Jaime L Kucinskas | Hamilton College (original) (raw)

Articles by Jaime L Kucinskas

Handbook of the Sociology of Morality Vol 2, 2023

In this chapter, I draw upon my research and other existing research to identify how moral consid... more In this chapter, I draw upon my research and other existing research to identify how moral considerations are deeply influenced by the social contexts in which they are embedded. When you turn the lens from examining individual and dispositional forms of morality to focusing on how morality is situated for different people in everyday life across hierarchical, organizational and institutional fields, this theoretical shift provokes a number of important questions. First, the need to map out different moral landscapes, their particular affordances and blindspots, and how they contribute to a possibility of conscious or unconscious moral cognition and action is evident. Second, future research should consider the many unanswered and likely fruitful questions at the intersections of social morality, power, and inequality across institutional settings.

American Journal of Sociology , 2023

The Trump administration and its supporters were quick to decry the federal civil service as a "d... more The Trump administration and its supporters were quick to decry the federal civil service as a "deep state" thwarting the president's agenda. Yet most research describes the career corps as loyal to mission, risk averse, and rarely partisan. Our research asks whether this characterization holds under conditions of budding autocracy and efforts to dismantle the administrative state. Our case study uses data collected over 2017-20 and finds that, despite widespread dissatisfaction with the Trump administration, most civil servants largely sought to comply at work, circumscribed by their conceptions of activities as appropriately within the scope of their mandates. When resistance did occur, it cohered with institutional and professional imperatives. Meanwhile, incentives to exit increased. Our research complicates the conceptual difference between "resistance" and "complicity" under repressive political leadership by underscoring the processes through which bureaucrats make sense of and act in as they negotiate multiple loyalties to personal and professional values, norms and obligations, organizational cultures, and their own circumscribed efficacy in complex organizations. Throughout his campaign and presidency, Donald J. Trump railed against many of the core functions and attributes of the administrative state, including

American Sociological Review , 2022

Churches have long been sites of local charity work as well as national political movements. What... more Churches have long been sites of local charity work as well as national political movements. What happens when people engage in more individualistic forms of spirituality, like mindfulness meditation or yoga, rather than participate in religious communities? Might the rise of individualized forms of spirituality lead to a decline in political engagement? Or, among people averse to religion, might spiritual practice operate as a substitute, and potentially contribute to political engagement? Drawing on burgeoning theory of religion and spirituality as socially-situated boundary objects, we use data from the 2020 National Religion and Spirituality Survey to examine the relationship between self-reported spiritual and religious practices and political engagement. First, we investigate whether study participants distinguish spiritual and religious practice as distinct concepts through factor analysis. Next, we use those results to examine the association between these practices and reports of political behavior. We find a consistent, positive relationship between spiritual practice and political engagement of comparable magnitude to that of religious practices. Notably, during an era of heightened political polarization around religious engagement, political progressives, respondents of color, and members of the LGBT community are more likely to report spiritual rather than religious practices. This points us to a theory of spiritual practice as a substitute for religious engagement among groups alienated from religious institutions, with the former capable of fostering similar proclivities for political action as the latter. Our results suggest critiques of a “selfish” spirituality have been overblown.

Religion and Refugee Well-being: The Importance of Inclusive Community, 2021

We use a large sample of refugees in Utica, New York to investigate how religiosity and the abili... more We use a large sample of refugees in Utica, New York to investigate how religiosity and the ability to practice religion are related to happiness in one's community. We analyze religious and secular facets of the community in which they live, such as perceived ability to practice their religion, sense of safety, and experiences of discrimination. Contrary to the literature on broader populations, we find that religiosity is unrelated to refugees' happiness in their community, but their perceived ability to practice is strongly related to this measure of well-being. Ability to practice religion remains strongly related to happiness in the community even for refugees who are not religious and for ones who do not regularly attend services. These findings point to the need for more studies to include measures not only of individual religiosity, but facets of religion in people's larger communities, especially for vulnerable populations like refugees. While a voluminous literature examines the relationship between religion and various subjective measures of well-being, most studies focus on how different facets of individual religiosity (such as self-identified religiosity, church attendance, or denominational membership) contribute to well-being. A number of researchers have shown across different populations and contexts that religion can provide social support and coping mechanisms (

