Religion and the Social Sciences Unit

The Religion and Social Sciences Unit (RSS) supports scholarship at the intersection of the social sciences and religious or theological studies. Topic areas include the study of religious and theological questions through specific social scientific methodologies, the integration of theological and social scientific approaches to the study of religious communities and practices, and comparative assessments of current issues by humanities-based and social scientific methods.

As always, we welcome proposals related to these topics, and encourage creative formats such as flash sessions, roundtables, discussion-based sessions, etc.

For the 2024 meeting in San Diego, we are especially interested in paper, papers session, and roundtable proposals that offer social scientific methodological and/or theoretical analyses in regard to:

Race, Religion, and Electoral Violence and Nonviolence

Considering the 2024 annual meeting theme, “Violence, Nonviolence, and the Margin,” and the timing of the meeting just after what is likely to be the most contentious U.S. presidential election in memorable history, we invite papers that use social scientific methods and theory to analyze the role of race and religion in U.S. electoral violence, as well as nonviolent responses to anti-democratic measures such as voter suppression and intimidation and baseless delegitimization of election results. We also invite proposals that use social scientific analysis to examine the role of faith leaders and communities in addressing election-related anxiety and trauma.

Religion and Unspeakable Violence

How do we research violences that are rendered politically unspeakable? The extraordinary violence in Israel and Gaza that began on October 7th, 2023 has brought this question into sharp relief. How do social scientists study and analyze violence in cases where all terms and interpretive frameworks seem only to multiply ethnic, religious, and political violence? How do freedom of speech issues, academic contingency, and cancel culture stymie the ability to produce social scientific research and scholarship on instances of unspeakable violence? Proposals are welcome that address these and related questions, in regard to any instance of unspeakable violence, in Israel and Gaza or elsewhere.  

Religion and Violence in the U.S. Urban Borderlands, co-sponsored with the Religion and Cities Unit

Connecting to the 2024 annual meeting theme, “Violence, Nonviolence, and the Margin” and our location in San Diego, we invite papers using social scientific methods/theory to explore religious expressions of and responses to violence and nonviolence in the U.S./Mexico urban borderlands. Papers might explore how religion contests or underwrites physical and symbolic violence at the border, the relationship of religion to the border’s construction of urban social geographies, or the role of religious institutions and faith communities in border cities, to name just a few possible examples.

The Myth of Religious Violence

Reflecting on William Cavanaugh’s 2009 book The Myth of Religious Violence, we invite papers that explore (and debate) the relationship between religion and violence. Papers may explore how ideas of religion as inherently violent or of religious people being predisposed to promoting violence manifest in societies; how notions of secular and sacred inform debates about political violence and construct nationalisms; ways in which the trope of religious violence is used to marginalize specific groups and/or mobilize communities and legitimate state violence; and religion’s role in lived experiences of victimization, hate-crimes, discrimination, and war.

Religion, Spirituality, Nonviolence, and Utopia

What role does religion and spirituality play in imagining and pursuing better worlds? We invite papers that bring social theory, methods, and analysis to questions of nonviolence and utopia. Papers may explore how religion and spirituality inform nonviolent or abolitionist political practices; how religion and spirituality shape utopian social ideals and movements; and how nonviolent ethics and theologies are lived by religious individuals and groups, including those who identify as non-religious or spiritual.

The Constructive Value of the Social Sciences

We invite papers that reflect on the constructive value of social scientific methodologies: the conditions under which social science research on religion can be applied to issues of moral concern in ways that contribute to the common good; the possibility of making ethical claims and interventions through empirical research; navigating the tensions of descriptive and normative; and practical examples of applied social science research on religion that have contributed constructively to broader communities or publics.