Article by Prof. Nancy Davis Receives American Sociological Association Award

August 31, 2010

Nancy Davis 2006.jpg August 31, 2010, Greencastle, Ind. — Nancy J. Davis, Lester Martin Jones Professor of Sociology at DePauw University, and her co-author, Robert V. Robinson, have received the Distinguished Article Award by the American Sociological Association Section on Religion. The pair were recognized for their article, "Overcoming Movement Obstacles by the Religiously Orthodox: The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Shas in Israel, Comunione e Liberazione in Italy, and the Salvation Army in the United States." The piece, published in the American Journal of Sociology (March 2009) also received honorary mention (second place) in the best article competition from the American Sociological Association Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements.

Earlier in the summer, Davis and Robinson (who teaches sociology at Indiana University - Bloomington) presented an invited paper in Cairo on support for political activism in Muslim-majority countries at the Workshop on Theoretical and Methodological Issues in the Study of Values in Islamic Countries. Contrary to the imagery of many Westerners of a highly politicized Muslim world, the professors show that few residents of these countries are willing to take political engagement much beyond merely discussing politics.

Currently, Davis and Robinson are working on a book-length manuscript, "Sacralizing Society: Religiously Orthodox Movements in Egypt, Israel, Italy and the United States Battle Modernity." This research chronicles how four religious movements with morally absolutist ideologies, a reluctance to compromise, and broad, multi-pronged agendas -- factors that normally cause social movements to fail -- have overcome these obstacles by creating a parallel society -- a vast network of schools, religious institutions, medical services, businesses, and social service agencies -- that has effectively bypassed secular states in their countries.