the field and to analyze social spaces constructed, inhabited, and maintained by particular sets of social actors. The data in focus is less readily accessible via surveys, demographic analysis, and experimental designs. Course participants will, first of all, gain a broad understanding of the traditions related to ethnography, fieldwork, and qualitative research in the field of sociology. Secondly, participants will engage key debates in sociology related to the theories and methods of ethnographic work, ultimately developing research designs that most effectively fit personal projects in progress. Thirdly, participants will expand their techniques of data collection via guided field assignments and class interactions. Fourthly, participants will develop practices of research presentation that communicate findings in a compelling and insightful manner, with the aim of making findings accessible to a broader academic audience. Throughout the course, special attention will be given to the observation of how social boundaries are constructed and maintained in particular social settings.