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Damon Mayrl

@mayrl.bsky.social
2.9K followers 583 following 32 posts

Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology at Colby College. Religion, politics, history, culture, law, policy, vermú. mayrl.org, @mayrl@sciences.social, @yrlsoc@x

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Damon Mayrl @mayrl.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
My review essay looking at two recent books on evangelicals and politics is now out at Contemporary Sociology. In it, I argue that sociologists should think more about how congregations act as plausibility structures for Trumpism & Christian nationalism journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
The Allegory of the Nave: Congregations as Plausibility Structures for Christian Nationalism - Damon Mayrl, 2026
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David Yamane @davidyamane.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Essay today by my grad school friend, Neil Gross. A good sociologist, he highlights that claims about the politicization of higher ed are not as simple as they seem; common defenses fall short as well. TL:DR affective polarization among students is the driver. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/07/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | College Has a Political Problem, but It’s Not Woke Brainwashing (Gift Article)
Students are self-segregating by ideology.
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Damon Mayrl @mayrl.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
RIP
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Damon Mayrl @mayrl.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Sociologists: I am teaching our capstone course this fall, which focuses on sociological scholarship published in 2025 or 2026. What recent pubs (books or articles) have you read that you thought were particularly good, and would also be engaging for undergrads? All suggestions welcome--thank you!
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Joshua Tucker @jatucker.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
We have re-opened our search for a 3-year AI-research postdoc at NYU's Center for Social Media, AI, and Politics!! The position starts this **September 1st** (or as soon as possible thereafter) and is in person at NYU. If necessary, we will also consider a 1/1/27 start. 1/3
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Gingerspiced @gingerspiced.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Pete Hegseth: "We need our warriors to embrace the Spartan mindset" U.S. Military: *suffers crushing defeat to the Persians*
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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
PLEASE SHARE: The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion has immediate opportunity for new Executive Officer. This part-time, remote position pays $55k. Details in attachment. Apply here bit.ly/SSSR-2026-EO.
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Prof. Aviles @nataliebaviles.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
So pleased to hear that After Positivism, edited by @mayrl.bsky.social and @nickhwilson.bsky.social, received the Barrington Moore book award! It was such an honor to be part of this incredible collective effort
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Nick Wilson @nickhwilson.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Rare professional post: I am honored beyond words to say that @mayrl.bsky.social and me have received the @asanews.bsky.social Comparative and Historical Section Barrington Moore Award for best book in Comparative Historical Sociology for *After Positivism* (tinyurl.com/442uh3b9). 1/
tinyurl.com
After Positivism | Columbia University Press
What is the value of comparison for research in historical sociology? Today, social scientists regularly express doubt about the positivist premises that hav... | CUP
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Daniel Winchester @bishopofwestsaxons.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
IT'S ALIVE! Brainstorming, discussing, writing, and re-writing this piece on the "unbundling" of American religion with @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social, @jlkucinskas.bsky.social, and @bsteens.bsky.social was the most enjoyable part of the process, but it's gratifying to see it officially "out" in ASR.
journals.sagepub.com
Religion Unbundled: Toward a Twenty-First-Century Paradigm for the Sociology of American Religion - Ruth Braunstein, Jaime Kucinskas, Brian Steensland, Daniel Winchester, 2026
Much recent sociological work on religion in the United States is written outside the field’s two established paradigms: secularization theory and the 1990s “re...
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Andrew Whitehead @andrew-whitehead.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
New Ahead of the Trend column from @religiondata.bsky.social shows there is really no evidence that huge swaths of the country think that having a “Christian country” is very/extremely important (33%). For Evangelicals, though, it's 68%. www.thearda.com/categories/a...
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Damon Mayrl @mayrl.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Happy to share that I've been promoted to Full Professor at Colby as of July 1, alongside a pretty amazing set of colleagues. Huge thanks to all those who have supported my career along the way in ways large and small! news.colby.edu/story/colby-...
news.colby.edu
Faculty Promotions Span the Curriculum
Twelve dedicated teacher-scholars from wide-ranging disciplines have been promoted to full professor
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Nick Wilson @nickhwilson.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
