Christian Smith

Christian Smith is Wm. R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. He is a leading American theorist of the philosophy of critical realism and the social theory of personalism. His larger theoretical agenda has been to move personhood, morality, motivated action, culture, and identity to the center of sociological theorizing generally and the sociology of religion specifically. His critical realist personalism require social science to revise its dominant approaches to causation, social ontology, and explanation. Earlier in his career, his work on social movements emphasized not only structural political opportunities but also personal moral motivations for participation in social movement activism. In his work on American evangelicals, he developed a subcultural identity theory of religious persistence and strength in the modern world and highlighted the massive cultural complexities within conservative Protestantism. His more recent work on the religious and spiritual lives of U.S. adolescents – in his books, Soul Searching, Souls in Transition, Youth Catholic America, and Lost in Transition – emphasizes the interplay of broad cultural influences, family socialization, and religious motivations in forming the spiritual and life experiences and outcomes of American youth.

October 2024