Melissa Wilde - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Melissa Wilde
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2022
Faithful Revolution is an ethnographic study of the group ‘‘Voice of the Faithful’’ (VOTF), a cha... more Faithful Revolution is an ethnographic study of the group ‘‘Voice of the Faithful’’ (VOTF), a challenger organization of lay Roman Catholics in the United States which was formed in response to the Catholic sex abuse scandals. Started in an upper middle-class parish near Boston, Massachusetts, in January of 2002, VOTF rallied around the motto, ‘‘Keep the Faith, Change the Church,’’ and ‘‘spread throughout’ ’ a country ‘‘reeling from daily media exposures of abuse’ ’ within the Church (p. 4). Interested in examining how they were trying to, and whether they could successfully, change the Church from within, Tricia Bruce conducted participant
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of U... more Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
Early proponents of contraception among American religious groups were staunch eugenicists who pr... more Early proponents of contraception among American religious groups were staunch eugenicists who promoted birth control in the hopes of curtailing the “runaway fertility” of poor Catholic and Jewish immigrants. By the early 1930s, their campaign to legalize contraception was largely successful, but eugenics would soon go from being a sign of progressive politics and enlightened scientific understanding to a dirty word associated with Hitler. By examining the statements of all of the early liberalizers on contraception from 1920 to 1965, this paper demonstrates that although these groups purged their statements on contraception of the word eugenics by the end of WWII, the fertility of “poor others” remained their focus for the next few decades. Talk of “race suicide” changed to talk of “responsible parenthood” as their focus moved away from the whitening Irish, Italian, and Jewish immigrants to the poor in the Third World and Americans in the inner cities.
This paper explores the differences among the four groups of bishops who participated at the Seco... more This paper explores the differences among the four groups of bishops who participated at the Second Vatican Council, with the goal of answering a simple, but key, sociological question about the Council: who wanted what, and why? In brief, I argue that in order to understand, explain and ideally even predict, the perspectives, interests and goals, or what I call organizational strategies, of religious leaders, sociologists of religion must broaden their understandings of the factors that affect them. Though Supply-Side theory recognises that the presence of other religious institutions (i.e. religious pluralism) has powerful effects on religious leaders, I argue that in order to predict not only whether religious leaders will be open to reform, but also what reforms they will prioritise, we must consider not only the presence of other institutions in a society, but the relationship between those organisations, especially whether those relationships are stable. This is the case becau...
Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2017
Social Forces, 2020
M elissa J. Wilde’s Birth Control Battles is an ambitious project tracing the origins of conflict... more M elissa J. Wilde’s Birth Control Battles is an ambitious project tracing the origins of conflict between religious groups over matters of sex. Spanning the years from the end of World War I to the advent of the birth control pill in the 1960s, the book traces the positions of nine of the most prominent religious groups (comprising 31 denominations) in the United States regarding birth control access and use. In this, Wilde has produced a truly intersectional analysis, a noteworthy accomplishment. Wilde notes that conservative and progressive religious traditions initially came into conflict when they first took positions on contraception in the late 1920s. Importantly, Wilde concludes that the conflicts have a little or nothing to do with women’s rights or welfare, and not much to do with sex either. Rather, religious groups came into conflict based on their positions relative to two key belief systems—eugenics and the social gospel. Wilde draws on a wealth of data, including the Census, archival materials, and denomination-specific periodicals. Throughout the text, Wilde incorporates numerous rich quotes, giving the reader a meaningful view into the scope and depth of the data. Applying the comparative historical sociological method, Wilde deftly demonstrates the complex intersections of religion with race, immigration, geography, and class through the lens of what she terms complex religion, or how religion intersects with inequality in varied and powerful ways. Wilde is also careful to examine and falsify competing explanations for the initial divisions between conservative and progressive religious groups, such as prohibition or women’s suffrage. Wilde begins by problematizing the taken-for-granted claim that theology informs denominations’ stances on contraception, focusing on 1929–1931. Wilde classifies denominations as early liberalizers if they promoted birth control openly by 1931. These groups were primarily in the Northeast and comprised of mainline Protestants and Reform Jews. These groups were concerned about “race suicide,” a eugenicist belief that whites would lose their privileged position in a racialized society if they became a numerical minority. Catholic and
Birth Control Battles, 2019
Social Inclusion, 2018
Sociology has largely ignored class differences between American religious groups under the assum... more Sociology has largely ignored class differences between American religious groups under the assumption that those differences “are smaller than they used to be and are getting smaller all of the time” (Pyle & Davidson, 2014, p. 195). This article demonstrates that profound class differences remain amongst American religious groups. These differences are as large as—or larger than—commonly examined forms of inequality such as the gender pay gap and the race achievement gap. Using the most popular categorization of American religious groups, we find that regardless of the particular measure examined (years of education, income, socioeconomic index score, and proportion of members with at least a bachelor’s degree) Jews and Mainline Protestants are at the top of the socioeconomic ladder and Evangelical Protestants, both black and white, are at the bottom. Furthermore, religious group significantly predicts both years of education and the overall socioeconomic standing of respondents by...
