B Steensland
Biographic Data
| ID | 118238 |
|---|---|
| NAME | B Steensland |
| GIVEN NAMES | B |
| FAMILY NAME | Steensland |
| SIGNATURE | STEENSLAND B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Indiana University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6071-4764 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1,296 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Religion Unbundled
Much recent sociological work on religion in the United States is written outside the field’s two established paradigms: secularization theory and the 1990s “religious economy” approach. Drawing together strands of recent theoretical innovation and contemporary religious developments that challenge the existing paradigms, we introduce elements of a twenty-first-century paradigm for the sociology of American religion. We argue that the shape-shift…
The Discursive and Practical Influence of Spirituality on Civic Engagement
Religion has long been recognized as promoting civic engagement. Recent declines in organized religion and growing interest in spirituality raise the question of whether spirituality might also promote civic engagement. Using data from a new nationally representative survey, we assess the independent and joint influence of spirituality and religion on civic life. We find that 40% of respondents perceive spirituality as influencing their civic eng…
American Babylon
White evangelical indifference to (and participation in) state-level voter suppression measures and the January 6th Capitol insurgency, among other things, have recently raised a significant question: How committed are white evangelicals to democracy? Only time will provide the answer, of course, but Philip Gorski’s slim but highly learned book, American Babylon: Christianity and Democracy Before and After Trump, gives us the historical backgroun…
Rethinking Religion
Evangelicals, Then and Now
Although James Davison Hunter was not centrally interested in politics
Structure, Placement, and the Quest for Unidimensional Purity in Typologies of American Denominations
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article
Spirituality
While there is increasing interest in the topic of spirituality, scholars have limited data on its meaning among ordinary Americans. Based on an open-ended question in a new nationally representative survey, this article documents the elements that make up people's views of spirituality. We find that theism is the dominant focus of American spirituality, with a relatively small percentage of people offering exclusively immanent descriptions. Cogn…
American Evangelicals and Conservative Politics
Since the late 1970s, American evangelicals have been a potent influence in conservative politics. Recent scholarship both refines and contextualizes some of the central themes found in the broader literature on evangelical politics. We first review key recent scholarship in American religious history. It shows that current patterns of evangelical conservatism are the product of historically contingent social forces and that political conservatis…
The Measure of American Religious Traditions
10.1093/sf/sos121
Moral Ambition
The Failed Welfare Revolution
Today the United States has one of the highest poverty rates among the world's rich industrial democracies. The Failed Welfare Revolution shows us that things might have turned out differently. During the 1960s and 1970s, policymakers in three presidential administrations tried to replace the nation's existing welfare system with a revolutionary program to guarantee Americans basic economic security. Surprisingly from today's vantage point, guara…
Is the Market Moral? Protestant Assessments of Market Society
Is the market moral? Do different Protestant traditions have competing views of "market society"? Despite the increasing diffusion of market logics in American society, scholars of religion have little empirical data on these questions. Employing discourse analysis of market-related topics in two prominent Christian periodicals over a twenty-year period, this paper compares evangelical and mainline Protestant evaluations of markets. We find that …
Moral Classification and Social Policy
Rejoinder to Philip Smith
Restricted and Elaborated Modes in the Cultural Analysis of Politics 1
The “cultural turn” that swept across the social sciences a generation ago ushered in renewed attention to the cultural analysis of politics. Yet despite this growing area of research, there remains a lack of integration between cultural and noncultural studies of political phenomena. Should this state of affairs be a source of concern for cultural sociologists? I believe it should be. In this essay, I outline reasons why this is the case and wha…
Why do Policy Frames Change? Actor-Idea Coevolution in Debates over Welfare Reform
Journal Article Why do Policy Frames Change? Actor-Idea Coevolution in Debates over Welfare Reform Get access Brian Steensland Brian Steensland Indiana University Direct correspondence to Brian Steensland, Department of Sociology, 744 Ballantine Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405. E-mail: [email protected]. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 86, Issue 3, March 2008, Pages …
Cultural Categories and the American Welfare State
There is considerable evidence that cultural categories of worth are central to the ideological foundation of the American welfare state. However, existing perspectives on U.S. welfare policy development grant little explanatory power to the role of culture. For this reason, they cannot adequately explain the dynamics of an important, but frequently overlooked, episode in American welfare state history: the rise and fall of guaranteed annual inco…
