Schedule

This course is organized into four parts. The first will be an introduction to the sociological study of religion, and then we'll explore three key areas of scholarship about religion and society. In part II, we'll look at a particular religious group in the US, Latino Protestants. This will give us an opportunity to look at demography and congregations and, more importantly, how sociologists study religion as culture. Next, in part III, we'll examine the issue of religion and politics. In this section, we'll focus on how religion is organized as an institution, by looking at how groups and organizations structure social activity. Finally, we'll look at religion in the life course in part IV. Here we will focus on religion as an agent of socialization and how young people use religion as a frame with which to understand the world as they navigate the challenges of growing up in contemporary society.

Required Readings:

  • Grace Davie, The Sociology of Religion, 2nd edition (Sage, 2013).
  • Mark Mulder, Aida I. Ramos, and Gerardo Marti, Latino Protestants in America (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017).
  • Ruth Braunstein, Prophets and Patriots (University of California Press, 2017).
  • Christian Smith, Soul Searching (Oxford, 2009).

    • The bookstore link for this course is: http://brooklyn.textbookx.com/institutional/index.php?action=browse#book...


    Topics:

    (1) M 1/29. Introduction to the course.

    Part I. Sociology of Religion
    (2) W 1/31. Davie 1, 2.

    (3) M 2/5. Davie 3, 4.
    (4) W 2/7. Davie 5, 6.

    (5) W 2/14. Davie 7, 8.

    (6) T 2/20. Davie 9, 10. * Conversion day: Monday classes
    (7) W 2/21. Davie 11, 12.

    (8) M 2/26. Summary and assessment.

    Due W 2/28: Research Project Proposal.

    Part II. Latino Protestants in America
    (9) W 2/28. Mulder Preface, 1.

    (10) 3/5. Mulder 2, 3.
    (11) W 3/7. Mulder 4, 5.

    (12) M 3/12. Mulder 6, 7.
    (13) W 3/14. Summary and assessment.

    Part III. Prophets and Patriots
    (14) M 3/19. Braunstein 1, 2.
    (15) W 3/21. *** College closed due to winter storm. ***

    (16) M 3/26. Braunstein 3, 4. * Discussion of project draft *
    (17) W 3/28. Braunstein 5, 6.

    (18) M 4/9. Braunstein 7 & summary.
    * W 4/11: Conversion day, Friday classes

    Due F 4/13: Research Project draft.

    Presentation of Research Projects
    (19) M 4/16. Jennifer G, Victoria T, James M, Turi M, Millette M
    (20) W 4/18. Daniel L, Saneem S, Chad B/Stephanie T/Talisha B/Sabrina B, Richard R, Jeniffer C

    (21) M 4/23. Madeline M, Joy L/Claudia M, Shoshana A, Tiffany H
    (22) W 4/25. Cassandra S, Marcus C/Kristin L, Ashraf A, Yasmin J, Stephon T, Louisa L

    (23) M 4/30. Mark C, Alexis C, Gregory U, Brenda R, Nessa B, Negla A, Mujidat A, Jessica P

    Part IV. Soul Searching
    (24) W 5/2. Smith Introduction, 1.

    (25) M 5/7. Smith 2, 3.
    (26) W 5/9. Smith 4, 5.

    (27) M 5/14. Smith 6, 7.
    @ (28) W 5/16. Summary and assessment.

    TH 5/17. Reading day

    Due: Research Report, final version, by midnight, TH 5/24. The final edited version of the research report represents the final exam for this class.