Penny Edgell

edgell@umn.edu

Sociology

909 Social Sciences Building

267 19th Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Curriculum Vitae

Collegiate Affiliation

Sociology

Links

Personal Website

Educational Background & Specialties

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Educational Background

Ph.D.: Sociology, University of Chicago, 1995
M.A.: Sociology, University of Chicago, 1989
A.B. : Sociology, magna cum laude, Princeton University, 1986

Specialties

Culture
Sociology of Religion & Nonreligion, Focus on the United States
Gender & Family
Symbolic Boundaries & Inequality

Publications

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Publications

Congregations in Conflict: Cultural Models of Local Religious Life. 1999. UK: Cambridge University Press.
Religion and Family in a Changing Society. 2005. NJ: Princeton University Press.
"Atheists and Other Cultural Outsiders: Moral Boundaries and the Non-Religious in the United States," with Douglas Hartmann, Evan Stewart, and Joseph Gerteis. 2016. Social Forces 95(2):607-638.
"From Existential to Social Understandings of Risk: Examining Gender Differences in Nonreligion," with Jacqueline Frost and Evan Stewart. Social Currents, 6(4):556-74, 2017.
"Atheists as ‘Other’: Moral Boundaries and Cultural Membership in American Society".with Joseph Gerteis and Douglas Hartmann. 2016. American Sociological Review 72(2):211-234.
"Distinctiveness Reconsidered: Religiosity, Structural Location, and Understandings of Racial Inequality," with Jacqueline Frost. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 56(2):277-301, 2017.
"A Cultural Sociology of Religion – New Directions ." 2012. Annual Review of Sociology (38):247-265.
"Christian America? Secularized Evangelical Discourse and the Boundaries of National Belonging," with Jack Delehanty and Evan Stewart. 2019. Social Forces 97(3):1283-1306.
“Reasoning Together Through Telling Stories: How People Talk About Social Controversies,’” with Kathleen Hull, Kyle Green, and Daniel Winchester. 2016. Qualitative Sociology 39(1):1-26.
Religion is Raced. 2020. Edited with Grace Yukich. NY: New York University Press.
"The Politics of Religious Prejudice and Tolerance for Cultural Others" with Evan Stewart and Jack Delehanty. The Sociological Quarterly 59(1):17-39, 2018.
“'I Believe in Taking Care of People': Pushing Back against Rationalized Institutions with a Logic of Care." With Jacqui Frost. Poetics, July 21, Online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2021.101593.
"From Politics as Vocation to Politics as Business: Populist Social Performance and Narrative Fusion in Trump Rallies." With Yagmur Karakaya. Social Forces, December 2021, Online at https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soab150.

Activities

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Activities

Professional

Chair Person, Section on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity, American Sociological Association August 2022-2023
Chair Person, Religion Section, American Sociological Association August 2012-2013
Academy of Distinguished Teachers, University of Minnesota
Mentor, Young Scholars in American Religion Program, IUPUI 2020-2023
Associate Dean for Social Sciences, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota 2015-2019

Research

Regional Coordinator for EPIC (Exploring the Pandemic's Impact on Congregations): This is a national multi-site study of the impact of the COVID-19 on local religious congregations that will include interviews, participant observation of services and meetings, focus groups with congregational members, in-depth interviews with lay and clergy leaders, and surveys of church attenders. The focus is on innovation during and beyond the pandemic's initial stages. Data collection will occur in waves over five years.. 2021-2025
Principal Investigator, American Mosaic Project: I am one of three faculty coordinators, with Joe Gerteis and Doug Hartmann, of the American Mosaic Project, a study of racial and religious diversity in the United States. Information about the project is available at https://cla.umn.edu/sociology/research-collaboration/collaboration-opportunities/american-mosaic-project-amp. . 2002-present

Awards

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Awards

Best Book Award, American Sociological Association Religion Section, for Congregations in Conflict, 2000
Best Book Award, American Sociological Association Religion Section, for Religion and Family in a Changing Society, 2006
Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education, University of Minnesota, 2020

Courses

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Courses

Soc 3701 - Social Theory
Soc 3309: Atheists and Others in the U.S.
Soc 4309/4309H - Religion in American Public Life: Culture, Politics, & Communities
Soc 8735 - Sociology of Culture
FSEM 1905 - Religion in America
Soc 8790 - Adv. Topics in Social Theory: Religion and Public Life
Soc 8801: Research Methods
Soc 8890 - Advanced Research Methods: Qual Methods