The Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame provides a supportive and challenging environment for sociological research, undergraduate studies, and graduate training and offers a number of courses with an emphasis in the study of religion.
Graduate Seminars
Fall 2008
Title: Soc 63900: "Critical Realism, Human Personhood, and Multiple Modernities I"
Professor: Christian Smith
Description: T his course will explore critical realism as a philosophy of social science that offers an alternative to positivist empiricism, hermeneutical interpretivism, and postmodernism that I believe fixes some of the problems in each. Having first come to a firm grasp of what critical realism is and the kind of research and thinking it promotes, we will then turn our attention to reflecting systematically on the nature of human persons and possible related implications for work in the social sciences. Finally, we will examine the thesis of multiple modernities as a way of understanding our contemporary global experience that provides an alternative theory to the modernization paradigm, with a particular eye to understanding the theoretical connections between this and critical realism. The concern of this course is with first principles in sociology and how good presuppositions and thinking can improve our scholarship, teaching, and yes - living. Little knowledge of philosophy is presupposed but some background in social theory and philosophy will be helpful. This course satisfies the advanced theory requirement of the ND sociology doctoral program.
Credits:1
Day and Time: Thursdays: August 28, September 18, October 9, November 6, December 4, 5:15pm-8:45pm.
Fall-Spring 2008
Title: Soc 63691: "Research & Analysis in Sociology of Religion" (RASR)
Professor: David Sikkink
Description: This one-credit workshop will engage students with key pieces of literature related to empirical research, measurement, and data analysis in the sociology of religion; teach some alternative approaches to basic data analysis strategies in the sociology of religion; and provide an informal seminar-based context for the collective reading, discussing, and critiquing of each others’ scholarly papers in sociology of religion. Workshop readings are drawn from the reading list for the ND doctoral exam in sociology of religion, to also help facilitate preparation for that exam.
Credits: 1
Day and Time: Thursdays: August 27, September 17, October 8, November 5, December 3, 3:00pm-5:30pm.
Fall 2008
Title: Soc 63662: "Religion and Schooling in American Society"
Professor: David Sikkink
Description: This seminar seminar will provide an overview of the relationship between religion and primary and secondary schooling in the United States. It will address several key questions in the academic and policy literature: What are the key historical turning points in the relationship between religion and schooling in American society? How do contemporary religious Americans view public schools, and how does religion shape Americans’ views on curricular and other school policy issues? What is the role of religion in the schooling choices of families in the US? How does religion affect academic outcomes for children? Specifically, do religious schools improve academic outcomes for children? Why or why not? The coursework will focus on advancing theory and evidence regarding the relationship of religion and academic achievement, the role of religion in politics of education, and the relationship between religion and democratic education.
Credits:3
Day and Time: Mondays and Wednesdays, 1:30pm-2:45pm.
Spring 2008
Title: Soc 63664: "Modernity, Secularization, Religious Persistence,
Spiritual Transformation"
Professor: Christian Smith
Description: What is the fate of religion in modern society? Is there something about modernity that is particularly corrosive of religion? Does modernity secularize? What is "modernity?" What does "secularization" mean? Where, how, and why does religion survive or thrive in the modern world? What social forces and influences explain different religious outcomes in modernity? Are there "multiple modernities" that have different effects on religious traditions? This course will examine the most important works in the literature on religion in modernity to explore these questions, toward mastering a set of key debates in the sociology of religion and generating new research to contribute to the field. Readings will help students prepare for the doctoral exam in sociology of religion.
Credits: 3
Day and Time: TBD
Fall-Spring 2007
Title: Soc 63691: "Research & Analysis in Sociology of Religion-1" (RASR-1)
Professor: Christian Smith
Description: This one-credit workshop will engage students with key pieces of literature related to empirical research, measurement, and data analysis in the sociology of religion; teach some alternative approaches to basic data analysis strategies in the sociology of religion; and provide an informal seminar-based context for the collective reading, discussing, and critiquing of each others’ scholarly papers in sociology of religion. Workshop readings are drawn from the reading list for the ND doctoral exam in sociology of religion, to also help facilitate preparation for that exam.
Credits: 1
Day and Time: (5) Thursdays, 3:45p-5:15p
Fall 2007
Title: "Research & Analysis in Sociology of Religion-2" (RASR-2)
Professor: Christian Smith
Description: Sociology of religion graduate students and faculty will read, discuss, and provide critical feedback for participant scholarly works in progress.
Day and Time: (5) Thursdays, 5:15p-6:30p
Fall 2007
Title: Soc 63652: "Religion, Politics, Economics, and Social Change"
Professor: David Sikkink
Description: How does religion interact with political, economic, and other social spheres of human social life? How is religion related to exercises of power, the production and distribution of material goods, the structuring of human life in seemingly non-sacred social institutions? When, how, and why does religion serve as a force of social reproduction, maintaining existing social practices and structures? When, how, and why does religion cause or influence social transformation, through cultural, political, and economic change? This seminar examines key exemplars of literature in this area as a means to master sociological approaches to religion as it interacts with other aspects of social life. Readings will help students prepare for the doctoral exam in sociology of religion.
