Lynn Schofield Clark | University of Denver (original) (raw)

Books by Lynn Schofield Clark

Media, Religion and Gender: Key Issues

How do we study media, religion, and culture? Feminist theory has shaped some of the ways in whic... more How do we study media, religion, and culture? Feminist theory has shaped some of the ways in which scholars have thought about knowledge at the intersection of media, religion, and culture, as noted in the previous chapter. But have feminist theories and theories of gender also shaped our methodologies? In this chapter, we will argue that they have, and often in ways that remain unacknowledged. The field of media, religion, and culture has to be seen as a social construction itself, with a particular narrative, a particular history, and specific relationships to place and people. It is inevitable that studies in this field have been informed by the insights of first-, second-, and third-wave feminism as well as queer theory. However, there is also a great deal of room for further research development building on the contributions of feminist methodologies and queer theories. Our aim in this chapter is to trace the relationships between feminist methodological concerns and developments in this field, highlighting studies that have embraced methodological approaches , and point toward approaches that remain unexplored. We then consider some of the challenges that researchers face as they strive to incorporate feminist and gender methodologies into contemporary studies of media, religion, and culture. Following insights from scholars who are writing about feminist, gender, and queer methodologies, we propose that the field of media, religion, and culture has had at least three different strands of methodology and knowledge production , which we will refer to as traditional, interpretive, and participatory. Traditional research refers to that which in the social sciences is survey-based or experimental, and in the humanities refers to the period before historical criticism, when histories were written as unproblematic narratives that reflected the truth (rather than viewed as narratives written in relation to a certain perspective on, and construction of, the truth). The interpretive strand grows out of a response to traditional approaches to methodology and knowledge production, and its beginnings are associated with the Chicago School of Sociology and with cultural anthropology of the early twentieth century. Basic to this critique is the idea that knowledge is always situated and that there are multiple perspectives and differing claims to truth, and that researchers make

This is the opening chapter for the book, Young People & the Future of News: Social Media and the... more This is the opening chapter for the book, Young People & the Future of News: Social Media and the Rise of Connective Journalism, which is under contract to be published with Cambridge University Press. The book is currently with the publisher. Please contact the authors to view a pre-publication copy, as we would love your feedback!

In 2002, when Lynn Schofield Clark began the research that led to her new book on raising childre... more In 2002, when Lynn Schofield Clark began the research that led to her new book on raising children in a dot.com world, the media landscape was a simpler place. Facebook had yet to debut; Twitter was a just a word that described the chatter of birds; and "sexting" was widely regarded as a typographical error.

From Angels TO ALIENS TEENAGERS, THE MEDIA, AND THE SUPERNATURAL LYNN SCHOFIELD CLARK OXFORD UNIV... more From Angels TO ALIENS TEENAGERS, THE MEDIA, AND THE SUPERNATURAL LYNN SCHOFIELD CLARK OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2003.

Articles by Lynn Schofield Clark

This article explores how " real life " stories of heroic participation might conform to, or chal... more This article explores how " real life " stories of heroic participation might conform to, or challenge, hero myths. It involved engaging students of an urban high school in critiquing the hero myths of popular culture while also inviting them to tell and re-tell their own stories of participatory politics. The students' activities were followed over a period of an academic year as they worked through different ways of thinking about stories of heroic action and also created their own messages, reflecting their views, to motivate others to engage in action. Over that period, the stories they told deepened and developed. Ultimately, the political action in which the students chose to engage was frustrated, which provided an opportunity to explore the limits of the participatory politics framework.

Utilizing ethnographic methods, this article explores social media as a contested public space fo... more Utilizing ethnographic methods, this article explores social media as a contested public space for diverse young people at the margins of politics, focusing on social media use in a school walkout held in solidarity with Ferguson protesters. The article offers a conceptualization of what is termed artifacts of engagement, referring to the photos, messages, and other materials that signal political involvement and that young students of color shared with their peers through the social media of Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter. Shared artifacts of engagement are described as key to how individuals personalize expressions of a movement's goals in what Bennett and Segerberg term connective action. But the sharing of such artifacts in online spaces is not unproblematic, as this article attests.

