SOC 312 Lived Religion in Everyday Life
The main objective of this course is to examine how religious beliefs inform everyday habits, rituals and social relationships. We will begin the class by exploring the theoretical foundations of lived religion through an exploration of popular works by Nancy Ammerman, Marie Griffith, and Robert Orsi, among others. We will spend the remainder of the course considering how religious ideas inform daily life regarding a variety of subjects, including pop culture, sexual politics, race, gender, the body, youth culture, work and family life. Throughout the course students will be asked to think critically about how religious beliefs influence human interaction and how we view ourselves in unexpected ways. The format of each class will rely heavily on small group work and discussions with the end goal of each student producing a final paper based on their own investigative field work.