JOURNAL for theSCIENTIFIC STUDY of RELIGIONReligion and Refugee Well-Being: The Importance of Inclusive Community, 2021

Social Movement Studies, 2019

We develop the concept of “social movement school’ (SMS), showing how these organizational spaces... more We develop the concept of “social movement school’ (SMS), showing how these organizational spaces are deliberately designed for purposes of educating, mentoring, training, and coordinating individuals as effective, committed movement agents. SMSs can also be important sites of prefigurative design and practice for future societal development consistent with movement goals. We motivate the theoretical significance of SMSs based on five perspectives in social movement scholarship: (1) resource mobilization; (2) cultural approaches to repertoires of contention; (3) cognitive perspective; (4) micro-mobilization; and (5) biographical consequences of participation. We then offer a typology to capture primary purposes, and spatial reach within the broad field of SMSs. Within-movement variation is illustrated by focusing on a variety of SMSs in the U.S. civil rights movement; and the cross-movement breadth of the concept is illustrated by highlighting contemporary SMS forms drawn from three very different movements–labor, radical feminism, and mindfulness meditation movements. In the interest of launching a research agenda on SMSs, we end with several key questions that could serve to guide future research. Important theoretical, empirical, and practical considerations suggest that SMSs deserve the attention of scholars and activists alike.

International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 2018

People experience meaning in various ways across different secular and sacred situations. However... more People experience meaning in various ways across different secular and sacred situations. However, scholars know relatively little about the situational contexts in which meaning occurs. In this article, we first explored the daily contexts of meaning using data collected by a unique, two-week experience sampling method through participants’ smartphones. Meaning levels were highest during religious and spiritual practices as well as during traditional work hours. They were also higher with some activities, such as talking to other people, than other activities, such as playing video games. Second, we examined how feelings of meaningfulness were related to sacred states, parsing out which preceded the other. Sacred states, in which people were aware of God or a higher being, tended to come before feelings of meaning rather than the reverse. From these analyses, meaning emerged as richly patterned in everyday life and closely associated with – and often a consequence of – sacred awareness.

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2017

We explore how people experience the sacred in their everyday lives using a recently developed re... more We explore how people experience the sacred in their everyday lives using a recently developed research technique—smartphone-based experience sampling method (S-ESM). The primary goal of our experience-driven approach is to explore the contours and variations of spiritual awareness within people's day-today lives. We seek to better understand when and where spiritual awareness is likely to arise, and the contexts in which it is rare. Our smartphone-based data allow us to track the many contexts in which an awareness of the sacred occurs, as reported in real time during people's normal daily activities. We parse out how immediate contextual factors and how people's more habitual behaviors are related to their spiritual experiences. This illuminates a wide range of factors that influence spiritual experiences that have not received much scholarly attention, and enables us to connect cutting-edge quantitative methods with qualitative scholarship on spirituality. We hope this will open the door to the development of new theories of situated spiritual experience.

Using Arab Barometer data (2011), the authors examine Muslim men's gender attitudes in four predo... more Using Arab Barometer data (2011), the authors examine Muslim men's gender attitudes in four predominantly Muslim Middle Eastern and North African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen) during the Arab Spring. They examine if living in insecurity – which may threaten men's ability to attain masculine ideals – is related to male over-compensation, evident in strong support for patriarchal gender ideology. They then investigate if Islamic religiosity influences this relationship. Results reveal that political Islam is strongly related to Muslim MENA men's patriarchal gender attitudes across the region. The effects of living in insecurity and other facets of Islamic religiosity on men's gender ideology vary by country. The results on the many effects of insecurity and Islam on men's gender ideology challenge stereotypical representations of the region as uniformly Islamic and patriarchal.

