NEW FACULTY: NATHAN WRIGHT, A SOCIOLOGIST OF RELIGION,
CONFESSES A CATHOLICITY OF RESEARCH INTERESTS

The increasing visibility and influence of religious groups in American public life have been the topic of frequent reports in the popular press over the past decade. But the study of religion is a relatively neglected corner of academic sociology, says Lecturer in Sociology Nathan Wright, who joined Bryn Mawr's faculty this fall. Wright has just completed a Ph.D. dissertation for Northwestern University on ways in which challenges and threats to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly known as the Mormon Church) have acted to strengthen Mormon identity. As he prepares the manuscript for publication, he is turning his scholarly lens on his colleagues: one of several projects he is now undertaking aims to understand why the sociology of religion is such an unpopular specialty.

"Religion was a central concern of the founders of the discipline," Wright says, "but now it's a fairly marginalized area of study. I'm trying to figure out why that is. I think that a lot of sociologists aren't very sympathetic to religious belief; a generation ago they thought religion was on the verge of disappearing and were somewhat alarmed when it didn't. But religion clearly plays an important role in our culture and deserves to be studied."

Wright's conclusions about the growth of Mormonism in the face of internal and external challenges to core beliefs "can be applied to a wide range of cultural and ideological formations in order to understand the persistence/change dynamic of robust cultures," he says. That flexibility is evident in the breadth of his interests. His current research projects also include investigations of these topics:

• The relationship between religious practice and views on the morality of homosexuality;
• Class differences in attitudes toward marriage and parenthood;
• The profound impact of British broadcaster John Peel on 20th-century popular music and the structural conditions in the music industry that allowed a single individual to exercise such influence;
• How introductory sociology is taught and why innovation in the academic discipline is seldom reflected in textbooks on the subject.

Having read 39 introductory-sociology textbooks for his study, Wright chose none of them for his own courses, preferring to develop his own curriculum. Last semester, he taught the 100-level "Social Problems" course and a 300-level course on the sociology of religion while finishing his dissertation, participating in frequent discussions of the restructuring of the College's sociology curriculum, and moving himself, his wife and his twin toddlers into a fixer-upper in Philadelphia. "It was a busy semester," he says, "but being in such a wonderful place made it easier. I'm so happy with Bryn Mawr — I love the students, I love the faculty, I love the staff, I love the campus."

This semester, he is offering three 200-level courses: a research methods course that is required of majors, a course on the sociology of public opinion (cross-listed in political science), and "Sociology of Popular Music."

In addition to teaching three courses, Wright will supervise an advanced undergraduate in an independent research project: Max Coolidge '07 will help him gather and analyze data for his study of the influence of John Peel. An advocate of field training, Wright plans to develop courses for Praxis, Bryn Mawr's community-based experiential learning program.

"I was a social worker in Philadelphia from 1996 to 1998," Wright explains. "I hope to tap into some of the connections I made then to find field placements for Praxis students."

He is enthusiastic about teaching at Bryn Mawr. "I have nothing but wonderfully positive things to say about Bryn Mawr students," he says. "They're the best students in the world. I've taught hardworking, smart, well-prepared students before, and Bryn Mawr students have all of those qualities, but what really distinguishes them is their willingness to engage passionately with ideas, to figure things out for themselves and to change the world. For them, a college education represents more than the chance to earn a certification that enables them to get a better-paying job."

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