Department of Sociology
Program History
The study of religion has been a part of Purdue's sociology program from the very beginning of the department. The first department head, Harold Christensen, studied interfaith marriages in the 1950s. In the 1960s, the department hired a sociologist of religion, Jeffrey Hadden, and an anthropologist of religion, Jack Waddell. Hadden pursued his research on changes in mainline denominations, while Waddell studied religion among Native Americans, especially the Papago. They took turns teaching the department's only course on religion.
When Hadden left Purdue in the late 1960s, the department hired two sociologists of religion, James Davidson and Dean Knudsen. At the micro-level, Davidson's research focused on the social sources and consequences of religious commitment. At the macro-level, Davidson studied the relationship between religion and social inequality. Knudsen was interested in religion's relationship to marriage and family life. By the early 1970s, the one course on religion was transformed into an anthropology of religion course, and the sociologists created a course of their own, which they taught on an alternating basis for several years. As Knudsen's attentions turned more toward the study of child abuse and neglect, Davidson took the lead in the sociology of religion at Purdue.
An increasing number of graduate students explored the study of religion. They became involved in some of Davidson’s on-going research projects, made presentations at national meetings, wrote journal articles on religion, and did dissertations on the social dimensions of religion. During the department's internal evaluation of its research and teaching activities in the late 1980s, the faculty formally recognized the sociology of religion as one of its strengths. Shortly thereafter, Roger Finke joined the faculty. Finke used a rational choice and religious economy approach to study religion's persistence in modern society. Meanwhile, Davidson's work increasingly focused on American Catholics and religious stratification in the United States. Finke and Davidson increased the department's reputation for research on religion by securing several large grants and publishing award-winning books. They also expanded the sociology of religion curriculum to five courses, and both men won teaching awards. When Finke left Purdue for Penn State in the late 1990s, the department hired Fenggang Yang. Yang's research has two foci: the adaptation of Asian immigrant religions to American life and the reemergence of religion in China (see "Program Faculty" for more details). When the department developed its strategic plan in 2005, it authorized a third full-time position in the sociology of religion. That is when Daniel Olson joined the faculty. Olson's research calls attention to the social conditions affecting the vitality of religious organizations (see "Program Faculty" for more details). Davidson retired from the department in 2009, and searching for his replacement is the department's highest recruitment priority.