Penny Edgell, PhD

This site is a gateway for my research, teaching, and related interests (see my CV I am a professor in the sociology department at the University of Minnesota.

I am a cultural sociologist who studies moral and political culture in the United States with a focus on religion and non-religion.  I want to understand Americans’ shared, as well as our divergent or contested, understandings of right and wrong, ideals of family life, understandings of race and racial justice, and models of good citizenship. I also want to understand the growing group of Americans who are non-religious, including the varieties of non-religious identities and experiences.

I am engaged in a variety of research projects that allow me to continue to work on the "big questions" that have motivated my research since graduate school, questions that have to do with moral community and belonging.

• What are our collective understandings of "the good" in public and private life?

• What are the loci of meaning, purpose, and community among the non-religious?

• How does religion bring people together in our society and when does it divide us?

• What are the sources of identity, belonging, and moral community that lead to civic engagement and foster democratic participation?

Affiliations:  

• Religious Studies

• American Studies

• National Institute for Civil Discourse