Social Inclusion, 2018
What is complex religion and how does it relate to social inclusion? Complex religion is a theory... more What is complex religion and how does it relate to social inclusion? Complex religion is a theory which posits that religion intersects with inequality, especially class, race, ethnicity and gender. The nine articles in this volume examine a wide array of ways that religion intersects with inequality, and how, as a result, it can create barriers to social inclusion. The issue begins with three articles that examine the role of religion and its intersection with race and racialization processes. It then moves to three articles that examine religion’s intersection with socioeconomic inequality. The issue closes with three studies of how religion’s relationship with the state creates and maintains various status hierarchies, even as some religious movements seek to combat inequality. Together, these articles enrichen our understanding of the complex task before anyone seeking to think about the role of religion in social inclusion.
Sociology of Religion, 2017
This paper examines the most prominent “progressive” American religious groups’... more This paper examines the most prominent “progressive” American religious groups’ (as defined by those that liberalized early on the issue of birth control, circa 1930) views of women between the first and second waves of the feminist movement (1930-1965). We find that some groups have indeed had a long and outspoken support for…
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2022
Faithful Revolution is an ethnographic study of the group ‘‘Voice of the Faithful’’ (VOTF), a cha... more Faithful Revolution is an ethnographic study of the group ‘‘Voice of the Faithful’’ (VOTF), a challenger organization of lay Roman Catholics in the United States which was formed in response to the Catholic sex abuse scandals. Started in an upper middle-class parish near Boston, Massachusetts, in January of 2002, VOTF rallied around the motto, ‘‘Keep the Faith, Change the Church,’’ and ‘‘spread throughout’ ’ a country ‘‘reeling from daily media exposures of abuse’ ’ within the Church (p. 4). Interested in examining how they were trying to, and whether they could successfully, change the Church from within, Tricia Bruce conducted participant
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of U... more Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
Early proponents of contraception among American religious groups were staunch eugenicists who pr... more Early proponents of contraception among American religious groups were staunch eugenicists who promoted birth control in the hopes of curtailing the “runaway fertility” of poor Catholic and Jewish immigrants. By the early 1930s, their campaign to legalize contraception was largely successful, but eugenics would soon go from being a sign of progressive politics and enlightened scientific understanding to a dirty word associated with Hitler. By examining the statements of all of the early liberalizers on contraception from 1920 to 1965, this paper demonstrates that although these groups purged their statements on contraception of the word eugenics by the end of WWII, the fertility of “poor others” remained their focus for the next few decades. Talk of “race suicide” changed to talk of “responsible parenthood” as their focus moved away from the whitening Irish, Italian, and Jewish immigrants to the poor in the Third World and Americans in the inner cities.
This paper explores the differences among the four groups of bishops who participated at the Seco... more This paper explores the differences among the four groups of bishops who participated at the Second Vatican Council, with the goal of answering a simple, but key, sociological question about the Council: who wanted what, and why? In brief, I argue that in order to understand, explain and ideally even predict, the perspectives, interests and goals, or what I call organizational strategies, of religious leaders, sociologists of religion must broaden their understandings of the factors that affect them. Though Supply-Side theory recognises that the presence of other religious institutions (i.e. religious pluralism) has powerful effects on religious leaders, I argue that in order to predict not only whether religious leaders will be open to reform, but also what reforms they will prioritise, we must consider not only the presence of other institutions in a society, but the relationship between those organisations, especially whether those relationships are stable. This is the case becau...
Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2017
Social Forces, 2020
M elissa J. Wilde’s Birth Control Battles is an ambitious project tracing the origins of conflict... more M elissa J. Wilde’s Birth Control Battles is an ambitious project tracing the origins of conflict between religious groups over matters of sex. Spanning the years from the end of World War I to the advent of the birth control pill in the 1960s, the book traces the positions of nine of the most prominent religious groups (comprising 31 denominations) in the United States regarding birth control access and use. In this, Wilde has produced a truly intersectional analysis, a noteworthy accomplishment. Wilde notes that conservative and progressive religious traditions initially came into conflict when they first took positions on contraception in the late 1920s. Importantly, Wilde concludes that the conflicts have a little or nothing to do with women’s rights or welfare, and not much to do with sex either. Rather, religious groups came into conflict based on their positions relative to two key belief systems—eugenics and the social gospel. Wilde draws on a wealth of data, including the Census, archival materials, and denomination-specific periodicals. Throughout the text, Wilde incorporates numerous rich quotes, giving the reader a meaningful view into the scope and depth of the data. Applying the comparative historical sociological method, Wilde deftly demonstrates the complex intersections of religion with race, immigration, geography, and class through the lens of what she terms complex religion, or how religion intersects with inequality in varied and powerful ways. Wilde is also careful to examine and falsify competing explanations for the initial divisions between conservative and progressive religious groups, such as prohibition or women’s suffrage. Wilde begins by problematizing the taken-for-granted claim that theology informs denominations’ stances on contraception, focusing on 1929–1931. Wilde classifies denominations as early liberalizers if they promoted birth control openly by 1931. These groups were primarily in the Northeast and comprised of mainline Protestants and Reform Jews. These groups were concerned about “race suicide,” a eugenicist belief that whites would lose their privileged position in a racialized society if they became a numerical minority. Catholic and
Birth Control Battles, 2019
Social Inclusion, 2018
Sociology has largely ignored class differences between American religious groups under the assum... more Sociology has largely ignored class differences between American religious groups under the assumption that those differences “are smaller than they used to be and are getting smaller all of the time” (Pyle & Davidson, 2014, p. 195). This article demonstrates that profound class differences remain amongst American religious groups. These differences are as large as—or larger than—commonly examined forms of inequality such as the gender pay gap and the race achievement gap. Using the most popular categorization of American religious groups, we find that regardless of the particular measure examined (years of education, income, socioeconomic index score, and proportion of members with at least a bachelor’s degree) Jews and Mainline Protestants are at the top of the socioeconomic ladder and Evangelical Protestants, both black and white, are at the bottom. Furthermore, religious group significantly predicts both years of education and the overall socioeconomic standing of respondents by...
Social Inclusion, 2018
What is complex religion and how does it relate to social inclusion? Complex religion is a theory... more What is complex religion and how does it relate to social inclusion? Complex religion is a theory which posits that religion intersects with inequality, especially class, race, ethnicity and gender. The nine articles in this volume examine a wide array of ways that religion intersects with inequality, and how, as a result, it can create barriers to social inclusion. The issue begins with three articles that examine the role of religion and its intersection with race and racialization processes. It then moves to three articles that examine religion’s intersection with socioeconomic inequality. The issue closes with three studies of how religion’s relationship with the state creates and maintains various status hierarchies, even as some religious movements seek to combat inequality. Together, these articles enrichen our understanding of the complex task before anyone seeking to think about the role of religion in social inclusion.
Sociology of Religion, 2017
This paper examines the most prominent “progressive” American religious groups’... more This paper examines the most prominent “progressive” American religious groups’ (as defined by those that liberalized early on the issue of birth control, circa 1930) views of women between the first and second waves of the feminist movement (1930-1965). We find that some groups have indeed had a long and outspoken support for…