Daniel V. A. Olson
Daniel V. A. Olson
Professor of Sociology
Dept. of Sociology, Stone Hall
Purdue University
700 W. State Street
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2059
To Contact me -- Use email (below). If you need to talk by phone, indicate that
in your e-mail.
dolson@purdue.edu
E-mail is often the best way to reach me. I check it regularly.
Office: Stone Hall 338
Classes
Students who want to get to the web pages for my courses should
log into Brightspace
pages for their course and section and click on the link to your course web
pages.
All of my articles and book chapters
are available online by request from a special web page -- contact me for the
web address dolson@purdue.edu
Upcoming Retirement: I will be retiring at the end of the spring 2023
semester and thus am not accepting any new graduate students
Current Research Interests: My past research (mostly graduate student coauthors) has examined how the religious composition of geographic areas (e.g., the percent Catholic, the diversity of religion in an area) affects levels and types of religious commitment of people living in the same area especially as it impacts theories of religious competition, growth, or decline as in secularization theories. I continue these interests (e.g., Mikoski and Olson 2021) but much of my newer work takes its inspiration Weber’s Protestant Ethic argument (see my Association for Sociology of Religion Presidential address, Olson 2019). This agenda focuses on the way that the religious composition of people living in an area influences the behavior and attitudes of everyone living in the same area, even people with no religion and people whose religion is different from the majority religion. The hypothesis is that religions create strong religious subcultures. These influence local secular subcultures. These local subcultures, in turn, influence the behavior and attitudes of individuals living in the area. My recent findings, published with graduate students (see my CV), shows how the religious composition of cities and counties affects dependent variables as varied as the willingness of survey respondents to trust others (Marshall and Olson 2018) and frequency of underage drinking among young respondents (Nie, Yang, and Olson 2018). This is a newly developing area of research. Other researchers have recently found that religious composition variables influence divorce and teen pregnancy rates, county-level mortality and infant mortality rates, and rates for certain kinds of crimes. Not all of these influences are positive.
Recent Papers (*=graduate student at time of submission) -- contact me for copies -- see above
Mikoski, Charissa* and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2021 "Does Religious Group Population
Share Affect the Religiosity of the Next Generation?" Journal for the
Scientific Study of Religion. 60:611-627/
http://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12727
Olson, Daniel
V. A., Jong Hyun Jung*, Joey Marshall*, and David Voas. 2020. “Sacred
Canopies or Religious Markets? The Effect of County-level Religious Diversity on
Later Changes in Religious Involvement.” Journal for Scientific Study of
Religion.
Co-winner of the 2021 Best Article Award from the International Society for the
Sociology of Religion
Olson, Daniel V. A. 2019. "The Influence of Your
Neighbors’ Religions on You, Your Attitudes and Behaviors, and Your Community"
Sociology of Religion. (2018 Presidential Address to the Association for
the Sociology of Religion). 80: 147-167.
https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srz001
Podcast of interview concerning this article.
Marshall, Joey*
and Daniel V. A. Olson (equal co-authorship).
2018. “Is ‘Spiritual but not Religious’ a Replacement for Religion
or Just One Step on the Path Between Religion and Non-Religion?”
Review of Religious Research
60:503–518
Marshall, Joey* and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2018. "Local Religious Subcultures and Generalized Social Trust in the United States." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 57: 473-494. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12539
Nie, Fanhao*, Xiaozhao Yang*, and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2018. “Religious
Context Matters: Exploring the Relationship between Religious Context and
Underage Alcohol Consumption.” Review of Religious Research.
Jung, Jong Hyun* and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2017.“Where Does Religion Matter Most?
A Multinational Analysis of Religion and the Acceptability of Wife Beating.”
Sociological Inquiry. 87: 608-633.
Nie, Fanhao* and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2016. “Demonic Influence: Exploring the Relationship between a Belief in Demons and Change in Mental Health.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 55: 498-515.
Olson, Daniel V. A. and Miao Li*. 2015. "How
Does the Religious Composition of Nations Affect Generalized Social Trust? Moral
Community and Religious Heterogeneity." Journal for the Scientific Study of
Religion.