Critical Studies in Media Communication, 1997

Publicity for non‐mainstream events and alternative ideas may come primarily out of the controver... more Publicity for non‐mainstream events and alternative ideas may come primarily out of the controversy they produce rather than as a result of intentional public relations efforts. In the case reviewed here, we explore how what might be understood as a private conversation in mainline religion—a branch of religion that currently receives little publicity‐became one of the top religion news stories of the year. Examining the publicity surrounding a seemingly small and inconsequential religious event, this study argues that news media interest in controversy‐in this case, on the topics of feminine images of God and female sexuality expressed in worship‐serves to give a public airing to otherwise marginally supported views and interests, thus allowing them to achieve a wider hearing. The publicizing of these views then resulted in the mobilization of both supporters and detractors of the views expressed. In this way, the media played an important role in contributing to the development of an alternative religious movement while exacerbating the increasing polarization between liberal and conservative factions of religious expression in the United States.

Journalism, 2013

The task of journalism education has been defined in relation to both the professional needs of t... more The task of journalism education has been defined in relation to both the professional needs of the journalism industry and the need to educate well-informed citizens. A key part of journalism education involves introducing students to what terms the professional ideology of journalism, which includes commitments to public service, commitments to impartiality or objectivity, and a belief in the ideal of journalistic autonomy. Deuze has argued that this professional ideology has shifted in response to multiculturalism and new media. This article therefore sets out to explore the implications of these changes for journalism education and for the formation of the worldview of student journalists. The article considers a case study of a project involving critical service learning in an introductory class for journalism students. The article proposes that media activism, public journalism, and critical service learning may be drawn upon in journalism education as resources in the formation of an emergent journalistic worldview. Exploring student responses to this project through a framework of Youth Participatory Action Research, the article argues that such efforts can help journalism educators to achieve the pedagogical goal of enabling students to critique existing arrangements of power and develop a globally sensitive perspective while producing news stories across media platforms that reflect a deep appreciation for learning about and understanding the diverse communities they serve.

Drawing upon semi-structured interviews and open-ended surveys with adolescents who have moved to... more Drawing upon semi-structured interviews and open-ended surveys with adolescents who have moved to the USA in the past twelve years, this article explores the nuanced ways in which expectations of authority and autonomy structure mobile phone use in migrant and refugee families. It finds that contrary to reports of US parents who fear that mobile phone rules and restrictions undermine intimacy, refugee families may view restriction as an expression of intimacy because it is related to cultural expectations. Moreover, the article points out that whereas mobile communication almost always provides access to autonomy among white middle class families, these media only sometimes provide access to autonomy among refugee families.

This article describes the theory of parental mediation, which has evolved to consider how parent... more This article describes the theory of parental mediation, which has evolved to consider how parents utilize interpersonal communication to mitigate the negative effects that they believe communication media have on their children. I discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this theory as employed in the sociopsychologically rooted media effects literature as well as sociocultural ethnographic research on family media uses. To account for the emotional work that digital media have introduced into contemporary family life, I review interpersonal communication scholarship based on sociologist A. R. Hochschild’s (1977, 1989) work on emotions, and suggest L. Vygotsky’s (1978) social development theory as a means of rethinking the role of children’s agency in the interactions between parents and
children that new media affords. The article concludes by suggesting that in addition to the strategies of active, restrictive, and co-viewing as parental mediation strategies, future
research needs to consider the emergent strategy of participatory learning that involves parents and children interacting together with and through digital media.

