Ruth Braunstein
@ruthbraunstein.bsky.social
Sociologist. Religion, culture, politics | Director Meanings of Democracy Lab | 📚 MY TAX DOLLARS, PROPHETS & PATRIOTS, RELIGION & PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISM | 🎧 WHEN THE WOLVES CAME
Pinned
How do we learn to live with people we differ from and disagree with?
In the finale of my new documentary podcast, *When the Wolves Came: Evangelicals Against Extremism,* one pastor's “misfit church” offers a model.
Listen to all six episodes of WTWC today! whenthewolvescame.org
In the finale of my new documentary podcast, *When the Wolves Came: Evangelicals Against Extremism,* one pastor's “misfit church” offers a model.
Listen to all six episodes of WTWC today! whenthewolvescame.org
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
We met up with @sssreligion.bsky.social recently in Minneapolis, Minnesota to ask "What Are You Working On?" Meet emerging scholars and familiar faces working on all things religious scholarship!
November 11, 2025 at 10:57 PM
We met up with @sssreligion.bsky.social recently in Minneapolis, Minnesota to ask "What Are You Working On?" Meet emerging scholars and familiar faces working on all things religious scholarship!
Did you know that more Americans eat alone today than at any other point in human history? 🤯 In my latest at Democracy Is Hard, I consider whether "civic restaurants" could help us repair our democracy and restore our humanity. Read more open.substack.com/pub/ruthbrau...
Is eating alone the new bowling alone?
A case for civic restaurants ... and paperwhites
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Did you know that more Americans eat alone today than at any other point in human history? 🤯 In my latest at Democracy Is Hard, I consider whether "civic restaurants" could help us repair our democracy and restore our humanity. Read more open.substack.com/pub/ruthbrau...
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
For more info on this (failed) effort: religionnews.com/2025/07/30/e...
November 10, 2025 at 2:38 PM
For more info on this (failed) effort: religionnews.com/2025/07/30/e...
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
Hello! I'm coming up from the dissertation bunker to say that if you will be at SSSR I'll be putting together some fun Bluesky content with @dacuetovilla.bsky.social for the @asareligion.bsky.social account. COME TELL US WHAT YOU'RE WORKING ON. We'd love to amplify some voices.
October 28, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Hello! I'm coming up from the dissertation bunker to say that if you will be at SSSR I'll be putting together some fun Bluesky content with @dacuetovilla.bsky.social for the @asareligion.bsky.social account. COME TELL US WHAT YOU'RE WORKING ON. We'd love to amplify some voices.
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
Participants were able to show they were not terrorists or anarchists. The marches were a success; they were peaceful, joyful & well-organized. But they were soon overtaken by other headlines. Yet, this won't be the end of these mobilizations. More here:
ruthbraunstein.substack.com/p/no-kings-p...
ruthbraunstein.substack.com/p/no-kings-p...
Do 7 million people in the streets matter?
A Q&A with social movements scholar Ernesto Castañeda, and my thoughts on that heist
ruthbraunstein.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Participants were able to show they were not terrorists or anarchists. The marches were a success; they were peaceful, joyful & well-organized. But they were soon overtaken by other headlines. Yet, this won't be the end of these mobilizations. More here:
ruthbraunstein.substack.com/p/no-kings-p...
ruthbraunstein.substack.com/p/no-kings-p...
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
NEW: The 16th annual PRRI American Values Survey, released in partnership with @brookings.edu, finds that majorities of Americans say that Trump's cuts in funding for health care (60%), implementation of new tariffs (54%), and increase in funding for ICE (52%) have gone too far.
October 22, 2025 at 2:08 PM
NEW: The 16th annual PRRI American Values Survey, released in partnership with @brookings.edu, finds that majorities of Americans say that Trump's cuts in funding for health care (60%), implementation of new tariffs (54%), and increase in funding for ICE (52%) have gone too far.
Exciting news about our audio documentary When the Wolves Came — we were named a Signal Award Gold Winner! If you have not yet listened or shared, now is your chance! Xoxo Dream Team (aka The Mash Up Americans).
Proud. A win for our team at The Mash-Up Americans and a win for a story of hope and determination about the evangelical resistance movement AGAINST White Christian Nationalism and FOR democracy. You can still listen to When the Wolves Came wherever you get your podcasts. @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social
October 16, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Exciting news about our audio documentary When the Wolves Came — we were named a Signal Award Gold Winner! If you have not yet listened or shared, now is your chance! Xoxo Dream Team (aka The Mash Up Americans).
