Daniel V. A. Olson    

Associate Professor of Sociology
Dept. of Sociology, Stone Hall
Purdue University
700 W. State Street
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2059
Phone: (765) 496-2436  Fax: (765) 496-1476
dolson@purdue.edu   E-mail is often the best way to reach me.  I check it regularly.

Fall 2009 Office Hours: Tuesday and Most Thursdays 1:30-2:30 p.m. Other times by appointment.
Contact me by e-mail to arrange a meeting or phone call.

To Leave Materials for Dan when he is not available
   Go to the Sociology Dept. Office, Stone Hall 303 (SE corner of bldg.) during office hours (not lunch).  Give to Candy Lawson.  She will write the time received on it and put it in my mail box.

Classes

Students who want to get to the web pages for my courses should log into Blackboard Vista pages for their course and section and click on the link to your course web pages. 
 

Paper Online

   RRA Presidential Address Why Do Small Religious Groups Have More Committed Members?
         (revised for publication in June 2008 issue of Review of Religious Research)

Brief synopsis of items from my CV

Interests

Sociology of Religion

• Religious Contexts/Markets, Geography of Religion
• Religiously Based Social Networks
• Religious Change/Secularization
• Religious Pluralism
• Religion and Politics
• Congregations

Research Methods and Statistics 
Social Networks
Sociological Theory

Courses I have taught and will be teaching at Purdue:

• Undergraduate and Graduate Sociology of Religion courses
• Undergraduate Statistics Courses
• Undergraduate Research Methods Courses

Current Research Agenda

• As of January 2009 I plan on starting up a number of related research projects that will use large scale data analyses to examine the linkages between characteristics of religious markets/geographies and levels and types of religious participation.  I plan to use data from contemporary and historical religious markets/geographies  in the U.S., England, and possibly elsewhere to examine questions generated by secularization, religious economies, and other related theories.  If you are a current or prospective graduate student with good computer, statistical/quantitative skills, who might be interested in working on these types of projects feel free to contact me.

Selected Publications
 

• 2008. "Why Do Small Religious Groups Have More Committed Members?" Review of Religious Research.  49(4): 353-378.
• 2007. Editor with Detlef Pollack.  The Role of Religion in Modern Societies, Routledge
• 2005. With Paul Perl " Free and Cheap Riding in Strict, Conservative Churches.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 44(2):123-142.
• 2002. With David Voas and Alasdair Crockett. "Religious Pluralism and Participation: Why Previous Research is Wrong." American Sociological Review. 67:(2) 212-230.
• 2002. "Competing Notions of Religious Competition and Conflict in Theories of Religious Economies" Pp. 133-65 in Sacred Canopies, Sacred Markets Essays on Religious Markets & Religious Pluralism, edited by Ted Jelen, Lanham, Maryland: Roman & Littlefield, Publishers
• 2001. With Paul Perl. "Variations in Strictness and Religious Commitment Within and Among Five Denominations." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 40:(4) 757-765.
• 2000. With William H. Swatos, Jr. (eds.). The Secularization Debate. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers.
• 2000. With Paul Perl. "Religious Market Share and Intensity of Church Involvement in Five Denominations.", Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 39(1):12-31.

• 1999 "Religious Pluralism and U.S. Church membership: A Reassessment." Sociology of Religion. 60 (2):149-173.

• 1998 "Religious Pluralism in Contemporary U.S. Counties" (Comment on Finke and Stark, ASR, February 1988, and December 1989, and on Breault, ASR, December 1989), American Sociological Review 63:759‑61.
• 1995 With Laurence R. Iannaccone and Rodney Stark. 1995. "Religious Resources and Church Growth." Social Forces, V74, no.2, pp. 705‑731.
• 1992 With Jackson W. Carroll. 1992 "Religiously Based Politics: Religious Elites and the Public," Social Forces 70:3 (March), pp. 765‑786.

Selected Honors and Awards

• 2008-2011 Elected to Executive Council, Association for the Sociology of Religion
• 2004-06 Elected President, Religious Research Association
• 2003 Winner, IUSB Distinguished Research Award,
• 2002-04 Elected Council Member, section on sociology of Religion, American Sociological Association,
• 1999-2001. Elected Secretary, Religious Research Association.
• 1999 Appointed, Chair, Distinguished Article Award Committee, Society for Scientific Study of Religion.
• 1998 Full Graduate Faculty Status, Indiana University
• 1997-2000 Elected to Executive Council, Association for the Sociology of Religion.
• 1997-1999 Appointed, Associate editor for Sociology of Religion, journal of the Association for the Sociology of Religion.
• 1997 Elected to Faculty Colloquium for Excellence in Teaching (FACET), Indiana University
• 1992-93 Research Fellow, Center for the Study of American Religion, Princeton University.