Journalism, 2011

This article examines how involvement in high school journalism contributes to socialization into... more This article examines how involvement in high school journalism contributes to socialization into citizenship and, most crucially, to the development of a collective sensibility. Recent work by W Lance Bennett (2008), Zukin and his colleagues (2006), and Sara-Ellen Amster (2006) provides an interpretive lens for considering young people’s experiences with journalism and with citizenship. Interviews with 45 high school journalists from 19 different schools are analyzed, highlighting emerging definitions of citizenship as reflected in how young people discuss their work as student journalists. The study suggests that participation in the culture of high school journalism can provide young people with opportunities to develop the skills and experiences necessary for civic engagement, including the experience of collective decision-making. This study also argues that some young people come to understand the costs of engaged citizenship after negative experiences with their school’s administration, as such experiences reveal differing understandings of the roles of authority, journalism, and collective responsibility within the high school community that its high school journalism is meant to serve.

This article reviews the strengths and weaknesses of Hjarvard's theory of the mediatisation of re... more This article reviews the strengths and weaknesses of Hjarvard's theory of the mediatisation of religion. By suggesting actor-network-theory as a methodological approach to the study of the mediatisation of religion, this article proposes a case study of the viral wedding video, J K wedding entrance dance, to highlight problems with the assertion that media are replacing or displacing religion's authoritative role in society. Drawing upon recent theories of how digital and mobile media are reshaping society by enabling participation, remediation and bricolage, I suggest instead that the media do not bring about secularization, but rather the media are contributing to a personalization of what it means to be religious (or not). The article thus introduces an alternative definition to the concept of mediatisation: that mediatisation may be understood as the process by which collective uses of communication media extend the development of independent media industries and their circulation of narratives, contribute to new forms of action and interaction in the social world and give shape to how we think of humanity and our place in the world.

In many parts of the developed world, families engage with a wide range of communication media as... more In many parts of the developed world, families engage with a wide range of communication media as a part of their daily lives. Parents often express mixed feelings about this engagement on the part of young people, however. Employing Baumberg’s narrative-in-interaction analysis to interviews with 55 parents and
125 young people, this article explores both the discursive strategies parents employ when discussing their rules and regulations regarding digital technologies, and the strategies employed by their teenage young people in response. It considers
how parents attempt to articulate authority in relation to digital media use among their teenage children, and how the ways in which teens interpret those parental attempts to express authority influence the strategies they themselves embrace regarding digital media. The article argues that although economically disadvantaged families experience the digital generation gap with particular intensity, their strategies reveal that they and their teenage children are able to deal with these challenges in creative and effective ways.

Keywords Young people; sociology; digital divide; domestication of
ICTs; parents; qualitative research

Northern Lights, 2008

Following Henry Jenkins' argument that online fan discussions contribute to 'collective intellige... more Following Henry Jenkins' argument that online fan discussions contribute to 'collective intelligence' that then feeds into the creative processes of the media industries, this article explores the ways in which online fans of the ABC television programme Lost discuss the religious and philosophical references of the programme as well as the directions the series seemed to follow as a result. By considering the ways in which both popular entertainment producers and fans of popular entertainment contribute to the emergent norms of plural religious and cultural representation in media and expectations regarding the plural religious environment generally, this article adds to our understanding of the processes through which the mediatization of religion is occurring.

Interviews with 52 parents of varying income levels and positions on the digital ‘‘access rainbow... more Interviews with 52 parents of varying income levels and positions on the digital ‘‘access rainbow’’ are used to explore how parents discuss the widespread belief that ICT (information and communication technologies) access affects their children’s prospects for success. While all parents agreed that ICT competence is important, differences emerged along socioeconomic lines regarding how parents conceptualized the computer/success relationship. While upper-income parents demonstrated greater ICT proficiency and access and assumed that their children needed ICT proficiency for success, parents in the lower-income groups saw the need for ICT proficiency as more context-dependent and adopted broader definitions of success. All parents expressed concerns about the negative attributes of ICTs as entertainment rather than educational media; for lower- and middle-income families, however, this objection justified limits on use or access among children.