The Measure of American Religion
Recently scholars have devoted renewed attention to the role of religion in American life. Thus, it is important that they use the most effective means available to categorize and study religious groups. However, the most widely used classification scheme in survey research (T.W. Smith 1990) does not capture essential differences between American religious traditions and overlooks significant new trends in religious affiliation. We critique this …
The Measure of American Religion
Recently scholars have devoted renewed attention to the role of religion in American life. Thus, it is important that they use the most effective means available to categorize and study religious groups. However, the most widely used classification scheme in survey research (T.W. Smith 1990) does not capture essential differences between American religious traditions and overlooks significant new trends in religious affiliation. We critique this …
Cultural Categories and the American Welfare State
There is considerable evidence that cultural categories of worth are central to the ideological foundation of the American welfare state. However, existing perspectives on U.S. welfare policy development grant little explanatory power to the role of culture. For this reason, they cannot adequately explain the dynamics of an important, but frequently overlooked, episode in American welfare state history: the rise and fall of guaranteed annual inco…
Why do Policy Frames Change? Actor-Idea Coevolution in Debates over Welfare Reform
Journal Article Why do Policy Frames Change? Actor-Idea Coevolution in Debates over Welfare Reform Get access Brian Steensland Brian Steensland Indiana University Direct correspondence to Brian Steensland, Department of Sociology, 744 Ballantine Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405. E-mail: [email protected]. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 86, Issue 3, March 2008, Pages …
The Failed Welfare Revolution
Today the United States has one of the highest poverty rates among the world's rich industrial democracies. The Failed Welfare Revolution shows us that things might have turned out differently. During the 1960s and 1970s, policymakers in three presidential administrations tried to replace the nation's existing welfare system with a revolutionary program to guarantee Americans basic economic security. Surprisingly from today's vantage point, guara…
Spirituality
While there is increasing interest in the topic of spirituality, scholars have limited data on its meaning among ordinary Americans. Based on an open-ended question in a new nationally representative survey, this article documents the elements that make up people's views of spirituality. We find that theism is the dominant focus of American spirituality, with a relatively small percentage of people offering exclusively immanent descriptions. Cogn…
American Evangelicals and Conservative Politics
Since the late 1970s, American evangelicals have been a potent influence in conservative politics. Recent scholarship both refines and contextualizes some of the central themes found in the broader literature on evangelical politics. We first review key recent scholarship in American religious history. It shows that current patterns of evangelical conservatism are the product of historically contingent social forces and that political conservatis…
Structure, Placement, and the Quest for Unidimensional Purity in Typologies of American Denominations
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article
Is the Market Moral? Protestant Assessments of Market Society
Is the market moral? Do different Protestant traditions have competing views of "market society"? Despite the increasing diffusion of market logics in American society, scholars of religion have little empirical data on these questions. Employing discourse analysis of market-related topics in two prominent Christian periodicals over a twenty-year period, this paper compares evangelical and mainline Protestant evaluations of markets. We find that …
The Discursive and Practical Influence of Spirituality on Civic Engagement
Religion has long been recognized as promoting civic engagement. Recent declines in organized religion and growing interest in spirituality raise the question of whether spirituality might also promote civic engagement. Using data from a new nationally representative survey, we assess the independent and joint influence of spirituality and religion on civic life. We find that 40% of respondents perceive spirituality as influencing their civic eng…
Restricted and Elaborated Modes in the Cultural Analysis of Politics 1
The “cultural turn” that swept across the social sciences a generation ago ushered in renewed attention to the cultural analysis of politics. Yet despite this growing area of research, there remains a lack of integration between cultural and noncultural studies of political phenomena. Should this state of affairs be a source of concern for cultural sociologists? I believe it should be. In this essay, I outline reasons why this is the case and wha…
The Measure of American Religion
Recently scholars have devoted renewed attention to the role of religion in American life. Thus, it is important that they use the most effective means available to categorize and study religious groups. However, the most widely used classification scheme in survey research (T.W. Smith 1990) does not capture essential differences between American religious traditions and overlooks significant new trends in religious affiliation. We critique this …
