Jesse Smith
@jessesmithsoc
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Assistant professor of sociology at Benedictine College | Do quant research on religion, politics, culture, family | All views expressed my own
Joined August 2022
See my latest critique of Christian nationalism (CN) lit in sociology. I draw a parallel between theories of CN and dispositional authoritarianism, showing how they make largely similar claims and so have the same problems. Long 🧵 1/
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@BrandonLukeMc Ironically the idea that this single study definitively settles the matter is itself evidence of the problem. Ideological slant helps determine what becomes a research agenda and what is a one-off study.
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RT @ReadDemography: "Make It or Break It? Pregnancy Scares & Romantic Relationship Dissolution": L Newmyer & @syabiku examine the timing of…
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The bangers keep coming on the Conspicuous Cognition blog. Balanced, erudite, and accessible analysis about what theories of false consciousness and dominant ideology get right (a little) and wrong (a lot).
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Nice piece from @NadyaWilliams81 on the new Western Civ centers and troubling (but telling) reactions to them. Among other insights, highlights the anti-intellectualism of cordoning off large sets of thinkers/ideas due to perceived political associations.
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Conservatives do a lot of political theory but not much social science, the result being a lot of nice ideas easily dismissed as armchair eggheadery. Nice piece from @kvallier here on the 30k-ft view of what a conservative research agenda might look like.
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Very cogent essay on the question of whether people who morally oppose Bad Thing A are culpable for engaging in politics in a way that generates foreseeable backlash, thus increasing the likelihood of Bad Thing A occurring. It is at minimum unstrategic.
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Which only makes the situation worse. Before they were partisan, now they're partisan *and* deeply confused. Not a good recipe either for fixing science or earning back trust.
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@LBRolsky Oh yes, the Bluey characters are important figures in our household. Another realization I have had is that quality children’s programming is just as important for the parents as the kids.
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Good reminder that most of the thoughts I want to articulate were already said better by Walter Lippman a century ago (and now by Dan Williams).
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Hear me ramble somewhat breathlessly about the pitfalls of Resistance academia, "white Christian nationalism," the use and abuse of the concept of "the deep story," and related matters on the Champagne Sharks podcast. Fun conversation.
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New Pew report on religious nationalism globally dropped, with some interesting findings. When it comes to careful, nonpartisan presentations of good quality data about matters of controversy, Pew is the best in the business IMO.
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RT @DavidHughesTwit: Great read: “Sociology in the Age of Trump: The Clash of Deep Stories on the Left and Right” by Professor @jessesmit…
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@SoterioPolitics In fairness, that’s for 2026. 2025 is the much more anodyne “Reimagining the Future of Work.”
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@NDhingra4 That’s fair. I don’t think Rauch takes the problem seriously enough because he is determined to make knowledge elites *as a class* the heroes, even if some fall short. But I agree there aren’t universal principles to resolve the matter. Eventually it has to be case by case.
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@NDhingra4 I appreciate your familiarity with my critique! And exactly so. He seems to expect knowledge elites to police themselves. He acknowledges the importance of viewpoint diversity, but doesn’t move to the logical conclusion that the lack of such diversity undermines elite authority.
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