New Media & Society, 2004

Employing narrative analysis of ethnographic interviews with persons from a variety of socioecono... more Employing narrative analysis of ethnographic interviews with persons from a variety of socioeconomic, educational, and racial/ethnic backgrounds, this article examines the discursive structure of the digital divide debate as it is articulated among contemporary online users and nonusers in the United States. The article argues that the discourse of individualism serves as a filter that shapes and distorts all private and public conversations about the digital divide and thus limits public debate on the subject.
Some challenges to the dominance of individualism emerge when people discuss the digital divide in relation to the specific, lived situations of economic disadvantage. Yet we conclude that the potential political power of this critique is muted as it echoes rather than challenges the contradictions inherent to the promise of the digital era that are found at the heart of both corporate advertising and current social policies.

Media, Religion and Gender: Key Issues

Critical Studies in Media Communication, 1997

Journalism, 2013

Journalism, 2011

Keywords Young people; sociology; digital divide; domestication of
ICTs; parents; qualitative research

Northern Lights, 2008

New Media & Society, 2004

Popular Communication, 2005

ABSTRACT

New Media & Society, 2003

This paper presents a case study of a community technology center (CTC) located in a lower incom... more This paper presents a case study of a community
technology center (CTC) located in a lower income
neighborhood of a high-tech city. Participant observation
and interview-based research determined that while the
CTC was popular among its targeted constituents, its use
was not consistent with what the center’s supporters and
policymakers envisioned. The emergent discrepancy
between policymaker rhetoric and actual use is analyzed in
light of different understandings of how internet access is
perceived as a social good by policymakers, funders, and
among disadvantaged communities. The article raises
questions and suggests policy implications regarding how
those most at-risk use community technology centers, how
those centers may be funded, and how the relationship of
computers and the social good must be reconceptualized
to better address the issues of the digital divide that extend
beyond the technological realm.

Sociology of Religion, 2002

Computers have changed; times have changed; [we] have changed. But [one] could also write: Times ... more Computers have changed; times have changed; [we] have changed. But [one] could also write: Times have changed; [we] have changed; computers have changed. In fact, there are six possible sequences. We construct our technologies, and our technologies construct us and our times. Our times make us, we make our machines, our machines make our times. We become the objects we look upon but they become what we make of them (Turkic, 1995, p. 46).

American Quarterly, 2006

Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics, Subversives, and Journalists, 19551993. By Sean M... more Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics, Subversives, and Journalists, 19551993. By Sean McCloud. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. 269 pages. 49.95(cloth).49.95 (cloth). 49.95(cloth).29.95 (paper). ... Shaking the World for Jesus: Media and Conservative ...

This encyclopedia entry explores the use of the word ecology within approaches to the study of me... more This encyclopedia entry explores the use of the word ecology within approaches to the study of media and communication, focusing primarily on a review of the school of thought known as media ecology. As media ecology is primarily recognized for its association with theories of technology's role in social change, the entry offers clarification on the relevance between media ecology and differing theoretical approaches to media and social and cultural change. The entry also observes points of incommensurability between media ecology and other theoretical approaches within communication and media studies. It concludes with a review of secondary and tertiary uses of the term ecology, noting the critique of the media ecology school of thought that is embedded within the introduction of what has been termed materialist media ecology.

Religion has been studied within a variety of fields: sociology, anthropology, psychology, philos... more Religion has been studied within a variety of fields: sociology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, history, and most recently in the interdisciplinary field known as religious studies, which first gained a place in universities in the 1960s. Beginning with the intellectual foundations of social theorists writing on religion and society in the 19th and early 20th century (Hegel, Marx, James, Durkheim, Weber, Freud), this essay reviews how studies of religion have made contributions toward communication theory and philosophy. It argues that a significant split in the study of religion, particularly as related to the fields of communication and media studies, dates to the post-war years. This split is characterized by an interest in the enduring power of myth and the search for universal human experiences with the sacred, on the one hand, and a commitment to understanding human experience in relation to particular cultural contexts on the other. Attention to secularization and, later, the post-9/11 context, inaugurated a renewed interest in questions of religion, media, and the state as well as questions of globalization, commercialization, and religious change. Work is just now beginning to embrace culturally comparative approaches to the ways that differing religious traditions have contributed to key concepts in communication such as privacy, copyright, freedom of expression, and connection.