Credits: 3
Day and Time: Thursdays, 12:30p-3:30p
Spring 2007
Title: Soc 73652: "Sociology of Religion II"
Professor: Kevin Christiano
Description: Contemporary empirical studies in the sociology of religion are examined. Current developments and movements of religious behavior are related to such issues as political action, family structure, economic actions, and leisure.
Credits: 3
Day and Time: Tuesdays, 3:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Fall 2006
Title: Soc 68901: "Research in the National Study of Youth and Religion
-a Training Seminar"
Professor: Christian Smith
Description: This 1-credit training seminar will orient students to the project, data, and analysis of the National (Longitudinal) Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). We will examine the goals and data collection methods of the project, explore the various types of survey and interview data collected to date, and launch students into specific analyses of data that fit their own substantive interests. Course meetings will involve student presentations of their analyses and group feedback toward publication.
Credits: 1
Day and Time: Thursdays, 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. every other week
Graduate Sociology of Religion Comprehensive Exam
In addition to whatever specific readings graduate students engage for their own personal research interests, there is a core set of readings with which sociologists of religion should be familiar in order to claim professional competence and as a background to eventually teaching in the sociology of religion. The purpose of doctoral exams is to provide occasions for students to master the essential literatures of their fields of interest and research. Scholars inevitably differ somewhat on exactly what literature belongs on such core lists of readings. Listed here, however, are the readings which Notre Dame graduate students will be expected to master for their doctoral comprehensive exams in the sociology of religion. Many of the journal articles are available via links to the Notre Dame Hammes Library online journals. In order to access these, you will need to be a current Notre Dame student and will be asked to provide your netid and password. Copies of all the remaining articles and book chapters may be found in 811 Flanner Hall. Students will be expected to locate the listed books on their own.
2007 Sociology of Relgion Readings List for Notre Dame Students
If you do not have a Notre Dame netid, you may access the reading list here.
Undergraduate Courses
Fall 2008
Title: Soc 30672: "Religion and Social Life"
Professor: Kevin Christiano
Description: How does social life influence religion? How does religion influence society? What is religion's social significance in a complex society like ours? Is religion's significance declining? This course will consider these and other questions by exploring the great variety in social expressions of religion. The course examines the social bases of churches, sects, and cults, and it focuses on contemporary religion in the United States.
Credits: 3
Day and Time: Mondays and Wednesdays, 1:30 p.m.-2:45 p.m.
Spring 2008
Title: Soc 30675: "Religion, Modernity, Secularization, Religious Persistence"
Professor: Christian Smith
Description: What is the fate of religion in modern societies? Is there something about modernity that is particularly corrosive of religion? Does modernity secularize? What does secularization mean? Where, how, and why does religion survive or thrive in the modern world? What social forces and influences explain different religious outcomes in modernity? Are there "multiple modernities" that have different effects on religious traditions? This course examines the most important works on religion in modernity to explore these questions so as to better understand outcomes of religious belief and practice in the contemporary world.
Credits: 3
Day and Time: TBD
Spring 2007
Title: Soc 30672: "Religion and Social Life"
Professor: Kevin Christiano
Description: How does social life influence religion? How does religion influence society? What is religion's social significance in a complex society like ours? Is religion's significance declining? This course will consider these and other questions by exploring the great variety in social expressions of religion. The course examines the social bases of churches, sects, and cults, and it focuses on contemporary religion in the United States.
Credits: 3
Day and Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30 p.m.-1:45 p.m.
Faculty Seminars
Fall 2007 - Spring 2008
Title: Social Science and Christian Perspectives on Human Personhood and Society
Professor: Christian Smith
Description: The social sciences present us with various perspectives and interpretations on what it means to be a human being. Christianity also makes claims about human persons and society. How might they fit together? Can human behavior be reduced to psychological and physical drives? Is there a goal to human life other than the fulfillment of material, biological and psychological needs? What does it mean to say that humans are made in the image and likeness of God? What implications does such an understanding have for human flourishing, of both individuals and societies? Are there valid normative perspectives on human personhood or are all such perspectives mere reflections of ideologies? Should moral and spiritual considerations play a role in social scientific study? We will explore these and other questions in the seminars, drawing on knowledge from sociology, psychology, political science, and theological anthropology. Over the course of the year, faculty and advanced graduate students will read and discuss works such as Charles Taylor's Philosophy and the Human Sciences and Sources of the Self; Christian Smith's Moral, Believing Animals; Thomas Williams' Who is My Neighbor?: Personalism and the Foundations of Human Rights; Margaret Archer's Being Human: The Problem of Agency; and Don Browning's Religious Thought and Modern Psychologies. They will also read documents on Catholic social thought and essays on theological anthropology.
Day and Time: (8) Fridays, 3:00p.m. - 5:30p.m. monthly
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