DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY



Department of Sociology

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

S239: Sociology of Religion

Spring 2009

Professor Wilde

Seminar: Wednesdays, 2-5 p.m., MCNB 285

Office Hours: Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. or by appointment (please e-mail ahead of time regardless).

Overview: How do the many religious institutions in our society differ, and what common qualities do they share? Why do some religious institutions adapt to modernity while others do not? In particular, why are the politics of sex and gender so fundamental to the current organization of the American religious landscape? These questions will be the central motivating questions for the semester. The course will begin with an introduction to current theories in the sociology of religion. We will then apply and critique those theories as we learn more about the histories, members, practices and beliefs of the all of the major religious groups in the US today, including Mainline, Fundamentalist and Evangelical Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, and other groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. Students will pick two religious groups (one liberal and one conservative) to research throughout the course of the semester and will write papers describing history of that group, along with the development of that group’s stances on birth control, abortion, divorce, women’s ordination and homosexuality. Students will be expected to present their findings to the class, so that we can collectively engage in sociological analysis.

Required Books:

Davidman, Lynn. 1991. Tradition in a Rootless World: Women Turn to Orthodox Judaism. University of California Press.

Finke, Roger and Rodney Stark. 1992. The Churching of America. Rutgers University Press.

McRoberts, Omar. 2003. Streets of Glory: Church and Community in a Black Urban Neighborhood. University of Chicago Press.

Moon, Dawne. 2004. God, Sex and Politics. University of Chicago Press.

Orsi, Robert Anthony. 1985. The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950. Yale University Press.

Smith, Christian S. et al. 1998. American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving. University of Chicago Press.

Weber, Max. 2002 [1930]. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Routledge Press.

Wilde, Melissa J. 2007. Vatican II: A Sociological Analysis of Religious Change. Princeton University Press.

Reader (available on Blackboard):

1. Berger, Peter. Chapter 6: "Secularization and the Problem of Plausibility," From The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. Anchor Books, pages 127-153.

2. Brooks, Clem and Jeff Manza. 1997. “Social Cleavages and Political Allignments: US Presidential Elections, 1960-1992.” American Sociological Review.

3. Chaves, Mark. “Secularization as Decreasing Religious Authority.” Social Forces. 72(3):749-774.

4. Chaves, Mark. 1996. “Ordaining Women: The Diffusion of an Organizational Innovation.” American Journal of Sociology.

5. Davis, Nancy and Robert Robinson. 1996. “Are the Rumors of War Exaggerated? Religious Orthodoxy and Moral Progressivism in America.” American Journal of Sociology.

6. Durkheim, Emile. 1995 [1912]. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. The Free Press. Selections:

• “Religion is Social Thing,” Introduction, pgs. 8-9.

• “Definition of Religion and Religion versus Magic,” Book One, pgs. 33-44

• “Collective Effervescence” Book Two, Chapter Seven, Section IV, pgs. 216-221.

• “The Notion of the Soul,” Book Two, Chapter Eight, Sections IV and V, pgs. 265-272.

7. Emerson, Michael O. and Christian Smith and David Sikkink. 1999. “Equal in Christ, but Not in the World: Conservative Protestants and Explanations of Black-White Inequality.” Social Problems 46:398-417.

8. Herberg, Will. “Protestant Catholic Jew,” Chapters 1 and 2

9. Hout, Michael and Claude S. Fischer. 2002. “Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference: Politics and Generations.” American Sociological Review.

10. Hout, Michael, Andrew M. Greeley and Melissa J. Wilde. 2001. “The Demographic Imperative In Religious Change.” American Journal of Sociology. 107(2): 468-500.

11. Miller, Alan S. and Rodney Stark. 2002. “Gender and Religiousness: Can Socialization Explanations Be Saved?” American Journal of Sociology 107, 6 (May): 1399-1423.

12. Roth, Louise Marie Roth and Jeffrey C. Kroll. 2007. “Risky Business: Assessing Risk Preference Explanations for Gender Differences in Religiosity.” American Sociological Review 72, 2 (April): 205-220.

13. Wuthnow, Robert. 1988. The Restructuring of American Religion. Princeton University Press. Chapters 5-7.

14. Yang, Fenggang and Helen Rose Ebaugh. 2001. “Transformations in New Immigrant Religions and Their Global Implications.” American Sociological Review 66:269-288.

Evaluation and Requirements:

1. Exams (40%): There will be a mid-term and final exam. Both exams will be take-home essays and are worth 20% of your final grade.

2. Research Project (40%): Each student is required to complete a research project that compares two different religious groups (choices will be described in class, usually this will be a liberal vs. conservative comparison but other differences can be examined pending my approval) on three of the following five issues: birth control, abortion, divorce, women’s ordination and homosexuality. Using both primary and secondary sources, students are to gather descriptive demographic and other information about each group and then identify when each groups’ stance on the issues developed, who the major players/ pressure groups were, and how and why the winners won. The research project consists of the following:

1.) Paper Proposal Worksheet: listing the groups that you would like to examine and the issues in which you are most interested (5%).