This brief chapter provides a summative overview of the contributions that preceded it in the vol... more This brief chapter provides a summative overview of the contributions that preceded it in the volume, The Media and Religious Authority, edited by Stewart M. Hoover (Penn State Press, 2015). It offers a review of how media and struggles over authority are currently garnering attention in media studies, a review of issues emerging in relation to media, religion, and authority in the key era of the introduction of the printing press, and the rise of interest in religion, media, and individual autonomy in the aftermath of modernity. It also reviews ways that contributions in this volume explore media, individual religious expression, and authority outside the West, and considers what is missing from the current studies of the media and religious authority that, it is proposed, will be of interest for the future.

Routledge Mobile Media Companion, Gerard Goggin & Larissa Hjorth, Eds., 2014

A father and daughter are sitting at the kitchen counter, the daughter's school books spread betw... more A father and daughter are sitting at the kitchen counter, the daughter's school books spread between them as the father watches the news on his laptop. The daughter's mobile beeps. She reads the message and begins gathering her books, getting ready to depart. Her father receives a kiss from her and then silently turns his gaze to the window, observing the car parked in front of his apartment complex. No words are exchanged as he watches the girl leave his building and greet her mother, who is waiting to bring the daughter to her other home.

Mediatized Worlds, Andreas Hepp & Friedrich Krotz, Eds., 2013

This chapter reflects upon the fact that as mediatization has developed as a theory, its commenta... more This chapter reflects upon the fact that as mediatization has developed as a theory, its commentators have drawn upon differing forms of reasoning and differing models of argumentation, as is evidenced in the contributions to this edited volume by Hepp and Krotz. Whereas much of the research to date has utilized deductive, inductive, and analogical reasoning, I argue that for the theory to develop going forward we should consider adding abductive reasoning and thought experiments rooted in visionary pragmatism to our set of tools. I point out that just as Marshall McLuhan’s provocative thought experiments garnered attention and shaped discussions about the role of media in social change in an earlier era, similarly provocative thought experiments can be found today in popular work by Jaron Lanier, Sherry Turkle, Clay Shirky, Rebecca MacKinnon, and others. These and other writings about the Internet and artificial intelligence are shaping today’s discussions about the role of new media in societal change, and these authors represent important intellectual partners for the development of mediatization theory. Moreover, correcting for the shortcomings of medium theory’s thought experiments of the McLuhan era, some current thought experiments by Lanier and others embrace a pragmatic and ethical perspective, and thus if mediatization were to address themselves to this work we would be able to place theoretical arguments in conversation with the work of media activists and policymakers in a way that was not possible before. This signals a potentially positive direction for mediatization theory, for it encourages theorists to reflexively consider our role as scholars within larger public conversations of import as we continue to develop new streams of inquiry into the processes of mediatization.

International Companion to Media Studies: Audience Studies, Apr 2013

Drawing from a large study of digital and mobile media use among US teens and their families, thi... more Drawing from a large study of digital and mobile media use among US teens and their families, this chapter reflexively traces the way in which a particular research narrative about media use came into being. The narrative in question focuses on a young woman who engaged in extensive and troubling digital and mobile media use. Various stakeholders – university students, research assistants, members of the public, and members of various academic research communities – offered differing and sometimes conflicting interpretations and explanations of this narrative, in effect becoming collaborators in the process of data analysis and in the narrative’s reconstruction. The chapter argues that it can be helpful to consider such contradictory responses to potentially polarizing research narratives, since, in an era of reflexive media scholarship, researchers are accountable for the ways in which their writings might contribute critical perspectives to public debate. By reflexive data analysis, I mean an act of recognizing that the researcher, as a socialized agent, shapes her analysis in accordance with the creativities and constraints afforded in relation to her place in the social structure. The chapter therefore argues that how a researcher understands the audiences of research narratives contributes to the construction of such narratives, and a reflexive approach to this process can prepare scholars to contribute productively to public conversations about the role of media in the lives of young people.

