iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

That would be entirely consistent with our finding some years ago that Google searches for male enhancement terms (e.g., "male enhancement pills" "penis enlargement") are strongly correlated with evangelical adherence rate in a state, even with numerous controls. doi.org/10.1111/jssr...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

New at @jssreligion.bsky.social. We asked Christians what actions help build the Kingdom of God on earth: we find the more Christians affirm Christian nationalism, the more they deprioritize charity & justice while prioritizing Christian statism & evangelism. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Here's the bivariate pattern I first show in Fig 1. Across GSS waves, adults who think being a Christian is important to being "truly American" and folks who want prayer/Bible in public schools tend to score lower on verbal ability measured by wordsum scores. This holds in full models at .001. 2/4

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

New from me. Using the GSS wordsum vocabulary test (common proxy for cognitive ability), I find lower scores are associated with greater adherence to Christian nationalist views. This is consistent with studies finding lower scores among fundamentalists & authoritarians. 1/4 doi.org/10.1111/jssr...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It’s raining great new books for me this week! Check out these important new volumes from @robertpjones.bsky.social and @bradleyonishi.bsky.social.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Anyone know how to get a full pdf of this book? I'd rather not pay >$60 for it and very few libraries have it. www.amazon.com/Family-Cycle...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Shoutout to @victorerikray.bsky.social’s excellent volume prominently on display in my local NYC public library.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

We had all three of our kiddos (10, 12, and 15) read this one and report on it around the dinner table tonight. Really excellent discussion. Think we may have started a recurring family activity.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Can’t imagine why someone would think this is profound. What does “some people“ mean? A handful? Half of them? Most? And what does “poor“ mean? Starving? Drives used cars? And how much is “rich“? Surgeon money? Or billionaires? Without qualification this statement is stupid.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Important new scholarship by @triciacbruce.bsky.social. Truly one of the leading experts on the factors shaping Americans‘ views on abortion.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Why has the growth of global gender egalitarianism slowed? One reason is that more patriarchal societies have more babies, and because parents transmit their gender views to their kids, larger patriarchal families create a countervailing force to egalitarian trends (works the same for religion).

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

New from me. I'm fascinated by the intersections of religion, politics, & "knowledge gaps." Here I look at Holocaust knowledge. Beyond education, vulnerability & political sorting play a role. Seculars & Jews are the most knowledgeable, but also those who are sorted. academic.oup.com/socrel/advan...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Visiting family for a memorial service this week. Picked up this little read. It’s a beautiful, funny memoir of a British man my age who got a terminal diagnosis in 2023 and died in 2024. Does what books like this should do: make you grateful for life and love people more.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Another Tuesday in Oklahoma politics.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Here’s hoping Trump’s incredibly low approval will matter more in the midterms than remnant anti-left backlash from 2024, hyper-polarization, and voter suppression.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Oh I assure you this sociologist of religion has definitely irked some conservatives. And if you're studying American religion apart from its intersections with racism and sexism, you're a bad sociologist of religion. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/u...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Maybe not, but to be fair, most of the stuff the right blames for fertility decline ain’t gonna reverse course and most people would agree fathers not being selfish jerks would be morally preferable even if it didn’t result in higher birth rates.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Hop on the E train, folks. We’re going to ASAs in Manhattan.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Truly enjoyed this read from @drkatiegaddini.bsky.social and I’m looking forward to offering remarks at her Author-Meets-Critics session Sunday. Masterclass from Dr. Gaddini in giving these women voice to share their views, which I’m persuaded is probably the best inoculation against them, cuz wow.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Just out in Criminology. Using data from @prri.org that contained framing experiments, we find Christian nationalism is basically neutral on favorability toward "police," unfavorable toward "Capitol police," & VERY favorable toward "ICE officers." CN isn't pro-police, but only police "on our side."

Research in the United States shows a strong link between right-wing Christianity and support for law enforcement. Yet, it remains unclear whether this support extends uniformly across contexts, which has important implications for our understanding of public attitudes about police. Integrating insights from group identity theory with research on Christian nationalism, we theorize that the Christian right's support for law enforcement is contingent on the assumption that police control ethnoracial or cultural out-groups. Consequently, we expect support to be amplified when out-group valence is amplified and reversed if police are coded as threatening an in-group. Analyzing two national surveys with embedded question-wording experiments, we find a modest, positive association between Christian nationalism and favorability toward “the police.” However, in 2022, Christian nationalism had a strong, negative association with favorability toward “the U.S. Capitol police” and, in 2025, a strong, positive association with favorability toward “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.” These associations are most pronounced among White Americans, though racial group differences are not statistically significant. We argue that right-wing Christian support for law enforcement stems not from a commitment to “law and order” but from the use of state authority to privilege conservative Christians and control out-group threats.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Freaking CDC website now. As Measles cases hit a 35-year high.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Pretty stoked to dive into this one.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Always conflicted when I check into my Airbnb, find it just charming, scan the book shelf and… discover I’m renting from MAGA. D’Souza and Chaffetz? And you left these here for guests to discover? Yikes.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Can't imagine how this reflects well on any President. During Obama's 2nd term, over 4/5 of adults said they were very/extremely proud to be an American. Only 4% said they were only a little/not at all proud. Two months ago, only about half of Americans said they were very/extremely proud. @prri.org