2.) History, Demographics and Sources Memo: describes the history of the two religious groups that will be examined, the past and current membership, and the sources (both primary and secondary) that will be used for each group (no more than four pages) (5%).

3.) Initial Findings Memos 1 and 2: Describes your initial findings about each religious group, as well as any problems you are having securing sources or information (no more than two pages) (5% each, 10% total).

4.) Papers 1 and 2: 8-10 page paper that details the development of each groups’ stances on the three issues (10% each, 20% total).

3. Presentation (10%): Each student will be required to present the findings of his or her research project to the class during the last two class sessions. The presentations should be succinct (maximum of 10 minutes) and should attempt to bring the findings about the two different religious groups together analytically.

4. Class Participation (10%): Class participation includes:1.) attendance, which is mandatory for all lectures, 2.) students’ familiarity with the readings and concepts covered in the course as demonstrated by class discussion. Students are allowed one unexcused absence before they are penalized.

Class Schedule:

|Week |Date |Topic and Assignments |

| |Wednesday, January 14 |Introduction to the Course |

| | |What is sociology? |

|1 | |What is religion? |

| | |Thinking scientifically about religion. |

| | |What is historical sociology? |

| | | |

|2 | |Classical Theory |

| |Wednesday, January 21 |Durkheim, Elementary Forms (selections) |

| | |Weber, The Protestant Ethic (selections) |

| | |Chapter 1, pages 1-8. |

| | |Chapter 2, pages 13-17, 23-24, 29-30, and 2nd half of page 38. |

| | |Chapter 3, pages 39-42, bottom of 44-top of 45, 47-48. |

| | |Chapter 5, pages 104-105, 106, 108-top of 109, 114-116, bottom of 117-119, 120, 122-125. |

| | |Paper proposal worksheet due |

| | | |

| |Wednesday, January 28 |Contemporary Theory (read in the order listed) |

|3 | |Herberg, Protestant, Catholic, Jew (selections) |

| | |Berger, The Sacred Canopy (selections) |

| | |Wuthnow: Restructuring (selections) |

| | |Paper proposal worksheet returned |

| | | |

| | | |

| | |Supply-Side Theory |

| |Wednesday, February 4 |Finke and Stark, The Churching of America |

|4 | |Wilde, Vatican II, Intro and Chapter 2 |

| | |Historical, Demographic and Source Memo due |

| |

| |Wednesday, February 11 |Neo-Secularization Theories |

|5 | |Chaves, “Secularization as Declining Religious Authority” |

| | |Smith, Secular Revolution (selections TBA) |

| | |Historical, Demographic and Source Memo returned |

| | | |

| | | |

| |Wednesday, February 18 |Religious Strictness |

|6 | |Iannaccone, “Why Strict Churches Are Stronger” |

| | |Smith, American Evangelicalism |

| | |Hout, Greeley and Wilde, “The Demographic Imperative in Religious Change” |

| | |Initial Findings Memo 1 due |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

| |Wednesday, February 25 |Religion and Ethnicity |

|7 | |Rober Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street |

| | |Yang and Ebaugh, “Transformations in New Immigrant Religions” |

| | |Take Home Mid-term Due at the beginning of class |

| | |Initial Findings Memo 1 returned |

| | | |

| |Wednesday, March 4 |Religion and Race |

|8 | |McRoberts, Streets of Glory |

| | |Emerson, Smith and Sikkink. “Equal in Christ, but Not in the World” |

| | |Paper 1 due |

| | | |

| |Wednesday, March 11 |SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS |

| | | |

|9 |Wednesday, March 18 |Religion and Gender Part I |

| | |Davidman, Tradition in a Rootless World, |

| | |Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 5. |

| | |Paper 1 returned |

| | | |

| | | |

| | |Religion and Gender Part II |

| |Wednesday, March 25 |Miller and Stark, “Gender and Religiousness“ |

|10 | |Roth and Vader, “Risky Business” |

| | |Chaves, “Ordaining Women” |

| | |Initial Findings Memo 2 due |

| | | |

| | | |

| |Wednesday, April 1 |Religion and Homosexuality |

|11 | |Moon, God, Sex and Politics, |

| | |Introduction and Chapters 1-3 and 5. |

| | |Initial Findings Memo 2 returned |

| | | |

| | |Religion and Politics |

|12 |Wednesday, April 8 |Brooks and Manza, “Social Cleavages and Political Allignments” |

| | |Davis and Robinson, “Are the Rumors of War Exaggerated?” |

| | |Hout and Fischer, “Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference” |

| | |Paper 2 Due |

| | | |

| | | |

| |Wednesday, |Practicum I (MANDATORY CLASS): Analyzing Religious History Sociologically |

|13 |April 15 |First Half of Student Presentations |

| | | |

| | | |

|14 |Wednesday, |Practicum II (MANDATORY CLASS): Analyzing Religious History Sociologically |

| |April 22 |Second Half of Student Presentations |

| | |Take Home final due on Blackboard Thursday, May 7, 11:00 a.m. |

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download