Handbook of Qualitative and Quantitatie Methodologies for Communication, 2011

This chapter offers a meta-analysis of the relationship between social-psychological and sociocul... more This chapter offers a meta-analysis of the relationship between social-psychological and sociocultural approaches to communication studies, a review of the quantitative literature on parents’ regulation of children’s and young people’s media use, a presentation of a longterm qualitative study of parental mediation in the US, a discussion of the specific complementarity of qualitative and quantitative approaches, and an outline of a theory of parental mediation, grounded in multiple methodologies.

Mediatization, 2009

This chapter reviews points of common ground between the emergent theories of mediatization and t... more This chapter reviews points of common ground between the emergent theories of mediatization and theories of media ecology/medium theory associated with Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, and others. The chapter reviews the problem of technological determinism as it emerges in these theories, arguing that Raymond Williams' critique of McLuhan created certain blind spots in cultural studies that may be corrected as mediatization theories explore media history scholarship and embrace Actor-Network-Theory.

Digital Religion, 2012

This chapter describes a digital storytelling experiment that Jill Dierberg, Art Bamford & I cond... more This chapter describes a digital storytelling experiment that Jill Dierberg, Art Bamford & I conducted to explore how the process of digital storytelling can help group members to articulate shared understandings of communal identity.

Handbook of Religion and the News, 2012

... Religious Practice 35 2. Protestant Visual Practice and American Mass Culture David Morgan 37... more ... Religious Practice 35 2. Protestant Visual Practice and American Mass Culture David Morgan 37 3. Believing in Elvis: Popular Piety in Material Culture Erika Doss 63 ... The Lilly Endowment, Inc., and Craig Dyk-stra, in particular, have pioneered the financing of studies in this area ...

Cybersociety, 1998

Page 179. 6 Dating on the Net: Teens and the Rise of &amp;amp;quot; Pure&amp;amp;... more Page 179. 6 Dating on the Net: Teens and the Rise of &amp;amp;quot; Pure&amp;amp;quot; Relationships Lynn Schofield Clark At the end of the 16th century, Marianne Dashwood, the fictional teenaged character in Jane Austen&amp;amp;#x27;s novel Sense and Sensibility ...

Rethinking media, religion, and culture, 1997

... example). The third area of potential research, reflected in Hebdige&amp;amp;amp;amp;... more ... example). The third area of potential research, reflected in Hebdige&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27;s (1976) work on reggae and Jindra&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27;s (1994) analysis of Star Trek fandom, would examine the interplay between religious thought and popular culture. Whereas ...

Information, Communication & Society, 2009

Sociology Compass, 2008

This article examines why the study of popular culture has taken off as a subject of university c... more This article examines why the study of popular culture has taken off as a subject of university course offerings and as a topic of scholarly inquiry since the 1980s. Placing the current explorations of popular culture in historical context, the article argues that popular culture's study and studies in the sociology of culture can illuminate many of the classic concerns that animate sociology and related fields, such as the social organization and power of institutions, debates about public life and the formation of public opinion, concerns about the relationship between consumption, social status, and politics of the privileged elite, and the role of media in the development of social movements and in individual and subcultural understandings. The article considers how popular cultural studies are currently shaping the study of social life, and concludes by considering trends that might be encouraged among students and emergent scholars seeking to study in this area.

Northern Lights: Film and Media Studies Yearbook, 2008

Following Henry Jenkins&amp;#x27; argument that online fan discussions contribute to &amp... more Following Henry Jenkins&amp;#x27; argument that online fan discussions contribute to &amp;#x27;collective intelligence&amp;#x27; that then feeds into the creative processes of the media industries, this article explores the ways in which online fans of the ABC television programme Lost discuss the religious and philosophical references of the programme as well as the directions the series seemed to follow as a result. By considering the ways in which both popular entertainment producers and fans of popular entertainment contribute to the emergent norms of plural religious and cultural representation in media and expectations regarding the plural religious environment generally, this article adds to our understanding of the processes through which the mediatization of religion is occurring.

