Environmental Studies
Mark A. Shibley, Professor of Sociology
Joint appointment in Social Sciences, Policy & Culture
and Environmental Studies
Taylor Hall, Rm. 214
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland, Oregon 97520
Phone: (541) 552-6761
E-mail: shibleym@sou.edu
Education
1993 Ph.D., Sociology,
1989 M.A., Sociology, University of California Santa Barbara.
1985 B.S., Sociology, University of Oregon. (summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa)
Courses taught at SOU
Sociological Imagination (Soc 204) Environmental Studies (ES 210)
Introduction to Social Research (Soc 326) People and Forests (Soc 350)
Quantitative Data Analysis (Soc 327) Sustainability and Nature Resources (ES 423)
Sociology of Religion (Soc 461) Environmental Sociology (Soc/ES 420)
Sociology Capstone (Soc 414) Environmental Studies Capstone (ES 494)
Ongoing Research
My research interests include resurgent evangelical Protestantism, religion and politics, religion and environmentalism, environmental justice, and community-based social research. Recent projects involving students include surveys of Ashland Forest Resiliency Project stakeholders, small woodland owners in Oregon, Jackson County residents, and City of Ashland residents. These community-based projects measure perceptions and behavior ranging from public health concerns to the management of natural resources.
Publications
Books:
1997 Building Community: Social Science in Action. Philip Nyden, Anne Figert, and Darryl Burrows, co-editors.
1996 Resurgent Evangelicalism in the United States: Mapping Cultural Change Since 1970.
Articles and Book Chapters:
2010 “Sacred Nature: Earth-based Spirituality as Popular Religion in the Secular Northwest.” Journal for the Study of Nature, Culture and Religion, forthcoming.
2008 “The promise and limits of secular spirituality in Cascadia,” in Douglas Todd ed. Cascadia The Elusive Utopia: Exploring the Spirit of the Pacific Northwest. Vancouver B.C.: Ronsdale Press.
2005 “Believing in the None Zone.” Oregon Humanities, Fall/Winter.
2004 “Secular but spiritual in the Pacific Northwest,” in Patricia O’Connell Killen and Mark Silk, ed., Religion & Public Life in the
2004 “Surveying the Religious Landscape: Historical Trends and Current Patterns in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska,” (Patricia Killen, co-author, with assistance from Kellee Boyer and Kellie O’Riley) in Patricia O’Connell Killen and Mark Silk, ed., Religion & Public Life in the
1998 “Silent Epidemic, Environmental Injustice, or Exaggerated Concern?: Competing Frames in the Media Definition of Childhood Lead Poisoning as a Public Health Problem.” (Annette Prosterman, co-author.) Organization & Environment, 11: 33-58.
1998 “Born-again and World-affirming: Evangelical Prosperity in the United States.” The Annals of the
1997 “The Greening of Mainline American Religion: A Sociological Analysis of the Environmental Ethics of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.” (Jonathan Wiggins, co-author). Social Compass: International Review of Sociology of Religion, 44: 333-348.
1995 “The Californication of American Evangelicalism: Deviance and Cultural Accommodation in a Midwest Vineyard Congregation,” in Mary Jo Neitz and Marion S. Goldman, eds., Sex, Lies, and Sanctity: Deviance and Religion in Contemporary
1994 “Religion and Family Values in Presidential Voting.” (Phillip E. Hammond and Peter M. Solow, co-authors.) Sociology of Religion, 55: 277-290. (Reprinted in Steve Bruce, Peter Kivisto, and William H. Swatos, Jr., eds., The Rapture of Politics: The Christian Right as the United States Approaches the Year 2000, London: Transaction, 1994.)
1993 “When the Sacred Returns: An Empirical Test,” (Phillip E. Hammond, co-author) in Eileen Barker, ed., Secularization, Rationalism and Sectarianism,
1992 “Religion in Oregon: Demographic Currents in the Mainstream,” in Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 83:82-87.
1991 “The Southernization of American Religion: Testing A Hypothesis,” Sociological Analysis, 52:159-174.
1989 “How New is the New Christian Right? A Study of Three Presidential Elections,” (G. Benton Johnson, co-author) in Jeffrey Hadden and Anson Shupe, eds., Secularization and Fundamentalism Reconsidered, New York: Paragon House.
Recent Public Lectures
2010 “Sustaining Family Forests—a Cultural Perspective.” Keynote Address. Oregon Small
Woodland Association. Portland, OR.
2010 Plenary Session, “Spiritual but not Religious.” Earl Lectures, Pacific School of Religion,
Berkeley, CA.
2008 “Making History.” Commencement Address, Department of Sociology, University of
Oregon, Eugene, OR.
2005 “Mega-churches and Forest Temples: An Examination of the Contours of Popular
Religion in the ‘Secular’ Northwest,” Oregon Chautauqua Lectures, Oregon Council for
the Humanities.
2004 “Religion, Politics and Policy: From the White House to the School House.”
Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA.
2004 “Secular but Spiritual in the Pacific Northwest,” Southern Oregon University.
2001 “Understanding Holy War: The Role of Religion in Recent Terrorism and the U.S.
Response,” Southern Oregon University.