Christian Smith (sociologist)
Encyclopedia
Christian Smith is an American
sociologist, currently the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society
at the University of Notre Dame
. Smith’s research focuses primarily on religion in modernity
, adolescents
and emerging adults, sociological theory, American evangelicalism
, and culture
.
(MA) in 1983. He spent a year studying theology at Harvard Divinity School
before earning his MA (1987) and PhD (1990) from Harvard University
. Smith was a Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
for 12 years before moving to Notre Dame
. Smith was conferred the Gordon College Alumnus of the Year Award in October, 2007. He has been awarded more than $14 million worth of research grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts, Lilly Endowment Inc., the John Templeton Foundation, and other foundations and institutes.
’s 2010 Distinguished Book Award for his 2009 book, co-authored with Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults. He previously won Christianity Today
’s 2005 Distinguished Book Award for his 2005 book, co-authored with Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Michael Emerson and Smith’s Divided by Faith was the winner of the “2001 Outstanding Book Award" from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Smith is also the winner of the 2001-2002 Excellence in Mentoring Award, from the Graduate Student Association of the Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and winner of the 1995-96 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Sociology Graduate Student Association Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring.
He was co-author on 1999 “Outstanding Article Award,” granted by the American Sociological Association Section on the Sociology of Religion, for Mark Regnerus and Christian Smith, “Selective Deprivatization Among American Religious Traditions: the Reversal of the Great Reversal,” in Social Forces, in 1998.
, morality
, and identity to the center of sociological theorizing generally and the sociology of religion
specifically. Moral, Believing Animals underscored the morally oriented, narrative-referencing, and epistemologically anti-foundationalist condition of human personhood. In his work on American evangelicals, Smith developed a “subcultural identity” theory of religious persistence and strength in the modern world that emphasizes identity, cognitive perception, and symbolic boundary drawing. Smith’s The Secular Revolution emphasized the centrality of culture, agency, and moral vision by religiously hostile actors in the secularization
of American public life.
Smith’s recent work on the religious and spiritual lives of U.S. adolescents and emerging adults emphasizes the interplay of broad cultural influences, family socialization
, and religious motivations in forming teenagers' life outcomes. Smith’s early work on social movements emphasized not only structural political opportunities but also personal moral motivations for participation in social movement activism
. Behind and contributing to these sociological emphases are the philosophical works of Charles Taylor
and Alasdair MacIntyre
, a critical realist philosophy of social science, and an interpretive-hermeneutical understanding of sociology.
Smith’s recent What is a Person? draws upon critical realism, philosophical personalism, and Charles Taylor’s phenomenological epistemology to advance a model of the human person which Smith argues is needed ultimately for any sociological theories and analysis to make sense. Arguing that every sociological analysis and explanation presupposes, explicitly or implicitly, some assumptions about human persons, Smith critiques many extant presupposed models of persons as problematic in various ways. He then argues the model he advances on the basis of “critical realist personalism” to be more adequate for the sociological task. Smith works out his argument by critically engaging sociological social constructionism, network structuralism, and the dominant variables paradigm. What is a Person? concludes with two chapters seeking to overcome modernity’s fact-value divide and undermine the “is-ought” divorce, explaining how descriptive knowledge about human persons can inform normative views of what is good, right, and just in human and social life.
Smith is also the Principal Investigator of the Science of Generosity project, which seeks to advance social scientific knowledge about the sources, manifestations, and consequences of generosity in all of its forms. He continues to lead the National Study of Youth and Religion, the panel study of which is set to conduct a fourth wave of data collection in 2013, when the sample will be ages 24–29. Smith also continues his research and theorizing in critical realism, human personhood, sociological theories of action, multiple modernities, morality, and American religion.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sociologist, currently the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society
Center for the Study of Religion and Society
The Center for the Study of Religion and Society is a research center at the University of Notre Dame in the United States that is dedicated to advancing social scientific understanding of religion in society through scholarly research, training and publications...
at the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
. Smith’s research focuses primarily on religion in modernity
Modernity
Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...
, adolescents
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
and emerging adults, sociological theory, American evangelicalism
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
, and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
.
Biography
Smith attended Wheaton College (IL) (1978–1979) and received his BA from Gordon CollegeGordon College (Massachusetts)
Gordon College is a liberal arts college located on the former Princemere estate in Wenham, Massachusetts, northeast of Beverly. Founded by Baptist minister A. J...