To advance understandings of how religion manifests in subtle, nuanced ways in secular institutio... more To advance understandings of how religion manifests in subtle, nuanced ways in secular institutions, we examine student religiosity and spirituality at an elite liberal arts school marked by a strong intellectual collective identity. Using mixed research methods, we examine how the college's structures and dominant culture influence students' religiosity and spirituality. Despite an institutional commitment to promoting students' self-exploration and inclusion of social " diversity , " we found both campus structures and mainstream culture deterred open spiritual and religious exploration and identification. The structure of the college and its dominant secular, intellectual culture reinforced: (1) a widespread stigma against religious and spiritual expression, (2) a lack of dialogue about the sacred, (3) discreetness in exploring and adhering to sacred beliefs and practices, and (4) a large degree of religious and spiritual pluralism. Our findings additionally illustrate that early exposure to the campus culture's critical regard for religion had a long-lasting impact on students' religiosity. A majority of students kept their religious and spiritual expressions hidden and private; only a marginalized minority of students embraced their expressions publically. To increase students' comfort with religious and spiritual exploration, we propose that colleges foster intentional peer dialogues early in the college experience. Furthermore, we recommend that campus communities prioritize religious and spiritual literacy and respect.

Many religious and spiritual movements mobilize to establish sacred fields which influence everyd... more Many religious and spiritual movements mobilize to establish sacred fields which influence everyday
life in multiple social domains. Because these devout groups operate across many institutional fields,
scholars of religiously motivated movements are uniquely poised to contribute to scholarship on multiinstitutional
politics and on how institutional change can be initiated and influenced by external cultural
movements. In this paper, I bring attention to how religious movements can mobilize through
unobtrusive political tactics which build upon extant social structures in multiple institutional fields,
rather than through contentious tactics which are the focus of most movement research. Based on
prior scholarship on religious movements and my own research, I identify how religious movements
can expand through unobtrusive, nonconfrontational tactics such as “discursive politics,” developing
a “state within a state,” “burrowing into” targeted organizations, and “assimilating into” mainstream
organizations. These mechanisms identified in religious movement scholarship contribute to underdeveloped
areas of scholarship at the intersection of social movement mobilization, organizational change,
and field development, and provide a platform upon which future research can build.

Despite the importance of young people in determining future trends in women's advancement in the... more Despite the importance of young people in determining future trends in women's advancement in the predominantly Muslim countries of the Middle East, no quantitative study to date has focused exclusively on the relationship between Islamic religiosity and gender egalitarianism among youth in the region. Using data from the Youth, Emotional Energy, and Political Violence Survey, I investigate the relationship between Islamic religiosity and gender egalitarianism among youth in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, devoting special attention to gender differences within countries. Particular dimensions of Islamic religiosity have different effects on gender egalitarianism by group, reflecting social currents in each country's civic sphere. For young men in both contexts, orthodoxy and mosque attendance are negatively associated with gender egalitarianism. In contrast, for Egyptian young women self-identified religiosity positively affects gender egalitarianism while for Saudi Arabian women, Islamic religiosity has no effect.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Book Reviews by Jaime L Kucinskas

Books by Jaime L Kucinskas

Mindful meditation is now embraced in virtually all corners of society today, from K-12 schools t... more Mindful meditation is now embraced in virtually all corners of society today, from K-12 schools to Fortune 100 companies, and its virtues extolled by national and international media almost daily. It is thought to benefit our health and overall well-being, to counter stress, to help children pay attention, and to foster creativity, productivity and emotional intelligence. Yet in the 1960s and 1970s meditation was viewed as a marginal, counter-cultural practice, or a religious ritual for Asian immigrants. How did mindfulness become mainstream?

