Kristin Geraty

Kristin is interested in the cultural processes that drive organizational change. Drawing on theories from cultural sociology and social movement theory, and using qualitative research methods, she has examined this phenomenon in two settings: the mobilization of religious congregations to engage in broad-based community organizing efforts and the mobilization of a variety of institutional actors around curricular change in higher education. 

At North Central, Kristin has taught courses on the sociology of religion, urban communities, research methods, and career & professional development. She is interested in academy-community partnerships and in the potential for community-based research to foster social change. Drawing on the transformational education she had as an undergraduate student with experiential learning, Kristin seeks to prepare students, faculty, staff, and community partners for equitable and high-quality engaged learning experiences in work-integrated learning, student research, community-engaged learning, and honors education.

Selected Scholarship

Geraty, Kristin.  2017.  “Navigating Entrenched Understandings of Community Organizing in Suburban Congregations” in Religion and Progressive Activism: New Stories about Faith and Politics editors Ruth Braunstein, Todd Fuist, and Rhys Williams.  New York: New York University Press. 

Wilde, Melissa J., Kristin Geraty, Shelley Nelson, and Emily Bowman.  2010.  “Religious Economy or Organizational Field?  Predicting Bishops’ Votes at the Second Vatican Council.”  American Sociological Review 75(4): 586-606.