(MA) in 1983. He spent a year studying theology at Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public...
before earning his MA (1987) and PhD (1990) from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. Smith was a Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
for 12 years before moving to Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
. Smith was conferred the Gordon College Alumnus of the Year Award in October, 2007. He has been awarded more than $14 million worth of research grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts, Lilly Endowment Inc., the John Templeton Foundation, and other foundations and institutes.
Awards
Smith has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Most recently, he was awarded Christianity TodayChristianity Today
Christianity Today is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming circulation figures of 140,000 and readership of 290,000...
’s 2010 Distinguished Book Award for his 2009 book, co-authored with Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults. He previously won Christianity Today
Christianity Today
Christianity Today is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming circulation figures of 140,000 and readership of 290,000...
’s 2005 Distinguished Book Award for his 2005 book, co-authored with Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Michael Emerson and Smith’s Divided by Faith was the winner of the “2001 Outstanding Book Award" from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Smith is also the winner of the 2001-2002 Excellence in Mentoring Award, from the Graduate Student Association of the Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and winner of the 1995-96 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Sociology Graduate Student Association Award for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring.
He was co-author on 1999 “Outstanding Article Award,” granted by the American Sociological Association Section on the Sociology of Religion, for Mark Regnerus and Christian Smith, “Selective Deprivatization Among American Religious Traditions: the Reversal of the Great Reversal,” in Social Forces, in 1998.
Theoretical Contributions
Smith’s larger theoretical agenda has been to move cultureCulture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
, morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
, and identity to the center of sociological theorizing generally and the sociology of religion
Sociology of religion
The sociology of religion concerns the role of religion in society: practices, historical backgrounds, developments and universal themes. There is particular emphasis on the recurring role of religion in all societies and throughout recorded history...
specifically. Moral, Believing Animals underscored the morally oriented, narrative-referencing, and epistemologically anti-foundationalist condition of human personhood. In his work on American evangelicals, Smith developed a “subcultural identity” theory of religious persistence and strength in the modern world that emphasizes identity, cognitive perception, and symbolic boundary drawing. Smith’s The Secular Revolution emphasized the centrality of culture, agency, and moral vision by religiously hostile actors in the secularization
Secularization
Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions...
of American public life.
Smith’s recent work on the religious and spiritual lives of U.S. adolescents and emerging adults emphasizes the interplay of broad cultural influences, family socialization
Socialization
Socialization is a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists and educationalists to refer to the process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies...
, and religious motivations in forming teenagers' life outcomes. Smith’s early work on social movements emphasized not only structural political opportunities but also personal moral motivations for participation in social movement activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
. Behind and contributing to these sociological emphases are the philosophical works of Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor
Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor was the 22nd President of Liberia, serving from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003....
and Alasdair MacIntyre
Alasdair MacIntyre
Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a British philosopher primarily known for his contribution to moral and political philosophy but known also for his work in history of philosophy and theology...
, a critical realist philosophy of social science, and an interpretive-hermeneutical understanding of sociology.
Smith’s recent What is a Person? draws upon critical realism, philosophical personalism, and Charles Taylor’s phenomenological epistemology to advance a model of the human person which Smith argues is needed ultimately for any sociological theories and analysis to make sense. Arguing that every sociological analysis and explanation presupposes, explicitly or implicitly, some assumptions about human persons, Smith critiques many extant presupposed models of persons as problematic in various ways. He then argues the model he advances on the basis of “critical realist personalism” to be more adequate for the sociological task. Smith works out his argument by critically engaging sociological social constructionism, network structuralism, and the dominant variables paradigm. What is a Person? concludes with two chapters seeking to overcome modernity’s fact-value divide and undermine the “is-ought” divorce, explaining how descriptive knowledge about human persons can inform normative views of what is good, right, and just in human and social life.
Smith is also the Principal Investigator of the Science of Generosity project, which seeks to advance social scientific knowledge about the sources, manifestations, and consequences of generosity in all of its forms. He continues to lead the National Study of Youth and Religion, the panel study of which is set to conduct a fourth wave of data collection in 2013, when the sample will be ages 24–29. Smith also continues his research and theorizing in critical realism, human personhood, sociological theories of action, multiple modernities, morality, and American religion.