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
Sociology+News! This week's TSP Clippings:
🧠Women managing the household mental load
⚠️ The phantom of political violence in 2025 @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social
📻 Public radio’s donor dependence @lauragarbes.bsky.social
✊France’s Block Everything & 2018's Yellow Vests
🔗 bit.ly/4mizu1Q 🔗
🧠Women managing the household mental load
⚠️ The phantom of political violence in 2025 @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social
📻 Public radio’s donor dependence @lauragarbes.bsky.social
✊France’s Block Everything & 2018's Yellow Vests
🔗 bit.ly/4mizu1Q 🔗
September 16, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Sociology+News! This week's TSP Clippings:
🧠Women managing the household mental load
⚠️ The phantom of political violence in 2025 @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social
📻 Public radio’s donor dependence @lauragarbes.bsky.social
✊France’s Block Everything & 2018's Yellow Vests
🔗 bit.ly/4mizu1Q 🔗
🧠Women managing the household mental load
⚠️ The phantom of political violence in 2025 @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social
📻 Public radio’s donor dependence @lauragarbes.bsky.social
✊France’s Block Everything & 2018's Yellow Vests
🔗 bit.ly/4mizu1Q 🔗
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
Finalist also means we are eligible for the Listener's Choice award, which means you the people can VOTE for us. Won't you? 👉 vote.signalaward.com
The Signal Listener's Choice Award needs YOU
I just voted for this finalist to win a Signal Listener's Choice Award. You should too.
vote.signalaward.com
September 29, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Finalist also means we are eligible for the Listener's Choice award, which means you the people can VOTE for us. Won't you? 👉 vote.signalaward.com
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
💥💥Our podcast When The Wolves Came is a Signal finalist for Best Documentary! It explores the extremist politics that have taken over US evangelical Christianity, and the pastors, congregants, and organizers who are pushing back in favor of a pluralist path. It is, as they say, relevant.
September 29, 2025 at 7:50 PM
💥💥Our podcast When The Wolves Came is a Signal finalist for Best Documentary! It explores the extremist politics that have taken over US evangelical Christianity, and the pastors, congregants, and organizers who are pushing back in favor of a pluralist path. It is, as they say, relevant.
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
ASA member Ruth Braunstein @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social @jhu.edu, who has studied Charlie Kirk and the Right, notes that yesterday's shooting has the potential to spike already heated political tensions in the country. @reuters.com bit.ly/3VIeLtt
Death of Charlie Kirk lays bare deep US political divisions
Kirk’s death left many of his fellow conservatives seething and blaming liberals for the assault.
bit.ly
September 11, 2025 at 1:45 PM
ASA member Ruth Braunstein @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social @jhu.edu, who has studied Charlie Kirk and the Right, notes that yesterday's shooting has the potential to spike already heated political tensions in the country. @reuters.com bit.ly/3VIeLtt
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
NEW PREPRINT: RELIGION UNBUNDLED
Earlier this week at #ASA2025, @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social, @jlkucinskas.bsky.social, Brian Steensland, and I presented ideas for a new paradigm for the 21st-Century sociology of American religion. Full MS at SocArXiv for all those interested:
osf.io/preprints/so...
Earlier this week at #ASA2025, @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social, @jlkucinskas.bsky.social, Brian Steensland, and I presented ideas for a new paradigm for the 21st-Century sociology of American religion. Full MS at SocArXiv for all those interested:
osf.io/preprints/so...
OSF
osf.io
August 15, 2025 at 7:43 PM
NEW PREPRINT: RELIGION UNBUNDLED
Earlier this week at #ASA2025, @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social, @jlkucinskas.bsky.social, Brian Steensland, and I presented ideas for a new paradigm for the 21st-Century sociology of American religion. Full MS at SocArXiv for all those interested:
osf.io/preprints/so...
Earlier this week at #ASA2025, @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social, @jlkucinskas.bsky.social, Brian Steensland, and I presented ideas for a new paradigm for the 21st-Century sociology of American religion. Full MS at SocArXiv for all those interested:
osf.io/preprints/so...
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
Writing this paper has felt like spending the year doing a seminar with some of the most inspiring and theoretically savvy scholars of spirituality and religion —and friends. Our conclusion? Religion has been unbundled. Read more below:
NEW PREPRINT: RELIGION UNBUNDLED
Earlier this week at #ASA2025, @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social, @jlkucinskas.bsky.social, Brian Steensland, and I presented ideas for a new paradigm for the 21st-Century sociology of American religion. Full MS at SocArXiv for all those interested:
osf.io/preprints/so...
Earlier this week at #ASA2025, @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social, @jlkucinskas.bsky.social, Brian Steensland, and I presented ideas for a new paradigm for the 21st-Century sociology of American religion. Full MS at SocArXiv for all those interested:
osf.io/preprints/so...
OSF
osf.io
August 15, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Writing this paper has felt like spending the year doing a seminar with some of the most inspiring and theoretically savvy scholars of spirituality and religion —and friends. Our conclusion? Religion has been unbundled. Read more below:
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
"We are each charged with building a common life. We build this, imperfectly, through social contracts. Taxpaying is one of those contracts." Carey Mott reviews “Taxation and Resentment” and “My Tax Dollars.” https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ways-and-means/
August 10, 2025 at 3:20 PM
"We are each charged with building a common life. We build this, imperfectly, through social contracts. Taxpaying is one of those contracts." Carey Mott reviews “Taxation and Resentment” and “My Tax Dollars.” https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ways-and-means/
Excited to see this review of My Tax Dollars in the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, alongside a discussion of Andrea Louise Campbell’s excellent new book Taxation and Resentment. Check it out! @princetonupress.bsky.social
August 12, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Excited to see this review of My Tax Dollars in the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, alongside a discussion of Andrea Louise Campbell’s excellent new book Taxation and Resentment. Check it out! @princetonupress.bsky.social
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
"Religion in a Changing Workplace" explores how people navigate faith on the job. What did our distinguished critics - @oneyaokuwobi.bsky.social, @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social, and @evanstewart.bsky.social - have to say about it?