Cultural Categories and the American Welfare State
There is considerable evidence that cultural categories of worth are central to the ideological foundation of the American welfare state. However, existing perspectives on U.S. welfare policy development grant little explanatory power to the role of culture. For this reason, they cannot adequately explain the dynamics of an important, but frequently overlooked, episode in American welfare state history: the rise and fall of guaranteed annual inco…
Why do Policy Frames Change? Actor-Idea Coevolution in Debates over Welfare Reform
Journal Article Why do Policy Frames Change? Actor-Idea Coevolution in Debates over Welfare Reform Get access Brian Steensland Brian Steensland Indiana University Direct correspondence to Brian Steensland, Department of Sociology, 744 Ballantine Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405. E-mail: [email protected]. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 86, Issue 3, March 2008, Pages …
Rejoinder to Philip Smith
Restricted and Elaborated Modes in the Cultural Analysis of Politics 1
The “cultural turn” that swept across the social sciences a generation ago ushered in renewed attention to the cultural analysis of politics. Yet despite this growing area of research, there remains a lack of integration between cultural and noncultural studies of political phenomena. Should this state of affairs be a source of concern for cultural sociologists? I believe it should be. In this essay, I outline reasons why this is the case and wha…
Moral Classification and Social Policy
The Failed Welfare Revolution
Today the United States has one of the highest poverty rates among the world's rich industrial democracies. The Failed Welfare Revolution shows us that things might have turned out differently. During the 1960s and 1970s, policymakers in three presidential administrations tried to replace the nation's existing welfare system with a revolutionary program to guarantee Americans basic economic security. Surprisingly from today's vantage point, guara…
Is the Market Moral? Protestant Assessments of Market Society
Is the market moral? Do different Protestant traditions have competing views of "market society"? Despite the increasing diffusion of market logics in American society, scholars of religion have little empirical data on these questions. Employing discourse analysis of market-related topics in two prominent Christian periodicals over a twenty-year period, this paper compares evangelical and mainline Protestant evaluations of markets. We find that …
The Measure of American Religious Traditions
10.1093/sf/sos121
Moral Ambition
American Evangelicals and Conservative Politics
Since the late 1970s, American evangelicals have been a potent influence in conservative politics. Recent scholarship both refines and contextualizes some of the central themes found in the broader literature on evangelical politics. We first review key recent scholarship in American religious history. It shows that current patterns of evangelical conservatism are the product of historically contingent social forces and that political conservatis…
Structure, Placement, and the Quest for Unidimensional Purity in Typologies of American Denominations
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article
Spirituality
While there is increasing interest in the topic of spirituality, scholars have limited data on its meaning among ordinary Americans. Based on an open-ended question in a new nationally representative survey, this article documents the elements that make up people's views of spirituality. We find that theism is the dominant focus of American spirituality, with a relatively small percentage of people offering exclusively immanent descriptions. Cogn…
Rethinking Religion
Evangelicals, Then and Now
Although James Davison Hunter was not centrally interested in politics
American Babylon
White evangelical indifference to (and participation in) state-level voter suppression measures and the January 6th Capitol insurgency, among other things, have recently raised a significant question: How committed are white evangelicals to democracy? Only time will provide the answer, of course, but Philip Gorski’s slim but highly learned book, American Babylon: Christianity and Democracy Before and After Trump, gives us the historical backgroun…
The Discursive and Practical Influence of Spirituality on Civic Engagement
Religion has long been recognized as promoting civic engagement. Recent declines in organized religion and growing interest in spirituality raise the question of whether spirituality might also promote civic engagement. Using data from a new nationally representative survey, we assess the independent and joint influence of spirituality and religion on civic life. We find that 40% of respondents perceive spirituality as influencing their civic eng…
Religion Unbundled
Much recent sociological work on religion in the United States is written outside the field’s two established paradigms: secularization theory and the 1990s “religious economy” approach. Drawing together strands of recent theoretical innovation and contemporary religious developments that challenge the existing paradigms, we introduce elements of a twenty-first-century paradigm for the sociology of American religion. We argue that the shape-shift…
Sociology (16 works) · Political science (12 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Media studies (5 works) · Religion, Society, and Development (5 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (5 works)