~18,000 articles (~582K total references) over the last 50 years across the flagship journals of American Sociology, Economics, Political Science, Anthropology, Geography, History, and the Social Science History Association, guess how many references are cited at least once in all fields. (It's 20.)
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Nick Wilson @nickhwilson.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
"Fun" (in the sense that a secular decline in state support for social science is "fun") offshoot from a computational text/soc-of-science/knowledge project with @mayrl.bsky.social. Long-term declines in NSF acknowledgment for all measured social sciences (and basically none for history, ever).
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Jonathan Coley @jonathancoley.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
How do local government officials' religious affiliations, behaviors, and beliefs shape their attitudes toward transgender rights policies? My colleagues and I address this question in a new Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion article: doi.org/10.1111/jssr...
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Nick Wilson @nickhwilson.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Like a world-famous band (which we are), *A Comparative Historical Sociology of Corruption* "drops" simultaneously and worldwide TODAY. Thanks to my partners-in-crime, Marco Garrido and Marina Zaloznaya, and to all the contributors! tinyurl.com/muyeezka
cambridge.org
A Comparative Historical Sociology of Corruption
Cambridge Core - Historical sociology - A Comparative Historical Sociology of Corruption
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Damon Mayrl @mayrl.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Please spread the word: Colby's Education Department is looking for a sociologist of education for a 1-year Visiting Assistant Professor position. I'm on the committee and happy to answer any questions. careercenter.asanet.org/job/1311249/...
careercenter.asanet.org
Visiting Assistant Professor of Education - Waterville, Maine job with Colby College | 1311249
The Education Department at Colby College invites applications for a one-year visiting assistant professor of education position, beginning Septemb...
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ASA Sociology of Religion Section @asareligion.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Looking for an easy way to follow other members of ASA Religion? Look no further than this Starter Pack! go.bsky.app/6cTpB24
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Jonathan Horowitz @jonathanhorowi1.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
Our department at the University of Toronto is hiring an assistant professor of sociology of race / ethnicity this fall. I'm not on the hiring committee but am very happy to talk to you about the position if you are interested. You can email, DM, or find me at ASA. jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...
jobs.utoronto.ca
Assistant Professor - Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
Assistant Professor - Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
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Gary Adler @garyadler.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
One cool trick to increasing trust in elections and government: make everyone a public official. Okay, maybe not, but still our new paper shows that local officials trust elections more. Why? Partly because they have a lot of social trust. dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
dx.plos.org
Confidence in elections among U.S. local officials: Effects of social trust, partisanship and political ambition
The U.S. public’s confidence in elections is intensively studied in the last decade but little is known about election confidence among locally elected officials, whose roles and community status may ...
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Nick Wilson @nickhwilson.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
More skunkworks with @mayrl.bsky.social . Still a couple of small parsing errors ("the participants" and "David"), but clear stratification among thanked entities in Social Science History versus samples of articles from five adjacent disciplines, 1976-2025.
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Sarah Quinn @sarahquinn.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Businesses have long used their bills/receipts to call attention to government policy. In “Beyond the Hidden American State” @mayrl.bsky.social and I analyzed restaurant bills as sites of political contestation. I'll put the link below.
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Benjamin H. Bradlow @bhbradlow.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Looking forward to sharing my book at the Colby College Sociology colloquium on Thursday! @mayrl.bsky.social @philipjfang.bsky.social
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Sarah Quinn @sarahquinn.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
@mayrl.bsky.social and I have written about what's happening how as a kind of cascade of recognition. When you call out the role of the government, this can produce spillover effects that highlight additional facets of governance.
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Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
I've been thinking about reasons it's hard to convey the importance of the Musk/Treasury thing and maybe one factor is that people don't realize how *much* of the world is government?
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Damon Mayrl @mayrl.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
RIP
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Sarah Quinn @sarahquinn.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
A panel on the Treasury this Thursday, with the incredible @epopppp.bsky.social and @abenewman.bsky.social. This is not just for academics. Everyone needs to understand what's happening right now. Spread the word!
Announcement for a SPECIAL PANEL ON THE TREASURY with pictures of two speakers.