In The Mindful Elite, Jaime Kucinskas reveals who is behind the mindfulness movement, and the engine they built to propel mindfulness into public consciousness. Drawing on over a hundred first-hand accounts with top scientists, religious leaders, educators, business people and investors, Kucinskas shows how this highly accomplished, affluent group in America transformed meditation into an appealing set of contemplative practices. Rather than relying on confrontation and protest to make their mark and improve society, the contemplatives sought a cultural revolution by building elite networks and advocating the benefits of meditation across professions. Yet, spreading the Dharma far and wide came with unintended consequences and this idealistic myopia came to reinforce some of the problems it originally aspired to solve.

A critical look at this Buddhist-inspired movement, The Mindful Elite explores how elite movements can spread and draws larger lessons for other social, cultural, and religious movements across institutions and organizations.

The history of social movement scholarship reveals that, despite implicit connections between mov... more The history of social movement scholarship reveals that, despite implicit connections between movements and social problems, explicit analytical ties between the two areas remain weak. Consequently, based on the history of movement theory and its relations with social problems, I identify four directions for future research which can strengthen ties between the two substantive areas. First, movement scholars should resituate movements in a wider range of collective civic claims-making. Second, scholars should revisit Hilgartner and Bosk’s (1988) arenas model of social problem formation as a theoretical foundation for connecting the formation of movement grievances with the social problems. Broadening the application of this theory will better situate scholarship on movements’ multi-institutional politics in groups multiple institutional contexts. Third, future scholarship should strengthen ties between literatures on global social problems and global/international movements. Fourth, research collaborations should strive to develop new methods of studying activism across locations and over time.

Papers by Jaime L Kucinskas

Situating Spirituality

When spirituality moves—from one religion to another, from religious to secular fields, or from p... more When spirituality moves—from one religion to another, from religious to secular fields, or from private to public spheres—it can change in many ways, based on who is sending and who is receiving the practices, and the local and broader institutional contexts in which practitioners abide. Yet scholarship seldom interrogates how strongly different cultural and structural layers of social settings impact spiritual practitioners’ experiences, and the pluralistic forms of spirituality that result. To show how peer and institutional cultures can shape spirituality in their own likeness and to serve their own needs, I provide illustrative examples of how, in order to resonate with new audiences, spirituality changes. These examples reveal how deeply socially situated American spirituality is in broader social and institutional fields, in contrast to common perceptions among the public and scholars that describe spiritual practices as typically individualistic private means of transcending ...

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Dec 9, 2020

Handbook of the Sociology of Morality Vol 2, 2023

American Journal of Sociology , 2023

American Sociological Review , 2022

Religion and Refugee Well-being: The Importance of Inclusive Community, 2021

JOURNAL for theSCIENTIFIC STUDY of RELIGIONReligion and Refugee Well-Being: The Importance of Inclusive Community, 2021

Social Movement Studies, 2019

International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 2018

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2017

Situating Spirituality

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Dec 9, 2020

The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 2018

ABSTRACT People experience meaning in various ways across different secular and sacred situations... more ABSTRACT People experience meaning in various ways across different secular and sacred situations. However, scholars know relatively little about the situational contexts in which meaning occurs. In this article, we first explored the daily contexts of meaning using data collected by a unique, 2-week experience sampling method through participants’ smartphones. Meaning levels were highest during religious and spiritual practices, as well as during traditional work hours. They were also higher with some activities, such as talking to other people, than other activities, such as playing video games. Second, we examined how feelings of meaningfulness were related to sacred states, parsing out which preceded the other. Sacred states, in which people were aware of God or a higher being, tended to come before feelings of meaning rather than the reverse. From these analyses, meaning emerged as richly patterned in everyday life and closely associated with—and often a consequence of—sacred awareness.

