Atheists in America

Atheists in America: Investigating Identity, Meaning, and Movement By Jesse M. Smith B.S., Utah Valley University, 2005 M.A., University of Colorado, 2009 A Doctoral Thesis Submitted to the University of Colorado at Boulder in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences Department of Sociology 2013 This dissertation entitled: Atheists in America: Investigating Identity, Meaning, and Movement written by Jesse Max Smith has been approved for the Department of Sociology _______________________________ Dr. Leslie Irvine (Chair) _______________________________ Dr. Patricia Adler ________________ ___________ Dr. Lori Peek _______________________________ Dr. Isaac Reed _______________________________ Dr. Stewart Hoover Date: April 5, 2013 The final copy of this dissertation has been examined by the signatories, and we Find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards Of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. IRB protocol # ___0608.2_____ Smith, Jesse Max (Ph.D., Sociology, Department of Sociology) Atheists in America: Investigating Identity, Meaning, and Movement Dissertation directed by Associate Professor Leslie Irvine Abstract This study is a multi-year ethnographic investigation of self-identified atheists in America. The formation of atheist identities, the management of the deviant status of atheism, the collective identity and social movement aspects of atheist organizations, and the meaning of atheism both socially and for its adherents are the substantive and empirical topics analyzed in the following pages. Qualitative methods including in-depth interviews with forty-five self-identified atheists, extensive participant-observation with atheist groups, and textual analysis of a variety of document sources are the means by which this study was carried out. As qualitative research in this area is still in its beginning stages, this study is meant to make both a methodological and theoretical contribution to the study of contemporary American atheists. Guided primarily by the framework of symbolic interactionism, and taking insights from sociological social psychology and the literatures on identity, the self, deviance, social movements, and the sociology of religion, I describe the key processes at play within the construction of both personal and collective atheist identity. I argue that these identities are accomplished in and through meaningful social interaction. I also analyze how atheists individually and collectively manage the stigma of atheism, as well as illustrate the importance of organizational dynamics for constructing, negotiating, and maintaining meaningful selves in an increasingly complex and globalizing society. iii Acknowledgements There are several people, who without their help and guidance throughout, this research project would not have been possible. First, I would like to thank my advisor, Leslie Irvine for her excellent feedback on my writing, her ideas about what to do with my research interests, and both her patience and willingness to answer my nearly endless questions about everything academic throughout my graduate career. Second, I must give credit to Patrick O’Brien for suggesting early on that I turn my interest in irreligion – and our many conversations about it – into a sociological examination of atheists. Additionally, Patricia Adler’s feedback on my research from start to completion was an invaluable asset. Likewise, the support and guidance of doctoral committee members, Lori Peek, Stewart Hoover, and Isaac Reed contributed to the successful completion of this work. And finally, I would like to thank my spouse, Katie Smith, for her ongoing support of my academic pursuits, and for allowing me to spend more than handful of years working toward my goal of a doctoral degree in sociology. iv Table of Contents Title page ...................................................................................................................................................... Signature page ............................................................................................................................................. Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................. iv Chapter I: Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter II: Theory and Literature ................................................................................................ 13 Chapter III: Studying Atheists ......................................................................................................... 28 Chapter IV: Becoming an Atheist in America: Constructing Identity and Meaning from the Rejection of Theism ................................................................................... 52 Chapter V: The Social Deviance of Atheism: Negotiating Cultural Membership with a Stigmatized Identity ..................................................................................................... 78 Chapter VI: Creating a Godless Community: The Collective Identity Work of Contemporary Atheists ............................................................................................ 121 Chapter VII: The Social Meaning of Atheism ............................................................................... 158 Chapter VIII: Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 176 References ............................................................................................................................................... 201 Appendix A: Demographic Characteristics of Participants ............................................................... 214 Appendix B: Institutional Review Board Information and Study Approval Document ................ 215 v Chapter One: Introduction This research project is the result of a multi-year ethnographic sociological study of American atheists. Through an interpretive framework, and using interactionist and social psychological insights, this study analyzes the social interactions, organizational dynamics, and subjective life experiences and behaviors of atheists. The substantive sociological “domains” of this research include identity, the self, social movements, social deviance, and the social and interactional aspects of contemporary American atheism. Before moving to the theoretical and substantive empirical chapters, I first outline below the research questions and goals of my study, discuss my personal interest in it, and offer clarification regarding the context and parameters of my research, including relevant definitions, and the use of terms. Purpose and Goals of the Research This study aims to show that the current qualitative understanding of atheists is only in its beginning stages. I seek to outline a set of useful and relevant research questions, and tentative answers, from which to build a more general sociological and interactionist theory of the irreligious. Atheism itself is only one of several instantiations of the broader sociological concept of “irreligion.” It is also arguably its most instructive, for reasons that will become clear. At the most basic level, my goal is to heed the early, but largely unanswered call, by Colin Campbell (1972), that sociologists take the idea of irreligion seriously. Like Campbell, I argue that irreligion should be studied in its own right, and not merely as an “aberration” from the much more thoroughly studied concept of religion. My study is an effort to help develop a literature that will expand our qualitative understanding of those who reside within this category. The inverse is also true: understanding irreligion can cause us to rethink and possibly add insights to our sociological understanding of religion and belief. 1 The increase in the public’s interest in, and conversation about, atheism, in the first decade of the 21st century, and the growing awareness of atheism generally (see “atheism in the media” below), are, in part, the result of broader public discourses and debates concerning religion and irreligion, belief and unbelief, and the legitimacy and role of science and religion in our understanding of ourselves in the modern world. These are old questions and debates, to be sure, but they also have a new character and frequency. The rapidly changing and globalizing world, the development of new technologies, and the evolving global-political landscape, has renewed basic questions about who we are and what we should become. What may have been considered “settled” questions by some, have once again become central questions in our public discourse. The “old” philosophical and fundamental questions of the origins of the world, and of ourselves, the nature of the cosmos and reality, the question of morality and moral authority, far from being settled, have resurged at the individual, social, and political levels. The question about the existence of the supernatural, and about the reality of a God or a supreme being, continue to permeate the collective consciousness, and have become pubic questions with political consequences. This suggests that atheism is an important

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