Author: admin

The role you want to assign MSSA members is "contributor".
Posted on

Q: What are “children of record” and are they included in the total membership of the LDS?

Q: Does the officially reported membership number of the LDS religion include “children of record”?  In other words, as of 2007, the LDS religion reports 13,193,999 members.  Does that number include children of members younger than 8, or are they excluded from that number?

A: Several members of the MSSA who are in positions to know exactly how this works informed us that it is as follows: Children of members (a.k.a. “children of record”) are included in the total head count of LDS members up to the age of 9. They are supposed to be baptized after they turn 8, but those who get to 9 without baptism are dropped from membership.

Posted on

MSSA serves as expert source for news story on polygamist raid

The Mormon Social Science Association was contacted by a foreign reporter looking for someone knowledgeable about polygamy from a social scientific perspective.  The reporter was directed to Michael Nielsen, a long-time MSSA member who is currently doing research on polygamy.  Michael Nielsen’s thoughts on the developing story were incorporated into the news article, which is available here.  This is a great illustration of how the MSSA website is reaching out to a broader audience to share the knowledge and expertise of the membership.

Posted on

Vernon’s Sociology of Mormonism

While Glenn M. Vernon was not the first sociologist to analyze Mormonism, he was arguably the first to attempt to organize the social scientific study of the LDS church into a specific field of inquiry. This 1975 text was used in his sociology of Mormonism classes at the University of Utah, and it contains a wealth of social science data on a variety of subjects. While many of the studies are dated, they give important insights into Mormon thinking and behavior in the era just before the internationalization of the faith began to accelerate. Hence, for anyone interested in the history or development of Mormon thought, Vernon’s work is a veritable treasure trove.

Download it here.

Posted on

new journal on Mormonism available

The British Journal of Mormon Studies is a newly founded journal that has just released its inaugural issue.  You can download it for free here. The journal is interested in submissions, though they prefer worldwide foci in the articles. Send abstracts of no more than 200 words to:submissions@bjmsonline.org