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.
Version 1 of Updated Mormon Social Science Bibliography
- The bibliography is available in several electronic formats: EndNote bibliography format (requires EndNote 9 to open; this is zipped and has instructions inside it), a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, an rtf file (viewable in any word processor; this is also zipped), an Adobe pdf file, and a RIS file. These files can be freely viewed or downloaded by anyone on the internet.
- When deciding whether or not to add a work, we asked ourselves if a social scientist studying Mormonism might find the work helpful. This criterion implies that many works included are not social science strictly defined, yet it is hoped that it makes the bibliography useful for a wider social scientific audience. We have, however, restricted ourselves to published works.
- The database uses the same classifications as in Armand’s bibliography under the field name “Label” in the EndNote and Excel files.
- We hope that the MSSA will formally assume responsibility for maintaining and updating the database. In practice, this means a single person (i.e., Mike for now) will be responsible for entering and updating references.
- The database has some errors, some worse than others. For example, a bad error is that for chapters in edited volumes, the editors appear as authors and the book titles do not appear. This apparently occurred during our change from one bibliography software to another. Please notify us as you identify other errors. It will take some time to correct all of these errors.
- The database almost surely omits works that should be included (we especially apologize if we omitted one of your works!). We appreciate and need help identifying such works. Please email any references for inclusion to Mike (mcbride [at] uci [dot] edu) or go to the MSSA website and type that reference as an electronic comment under the bibliography post.
- How frequently this database will be updated is not yet determined but probably at least annually.
essential readings in the social science of Mormonism
Scholars interested in the social science of Mormonism would do well to begin their research on the topic by reading the following books:
- Altman, Irwin and Joseph Ginat. 1996. Polygamous Families in Contemporary Society
. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press.
- Cornwall, Marie, Tim B. Heaton, and Lawrence A. Young, Editors. 2001. Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives
. 2nd ed. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
- Duke, J.T. 1998. Latter-Day Saint Social Life: Social Research on the LDS Church and Its Members
. Bookcraft Pubs.
- Heaton, Tim B., Stephen J. Bahr, and Cardell K. Jacobson. 2005. A Statistical Profile of Mormons: Health, Wealth, and Social Life
. New York: Edwin Mellen Press.
- Jacobson, Cardell K., Editor. 2004. All God’s Children: Racial and Ethnic Voices in the LDS Church
. Springville, UT: Bonneville Books.
- Mauss, Armand. 2003. All Abraham’s Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage
. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
- Mauss, Armand L. 1994. The Angel and the Beehive: The Mormon Struggle With Assimilation
. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
- O’Dea, Thomas F. 1957. The Mormons.
University of Chicago Press.
- Phillips, Rick. 2004. Conservative Christian Identity and Same-Sex Orientation: The Case of Gay Mormons
. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
- Shepherd, Gary and Gordon Shepherd. 1984. A Kingdom Transformed
. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
- Shepherd, Gary and Gordon Shepherd. 1998. Mormon Passage
. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
- Stark, R., & Neilson, R.L. 2005. The Rise of Mormonism
. Columbia University Press.
Mauss Bibliography
After putting it off for a couple of years, I finally digitized the bibliography MSSA member Armand Mauss put together a few years ago. The process took a while as I didn’t just want to scan the bibliography into an electronic format but also transfer all of the references into reference managing software, like ProCite or EndNote.
I’ve attached several files to this post. First is a PDF copy of the Bibliography with bookmarks for the corresponding sections. I have also attached a Word copy of the same. Additionally, I have attached a .zip file.zip file containing a ProCite database with all of the references broken into groups. Finally, I’ve attached a ZIP file. that contains all of the sections of the bibliography as individual RIS files for importing into a reference manager (it is a pretty universal format for importing references into reference management software).
If you have any questions or problems with the files, let me know.