About this event:

What is at stake with the Treasury's payment systems? Recent events make this question more pertinent than ever before. Cutting across governance, policy, economic regulation, and the bureaucracies that sit at the core of the democratic state, the Treasury's financial pipes and plumbing are critical for the nation's well-being. In this special session, Elizabeth Popp Berman (U Michigan) and Abraham Newman (Georgetown U) will discuss why these systems matter as well as the risks posed by their capture by non-state actors. Please join us on Thursday, February 6 at 11 AM PST/ 2 PM EST for what will surely be an excellent conversation.

Please register here: https://ucsd.zoom.us/meeting/register/uSxuanM2TEWy5Hqn4-7KVg
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Sarah Damaske @sarahdamaske.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
🚨 Please help us spread the word to Early Career Scholars! We @pop.psu.edu are happy to welcome our second cohort of External Fellows to Penn State's University Park campus this May for our grant-writing training, networking, and mentoring program. Please see below for more details.
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Todd Moye @moye.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
William E. Leuchtenburg, Scholar of F.D.R. and the Presidency, Dies at 102 (Gift Article) www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/b...
nytimes.com
William E. Leuchtenburg, Scholar of F.D.R. and the Presidency, Dies at 102 (Gift Article)
His writings, which stretched across eight decades, helped Americans understand a president who transformed the office and shaped the postwar years.
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Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Thanks to @lpeblog.bsky.social for the invitation to write about what policy scholars should do if "policy" is permanently broken. There are lots of good answers, but we can't afford to ignore the question.
lpeproject.org
In This Brave New World, Does Scholarship Still Matter?
If the recent past is no longer a useful guide to seeking change in the present, what good is policy-adjacent scholarship?
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Captain Pooky @captainpooky.bsky.social · 05/10/2024
Spotted in the missed connections section of the local Little Village magazine.
IOWA CITY, SEPT. 16
You were driving your Cybertruck south
on N Dubuque Street past the 1-80
ramps, and I was driving north. I didn't
see your face, and I'm worried you didn't
see my middle finger. Just wanted to
make sure you got the message
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Josh Grubbs @joshuagrubbsphd.com · 27/01/2025
An incredibly hot take that I have is that liberal/progressive leaders invoking Christian language because that is what they truly believe is actually a good thing because letting the conservative right have a monopoly on Christianity is catastrophically stupid
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American Sociological Association @asanews.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Apply to be an editor for Sociology of Race and Ethnicity! ASA’s Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities is looking for editor applications from individuals and teams. Applications due March 28, 2025. Read the call here: bit.ly/4jsHxZN #ASA #journals #sociology #research #editor
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Stefan Müller @stefanmueller.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
UCD’s School of Sociology is hiring an Assistant Professor (permanent) in Computational Social Science. – Salary Scale: €62,855–€99,533 – Application deadline: 10 Feb – Details: www.timeshighereducation.com/unijobs/list... @ucdsociology.bsky.social @ucddublin.bsky.social
timeshighereducation.com
Lecturer / Assistant Professor - Computational Social Science, School of Sociology - Dublin, Leinster (IE) job with UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN (UCD) | 386526
We are seeking applications from individuals with expertise in one or more of the following areas: Computational Social ...
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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 21/01/2025
By the way — if you're curious to learn more about the modern Religious Left, boy do I have the book for you: www.amazon.com/American-Pro...
amazon.com
American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country
American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country [Jenkins, Jack] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country
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Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) @sssreligion.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Job Alert➡️ The Department of Sociology & Anthropology @westvirginiau.bsky.social invites applications for an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) appointment in #Sociology, open area of specialization. Review of applications begins Jan 24, & will continue until filled. sssreligion.org/announcement...
West Virginia University Logo
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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
I went to graduate school to study with a well-known scholar of colorblind racism, and the idea that powerful people couch their hatred in euphemism to avoid social sanction seems increasingly quaint when the world's richest man is doing the Nazi salute at the President's inauguration.
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Social Science History Association @socscihistory.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
As the new year ramps up, don’t forget about the SSHA conference (our 50th!) in Chicago this November. For more details and to submit a paper see: ssha.org/conference/
ssha.org
Annual Conference
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Benjamin H. Bradlow @bhbradlow.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
New podcast interview about my book! @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
podcasts.apple.com
Benjamin H. Bradlow,
Podcast Episode · New Books in Sociology · 01/13/2025 · 52m
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Chris Morran @themorrancave.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Letters reveal a decades-long school voucher expansion strategy by politicians and church officials who all believe that the separation of church and state is illegitimate. New, @propublica.org
propublica.org
The Movement to Redirect Billions of Taxpayer Dollars to Private Religious Schools
Private letters reveal the strategy behind the decadeslong quest — successful in 12 states and counting — by politicians, church officials and activists to make taxpayer-funded school vouchers availab...
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Nick Wilson @nickhwilson.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
"Canons, Colleges, and Consecrations" with @mayrl.bsky.social is inching along. Behold: automated collection, parsing, and matching of acknowledgments from seven ASA sections, covering award-winning publications (and a few comparators) spanning 1979-present! Fine-tuning still, but looks face-valid!
A bipartite citation analysis of people thanked in ASA publications from seven sections, spanning pubs from 1979-the present.
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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 07/12/2024
1. Anyone who follows me knows that I am, shall we say, a big believer in hiring more religion reporters. But I wanted to take a minute to detail just one of the reasons I say that, like, all the time. More to the point: let’s pull back the curtain to explain what this kind of work looks like.
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Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Some of your archival needs may be met here ---> go.bsky.app/4EpKvv2
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Sarah Quinn @sarahquinn.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
@mayrl.bsky.social and I have written about these kind of efforts as classification struggles over the perception of the state itself. doi.org/10.1017/9781...
doi.org
Beyond the Hidden American State (Chapter 2) - The Many Hands of the State
The Many Hands of the State - February 2017
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