The Cambridge Handbook of Social Problems

Social Movement Studies, 2019

We develop the concept of "social movement school' (SMS), showing how these organizational spaces... more We develop the concept of "social movement school' (SMS), showing how these organizational spaces are deliberately designed for purposes of educating, mentoring, training, and coordinating individuals as effective, committed movement agents. SMSs can also be important sites of prefigurative design and practice for future societal development consistent with movement goals. We motivate the theoretical significance of SMSs based on five perspectives in social movement scholarship: (1) resource mobilization; (2) cultural approaches to repertoires of contention; (3) cognitive perspective; (4) micro-mobilization; and (5) biographical consequences of participation. We then offer a typology to capture primary purposes, and spatial reach within the broad field of SMSs. Within-movement variation is illustrated by focusing on a variety of SMSs in the U.S. civil rights movement; and the crossmovement breadth of the concept is illustrated by highlighting contemporary SMS forms drawn from three very different movements-labor, radical feminism, and mindfulness meditation movements. In the interest of launching a research agenda on SMSs, we end with several key questions that could serve to guide future research. Important theoretical, empirical, and practical considerations suggest that SMSs deserve the attention of scholars and activists alike.

Review of Religious Research, 2017

Comparative Sociology, 2017

Using Arab Barometer data (2011), the authors examine Muslim men’s gender attitudes in four predo... more Using Arab Barometer data (2011), the authors examine Muslim men’s gender attitudes in four predominantly Muslim Middle Eastern and North African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen) during the Arab Spring. They examine if living in insecurity – which may threaten men’s ability to attain masculine ideals – is related to male overcompensation, evident in strong support for patriarchal gender ideology. They then investigate if Islamic religiosity influences this relationship. Results reveal that political Islam is strongly related to Muslimmenamen’s patriarchal gender attitudes across the region. The effects of living in insecurity and other facets of Islamic religiosity on men’s gender ideology vary by country. The results on the many effects of insecurity and Islam on men’s gender ideology challenge stereotypical representations of the region as uniformly Islamic and patriarchal.

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2010

... Deif, Farida. 2004. Divorced from justice: Women&#x27;s unequal access to divorce in ... more ... Deif, Farida. 2004. Divorced from justice: Women&#x27;s unequal access to divorce in Egypt. Human Rights Watch 16(8E):1–68. ... New York : Freedom House; Lanham , MD : Rowan &amp; Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Ezzat, Heba Raouf. 2001. The Silent Ayesha: An Egyptian Narrative. ...

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2017

We explore how people experience the sacred in their everyday lives using a recently developed re... more We explore how people experience the sacred in their everyday lives using a recently developed research technique-smartphone-based experience sampling method (S-ESM). The primary goal of our experience-driven approach is to explore the contours and variations of spiritual awareness within people's day-today lives. We seek to better understand when and where spiritual awareness is likely to arise, and the contexts in which it is rare. Our smartphone-based data allow us to track the many contexts in which an awareness of the sacred occurs, as reported in real time during people's normal daily activities. We parse out how immediate contextual factors and how people's more habitual behaviors are related to their spiritual experiences. This illuminates a wide range of factors that influence spiritual experiences that have not received much scholarly attention, and enables us to connect cutting-edge quantitative methods with qualitative scholarship on spirituality. We hope this will open the door to the development of new theories of situated spiritual experience.

American Sociological Review

Social Inclusion, 2016

Sociology of Religion, 2014

Many religious and spiritual movements mobilize to establish sacred fields which influence everyd... more Many religious and spiritual movements mobilize to establish sacred fields which influence everyday life in multiple social domains. Because these devout groups operate across many institutional fields, scholars of religiously motivated movements are uniquely poised to contribute to scholarship on multiinstitutional politics and on how institutional change can be initiated and influenced by external cultural movements. In this paper, I bring attention to how religious movements can mobilize through unobtrusive political tactics which build upon extant social structures in multiple institutional fields, rather than through contentious tactics which are the focus of most movement research. Based on prior scholarship on religious movements and my own research, I identify how religious movements can expand through unobtrusive, nonconfrontational tactics such as "discursive politics," developing a "state within a state," "burrowing into" targeted organizations, and "assimilating into" mainstream organizations. These mechanisms identified in religious movement scholarship contribute to underdeveloped areas of scholarship at the intersection of social movement mobilization, organizational change, and field development, and provide a platform upon which future research can build.