2012 Annual Meeting: Religion and Social Change
PRELIMINARY PROGRAM:
The Preliminary Program may be revised if persons withdraw their papers or other commitment to participation. Revisions will be posted on Tuesdays, when necessary, with a date of current revision shown. Please do not ask to have the time of the session in which you are scheduled changed. Any schedule time change causes changes for a minimum of eight other people, and with the total number of sessions on the program, even a few such changes become a virtually impossible task
The 2012 annual meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion will take place August 17-18 in Denver, Colorado at the Grand Hyatt. The Grant Hyatt is a Four Diamond hotel in the heart of downtown Denver, close to restaurants, shopping and entertainment, including the world famous Tattered Cover bookstore.
Our 2012 meeting will take place immediately prior to the meetings of the ASA’s religion section, but will not overlap with those sessions. This will allow members to attend sessions at both meetings in a shorter window than previous years. The Grant Hyatt is a block away from the ASA conference hotel, the Hyatt Regency.
The theme of this year’s meeting is religion and social change. Most religions traditions are predicated upon the idea that conversion transforms the individual and widespread acceptance of religious principles results in a utopian society. Some religions attempt to produce or prevent change by influencing the wider discourse surrounding key moral and political debates; others promote programs at the local level; and still others, viewing society as beyond repair, attempt to produce their own utopian sub-societies. Yet, religion is also the product of social changes that mold beliefs and transform religious institutions. While we welcome papers on all subjects, we expect many presentations to explore the complex relationship between religion and social change.
Further, this year’s meeting will have a strong focus on professional development with special sessions on funding and disseminating research, navigating the tenure process, publishing and writing, and resources available for research. These sessions will include a panel with the editors of Sociology of Religion and Review of Religious Research.