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

This study hits on something I've anecdotally observed that we tend to think people we disagree with politically must be incompetent at jobs that have nothing to do with politics. Like knowing you voted for X necessarily speaks to your competence as a coach, dentist, accountant, or mechanic.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Some days you accidentally run across an article that you realize you should have been citing for the past 9 years. The authors demonstrate the political utility of God-nation rhetoric to shore up confidence in a social system that people are starting to challenge. doi.org/10.1111/pops...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Vacay in Taos, MN. Looking at the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

It works in a similar way for feeling thermometer scores for Black Americans. The more rightward Black adults place Jesus, the lower their feeling thermometer scores *for other Black Americans.* Think about the political implications of these findings. Churches are growing more diverse... 3/6

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Here's what that looks like. Black adults who rate Jesus leftward on the ideological spectrum show the highest racial solidarity, but that score drops the more conservative they see Jesus. White adults, by contrast, show greater solidarity with other Whites the more right-leaning they see Jesus. 2/6

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Excited to share our new study. Upshot: The more rightward White adults place Jesus on the ideological spectrum, the more solidarity they feel with other Whites. BUT it's the opposite for Black adults: the more conservative the Jesus, the less racial solidarity they feel. 1/6 doi.org/10.1093/socr...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Here's what that looks like. For respondents who got the secular framing, the importance of caring for the environment declines as CN increases. But for those who got the religious framing, importance of caring for the environment increase with CN. Pub'd with Laura Upenieks. @sssreligion.bsky.social

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

New study at @socquarterly.bsky.social. Using a question-wording experiment from @prri.org, we find when caring for the environment is framed in secular terms, CN minimizes its importance. But when it's framed in religious "steward" terms, CN it amplifies its importance. 1/2 doi.org/10.1080/0038...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

I am so thrilled to share that my next book, "Fill the Earth and Subdue It: Religion, Power, and American Pronatalism" is under contract with Princeton University Press. My goal is to have it in your hands by early 2028. @princetonupress.bsky.social @sssreligion.bsky.social @asanews.bsky.social

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

New study from me @socprobsjournal.bsky.social . I revisit the initial question that got me interested in Christian nationalism: Why are "Christian nation" claims connected to race & family? Cuz it's about boundaries and order. It's also connected to GOP partisanship. Free: doi.org/10.1093/socp...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Will the concern on the political right about declining American fertility result in more pro-family economic policy to make childbearing more affordable? Nope. In my new study at @socprobsjournal.bsky.social, I document what I call the "natalism-neoliberalism" paradox. 1/4 doi.org/10.1093/socp...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Vanilla Ice on why he’d still perform for Trump’s America 250 MAGA rally is too perfect.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

My 5th grader’s graduation tonight. So proud of this smart handsome dude.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

This figure shows that as 2 measures of religiosity (CN & worship attendance) increase, lower-earners become more likely to say Jesus/prophets teach charity is more about creating a more just society. But among higher earners, religiosity measures are associated with neoliberal views on charity. 2/3

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

How does religiosity shape one's views about poor relief? Depends on how much money you make. In my new study w/@prri.org data @jssreligion.bsky.social, I find the link between religiosity & how one views the Bible's teaching on charity hinges on their economic position. 1/3 doi.org/10.1111/jssr...

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Statistically this would likely be a minority view even among those who subscribe to Christian nationalism on surveys. Yet this logic is entirely consistent with the stated or implied goals of folks like Doug Wilson. And Partridge has followers of 180K & 150K on Instagram and Twitter, respectively.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

My mind immediately goes to the political implications of a continued trend in this direction.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Grateful to pick up a little hardware at an awards ceremony this evening.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Happening this week. Academic talks are fun, but some of my favorite speaking opportunities are with faith communities. Don’t ignore these folks, scholars. So many are interested in understanding what’s going on & what they can do. Sharing work with them sharpens your communication & helps us all.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

How some people can sleep amazes me. I’d have to hospitalized when I woke up.

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Samuel Perry @profsamperry.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Thrilled to be speaking at Amherst College tomorrow. Grateful to @elprofebarba.bsky.social and the Department of Religion for the invite!

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