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Jesse Smith

Assistant Professor
Jesse Smith Headshot

Bio

Dr. Jesse Smith's research examines religion, family, and politics in American life, combining quantitative analysis of national survey data with theoretical work on how social scientists conceptualize what they study. One strand concerns the measurement and conceptualization of Christian nationalism, arguing that prevailing accounts flatten religious and political variation in ways that distort what they aim to explain; this work appears in Sociological Forum, Review of Religious Research, and Socius. 

A second examines how families pass on religious commitment across generations, published in Sociology of Religion and the Journal of Marriage and Family. A third, developed in Theory and Society and in a book manuscript in progress, argues that ideological imbalance in the social sciences is an epistemological problem, not merely a political one.

He writes for general audiences in National Review, Quillette, Public Discourse, Law & Liberty, and Current, and at his Substack, The Next Turtle Down. He serves on the editorial board of Theory and Society, is a member of Heterodox Academy, and is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies.

Before joining Chase in 2025, he taught sociology at Benedictine College. He holds a PhD in Sociology and Demography from The Pennsylvania State University, an MSW from Indiana University–Indianapolis, and a BSW from Indiana University–Bloomington.

 

Areas of Expertise

  • Christian nationalism
  • Religion and American politics
  • Intergenerational religious transmission
  • Family structure and religiosity
  • Secularization
  • Viewpoint diversity in higher education
  • Social epistemology

 

Areas of Expertise

  • American Creeds and Conflicts

 

Links