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Katie Corcoran, Ph.D.

Professor - Sociology

CURRICULUM VITAE

Member of the Religion and Society Group

Dr. Corcoran received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Washington as well as an M.A. in Sociology and an M.A. in International Studies (Comparative Religion). She is a theoretical generalist who studies social groups and networks as links between macro- structures and micro- attitudes and behaviors. Her research applies these lenses to several empirical subfields—organizations, culture, crime/deviance, religion, emotion, inequality, and social movements. She is interested in exploring the processes by which individuals join and leave groups, invest time and resources in them, and come to hold their norms and values. In order to test theoretical predictions, she draws on individual-level, cross-organizational, regional, and national data and uses advanced quantitative as well as qualitative methodologies.

Dr. Corcoran has published articles in journals such as Social Science Research, Sociological Inquiry, Sociological Forum, the British Journal of Social Psychology, the Journal for the Scientific of Religion, and Rationality and Society and recently published the book Religious Hostility: A Global Assessment of Hatred and Terror with Rodney Stark. She is currently completing a book manuscript on megachurches with James K. Wellman and Kate Stockly-Meyerdirk entitled High on God: How the Megachurch Conquered America.

You can learn more about Dr. Corcoran's research on her website

Selected Publications  

Snedker, Karen, Lindsey Beach, and Katie E. Corcoran. 2017. “Beyond the ‘Revolving Door’? Reducing Criminal Recidivism in One Mental Health Court.” Criminal Justice and Behavior: An International Journal 44(9): 1141-1162.  

Corcoran, Katie E. and James K. Wellman Jr. 2016. “‘People Forget He’s Human’: Charismatic Leadership in Institutionalized Religion.” Sociology of Religion 77(4): 309-333. 

Corcoran, Katie E. 2015. “Thinkers and Feelers: Emotion and Giving.” Social Science Research 52: 686-700.