Abby Day
Staff details
Abby Day’s work is focused on building capacity and representing sociology of religion both inside and outside universities, nationally and internationally, through teaching, research, publishing and supervision.
She is Executive Editor of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, past-Chair of the Sociology of Religion study group within the British Sociological Association, a member of the ESRC Peer Review College, and past Trustee of the Sociological Review. She also serves as a Member, Office for National Statistics, on census questions regarding Ethnicity, Identity, Language and Religion.
Academic qualifications
- PhD Religious Studies, Lancaster University 2006
Teaching and Supervision
Abby's current undergraduate modules are: ‘Analysing the Complexity of Contemporary Religious Life (3rd year)’ and ‘Religion Crime and Law’ (2nd year) Her post-graduate teaching focuses on two sociology of religion themes for the MA Thinking Sociologically.
Abby teaches on the 1st year Module, Crime Control and the State.
Research interests
Research focuses on religion and national identity, generations, gender, crime and social justice.
Publications and research outputs
Book
Day, Abby. 2017. The Religious Lives of Older Laywomen: The Last Active Anglican Generation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198739586
Day, Abby. 2011. Believing in Belonging: Belief and Social Identity in the Modern World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199577873
Day, Abby. 2008. How to Get Research Published in Journals. 2nd edition. Aldershot UK: Gower (now Routledge). ISBN 0566088150
Edited Book
Day, Abby, ed. 2016. Contemporary Issues in the Worldwide Anglican Communion: Powers and Pieties. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 9781472444134
Day, Abby and Lövheim, Mia, eds. 2015. Modernities, Memory and Mutations: Grace Davie and the Study of Religion. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 9781472436177
Book Section
Braverman, Danny. 2022. "This Island's Mine": University Teaching as Inclusive Dramaturgy. In: Abby Day; Lois Lee; David S. P. Thomas and James Spickard, eds. Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization: Practical Tools for Improving Teaching, Research and Scholarship. Bristol: Bristol University Press, pp. 64-80. ISBN 9781529216646
Day, Abby. 2019. Anthropology of Ministry. In: Martyn Percy; Emma Percy and Ian Markham, eds. The Study of Ministry: A Comprehensive Survey of Theory and Best Practice. London: SPCK Publishing, pp. 41-55. ISBN 9780281081363
Article
Day, Abby. 2020. Towards increasing diversity in the study of religion. Religion, 50(1), pp. 46-52. ISSN 0048-721X
Day, Abby. 2019. Textbooks for teaching the sociology of religion. Religion, 49(2), pp. 296-307. ISSN 0048-721X
Day, Abby. 2016. Response to: Around Abby Day’s Believing in Belonging: Belief and Social Identity in the Modern World. Religion and Society: Advances in Research, 7, pp. 97-111. ISSN 2150-9298 2150-9301
Day, Abby and Coleman, Simon. 2015. Textbooks for teaching the Anthropology of Religion: A Review’. Religion, 46(2), pp. 209-220. ISSN 0048-721X
Day, Abby and Lee, Lois. 2014. Making sense of surveys and censuses: Issues in religious self-identification. Religion, 44(3), pp. 345-356. ISSN 0048-721X
Day, Abby and Rogaly, Ben. 2014. Sacred Communities: Contestations and Connections. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 29(1), pp. 75-88. ISSN 1353-7903
Day, Abby. 2013. The Problem of Generalizing Generation. Religion and Society: Advances in Research, 4, pp. 109-124. ISSN 2150-9298
Day, Abby. 2013. Varieties of belief over time: reflections from a longitudinal study of youth and belief. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 28(2), pp. 277-293. ISSN 1353-7903
Day, Abby. 2010. Propositions and Performativity: Relocating Belief to the Social. Culture and Religion, 11(1), pp. 9-30. ISSN 1475-5610
Day, Abby. 2009. Believing in belonging: an ethnography of young people’s constructions of belief. Culture and Religion, 10(3), pp. 263-278. ISSN 1475-5610
Day, Abby. 2009. Researching Belief without Asking Religious Questions. Fieldwork in Religion, 4(1), pp. 86-104. ISSN 1743-0615
Day, Abby. 2008. Wilfully Disempowered: A Gendered Response to a 'Fallen World'. European Journal of Women's Studies, 15(3), pp. 261-276. ISSN 1350-5068
Day, Abby. 2005. ‘Doing Theodicy: an Empirical Study of a Women’s Prayer Group’. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 20(3), 343. -356. ISSN 1353-7903
Further profile content
Featured publications
2022:
How to Get Published and Win Research Funding. London: Routledge (Out June 19 2023)
Most journal articles and research proposals are rejected. That represents a waste of everyone’s time, energy, and spirit, especially now when, more than ever, academic careers are precarious. In this
2022:
Why Baby Boomers Turned from Religion: Shaping Belief and Belonging, 1945-2021. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 2022
Offers an in-depth, current study of Ex-Christian Baby Boomers Reveals the reasons they left religion and with what they replaced it Challenges accepted theology on the subject
2022:
Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonisation: Practical Tools for Improving Teaching, Research and Scholarship. Edited with Lois Lee, David Thomas and J
Despite progress, the Western higher education system is still largely dominated by scholars from the privileged classes of the Global North. This book presents examples of efforts to diversify points
2020:
Sociology of Religion: Overview and Analysis of Contemporary Religion. London: Routledge. 2021
he first sociology of religion textbook to begin the task of diversifying and decolonizing the study of religion, Sociology of Religion develops a sociological frame that draws together the personal,
Media engagements
2022:
Guardian on census and Christian decline, Baby Boomers and Millennials
Abby Day commented on new census data for various print and broadcast publications. The Guardian (29/11/2022) analysis included a comment from Abby on the decline of Christianity and the baby boomer g
2022:
BBC Radio Live on census and Christian decline
BBC Radio 5 Live (29/11/2022) also interviewed Abby [from 06:08] about the decline in Christianity across England and Wales.
2022:
The World
Abby said: “This is a story about generations over time, in a sense, it’s quite predictable.” US Podcast The World (29/11/2022)