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2006

This issue of the JSSR brings together scholars from mass communication, ethnomusicology, religio... more This issue of the JSSR brings together scholars from mass communication, ethnomusicology, religious studies, and the sociology of religion to explore how practices and understandings of religion might be changing in the context of a global, mediated capitalist marketplace. Each of these essays foregrounds music as a particular cultural form with a unique role to play in the maintenance and change of religion's character and practices in the global marketplace. This forum therefore resonates with the forum on religion and place that appeared in this journal last year (September 2005, vol. 44, no. 3), as this set of essays, like that one, seeks to locate the study of religion "outside of scriptures or texts, and to therefore study history, context, and practice," as Elizabeth McAlister wrote in the previous forum (2005:254). Religion, as scholars in the sociology of religion and in religious material cultural studies have pointed out, is about much more than what happens during services or prayer times, and is much more than a set of beliefs or ideological commitments (see, e.g., Ammerman 2006; Hall 1997; Morgan 2005; Promey and Morgan 2001). Religion is lived and embodied. It is not static and it is not only written down, but rather is mobile and anchoring, personal and collective, dynamic and staid. It is also, in many cases, commercialized and global.

Many of our recent and evolving theories regarding the role of social media in political change h... more Many of our recent and evolving theories regarding the role of social media in political change have taken as their starting point the national and international protest movements that involve large numbers of people who hail from western Europe and from the U.S. 1 Exploring cases of contentious politics such as Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, and the Indignados movement, scholars working in politics and communication have considered the role of networked communication in collective and connective action, focusing on the social media practices and intentional efforts of (1) those who have been involved in coordinating protest activities, (2) those who have been active participants in such activities who work independently or in collaboration with collective organizing efforts, and (3) those covering such activities in the legacy and alternative media. 2 A particularly influential line of thought from Bennett and Segerberg has explored the emergence of connective action, or the ways in which individuals personalize expressions of a movement's goals and act independently in networking efforts that sometimes complement the collective action work of social movement organizations (SMOs) but sometimes occur with little organized leadership. 3 Extending research on social movement organizations and resource

Popular culture is a term that usually refers to those commercially-produced items specifically a... more Popular culture is a term that usually refers to those commercially-produced items specifically associated with leisure, media, and lifestyle choices. To study religions in popular culture, then, is to explore religion's appearance in the commercially-produced artifacts and texts of a culture. The study of popular culture has been a catalyst of sorts in the context of studying religion. Some have speculated that with the increasing presence of religion in commercially-produced products and specifically in the entertainment media, religion may be reduced to mere forms of entertainment. Others, however, have argued that religion has always been expressed and experienced through contemporary forms of culture, and thus its manifestation in popular culture can be interpreted as a sign of the vitality, rather than the demise or superficiality, of contemporary religions. Popular culture is worthy of study given its role in cultural reproduction. The study of popular culture and religion encourages us to consider the extent to which popular cultural representations limit broader critical considerations of religion by depicting and reinforcing taken-for-granted assumptions of what religion is, who practices it and where, and how it endures as a powerful societal institution. Alternately, popular culture has been explored as a site for public imaginings of how religious practices and identities might be different and more inclusive than they have been in the past, pointing toward the artistic and playful ways in which popular religious expression can comment upon dominant religion, dominant culture, and the power relations between them. With the rise of a ubiquitous media culture in which people are increasingly creators and distributors as well as consumers and modifiers of popular culture, popular culture has come to encompass a wide variety of products and artifacts, including those both commercially produced and those that are generated outside of both traditional commercial and religious contexts. Studies might include explorations of religion in such popular television programs as Orange is the New Black or in novels such as The Secret Life of Bees, but might also include considerations of how religion and popular culture intersect in practices of Buddhism in the virtual gaming site Second Life, in the critical expressions of Chicana art, in the commercial experiments of Islamic punk rock groups, and in hashtag justice movements.