54:756–773.
Jung, Jong Hyun* and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2014.
“Religion, Stress, and Suicide Acceptability in South Korea”
Social Forces
92(3): 1039-1059.
Alper, Becka* and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2013. “Religious Population Share and Religious Identity Salience: Is Jewish Identity More Important to Jews in High Jewish Population Share Areas?” Sociology of Religion 74:82-106.
Reprinted
in Sociology of Religion: A Reader, Third Edition, 2018. Edited by
William A. Mirola, Michael O. Emerson, and Susanne C. Monohan. Routledge:
120-134.
Thomas, Jeremy N.* and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2012. “Evangelical Elites’ Changing Responses to Homosexuality 1960-2009.” Sociology of Religion. 73:239-272.
Thomas, Jeremy N.* and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2012.
“Beyond the Culture War: Managing Sexual Relationships Inside a Congregation of
Gay Evangelicals.”
Review
of Religious Research. 54:349–70.
Alper, Becka* and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2011. “Religious Geography and the Case of the Jewish Outsider.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 50:822–830.
Older Papers Online
Olson and Perl. 2011. A Friend in Creed: Does the Religious Composition of Geographic Areas Affect the Religious Composition of a Person's Close Friends? JSSR
Thomas and Olson. 2010. Testing the Strictness Thesis and Competing Theories of Congregational Growth JSSR
Hill and Olson. 2009. Market Share and Religious Competition: Do Small Market Share Congregations and Their Leaders Try Harder? JSSR
Olson 2008. RRA Presidential Address Why Do Small Religious Groups Have More Committed Members? RRR
Recent Conference Presentations -- gives an idea of my current research agenda
*Mikoski, Charissa and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2019. “Does
Local Religious Context Affect Parent to Child Religious Transmission?”
Presented at the annual meetings of the Society for the Scientific Study of
Religion, October, St. Louis, MO.
*Frame, Nicole and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2019. “Does Local Religious Context
Influence Young Adult Decisions to Leave Religion?” Presented at the annual
meetings of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, October, St.
Louis, MO.
Olson, Daniel V. A. 2018 “The Influence of Your
Neighbors’ Religions on You, Your Attitudes and Behaviors, and Your Community”
Presidential Address to the Association for the Sociology of Religion at their
Annual Meetings, Philadelphia, PA, August 2018.
Olson, Daniel V. A., Jong Hyun Jung*, Joey Marshall*.
2016. “Does County Religious Composition Affect the Growth and Decline of
Denominations?” Presented at the annual meetings of the Society for The
Scientific Study of Religion, October, Atlanta, GA.
Marshall, Joey* and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2016. “Local
Religious Subcultures and Generalized Social Trust in the United States.”
Presented at the annual meetings of the Society for the Scientific Study of
Religion, October, Atlanta, GA.
Marshall, Joey*, Daniel V. A. Olson, Jong Hyun Jung*.
2016. “Inequality and Religiosity in the United States: A Test of the
Existential Insecurity Hypothesis.” Presented at the annual meetings of the
Association for the Sociology of Religion, August, Seattle, WA.
Olson, Daniel V. A. 2015. “Do Different Varieties of
Religious Presence Affect Community Health and Trust Levels?” Hartford Seminary,
Hartford, CT, November 14th. Invited Presentation for mini-conference
on the occasion of the retirement of David Roozen, Hartford Seminary.
Olson, Daniel V. A., Joey Marshall*, Mike Vuolo. 2015.
"Does Religious Diversity Reduce Individual Religiosity Over Time Among Teens
and Young Adults?" Presented at the annual meetings of the Society for
Scientific Study of Religion, October, Newport Beach, California.
Sociology of Religion
Research Methods and Statistics
Social Networks
Sociological Theory
Courses I have taught and will be teaching at Purdue:
Other Selected Publications
1999 "Religious Pluralism and U.S. Church membership: A Reassessment." Sociology of Religion. 60 (2):149-173.