August 11, 2025 at 6:41 PM
"Religion in a Changing Workplace" explores how people navigate faith on the job. What did our distinguished critics - @oneyaokuwobi.bsky.social, @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social, and @evanstewart.bsky.social - have to say about it?
Cue Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton's Cabinet Battle #1: “Imagine what gon happen when you try to tax our whiskey”
I can’t avoid the “revenoor” even on a favorite hike in my home state of Georgia! #mytaxdollars
I can’t avoid the “revenoor” even on a favorite hike in my home state of Georgia! #mytaxdollars
July 29, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Cue Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton's Cabinet Battle #1: “Imagine what gon happen when you try to tax our whiskey”
I can’t avoid the “revenoor” even on a favorite hike in my home state of Georgia! #mytaxdollars
I can’t avoid the “revenoor” even on a favorite hike in my home state of Georgia! #mytaxdollars
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
I also loved my conversation with @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social about the new research I’m doing w/ @ikennedy.bsky.social on Christian nationalist consumers. Read her Substack! If you want to read the full article that inspired our Q&A, the article can be found here: academic.oup.com/socrel/advan...
July 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM
I also loved my conversation with @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social about the new research I’m doing w/ @ikennedy.bsky.social on Christian nationalist consumers. Read her Substack! If you want to read the full article that inspired our Q&A, the article can be found here: academic.oup.com/socrel/advan...
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
When your healthcare bills go up, remember that is by design.
When hospitals start to close and nursing homes become unaffordable, remember that is by design.
Do not forget how much they've stolen from you when tax season comes and you get a couple hundred dollar refund.
When hospitals start to close and nursing homes become unaffordable, remember that is by design.
Do not forget how much they've stolen from you when tax season comes and you get a couple hundred dollar refund.
July 24, 2025 at 11:20 AM
When your healthcare bills go up, remember that is by design.
When hospitals start to close and nursing homes become unaffordable, remember that is by design.
Do not forget how much they've stolen from you when tax season comes and you get a couple hundred dollar refund.
When hospitals start to close and nursing homes become unaffordable, remember that is by design.
Do not forget how much they've stolen from you when tax season comes and you get a couple hundred dollar refund.
Loved my conversation with @msoma.bsky.social about his new research on how Christian nationalist consumers are being encouraged to “shop their values” (vs. “woke” mainstream businesses) and the parallel economy that has emerged to support them. Check it out! open.substack.com/pub/ruthbrau...
Inside the “Christian Alternative to Amazon”
Q&A with Mahesh Somashekhar on Public Square and the new front in the culture wars.
open.substack.com
July 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Loved my conversation with @msoma.bsky.social about his new research on how Christian nationalist consumers are being encouraged to “shop their values” (vs. “woke” mainstream businesses) and the parallel economy that has emerged to support them. Check it out! open.substack.com/pub/ruthbrau...
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
No one is talking about this part of the Republican budget:
Rich people can donate to private schools and get that amount knocked off their taxes.
This lets them avoid capital gains taxes.
And while public schools get choked of resources, private schools will flourish.
What?!
Rich people can donate to private schools and get that amount knocked off their taxes.
This lets them avoid capital gains taxes.
And while public schools get choked of resources, private schools will flourish.
What?!
June 27, 2025 at 1:29 PM
No one is talking about this part of the Republican budget:
Rich people can donate to private schools and get that amount knocked off their taxes.
This lets them avoid capital gains taxes.
And while public schools get choked of resources, private schools will flourish.
What?!
Rich people can donate to private schools and get that amount knocked off their taxes.
This lets them avoid capital gains taxes.
And while public schools get choked of resources, private schools will flourish.
What?!
I figure out how to make even cool things nerdy.
Why DO so many reality TV stars get in trouble with the IRS? I had so much fun participating in this melding of the minds for sociologist and tax expert (taxpert?) @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social’s Substack!
ruthbraunstein.substack.com/p/why-are-so...
ruthbraunstein.substack.com/p/why-are-so...
Why are so many reality TV stars in trouble with the IRS?
A Q&A with reality TV expert and Princeton University professor Danielle Lindemann.
ruthbraunstein.substack.com
June 27, 2025 at 4:36 PM
I figure out how to make even cool things nerdy.
Reposted by Ruth Braunstein
Why DO so many reality TV stars get in trouble with the IRS? I had so much fun participating in this melding of the minds for sociologist and tax expert (taxpert?) @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social’s Substack!
ruthbraunstein.substack.com/p/why-are-so...
ruthbraunstein.substack.com/p/why-are-so...
Why are so many reality TV stars in trouble with the IRS?
A Q&A with reality TV expert and Princeton University professor Danielle Lindemann.
ruthbraunstein.substack.com
June 26, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Why DO so many reality TV stars get in trouble with the IRS? I had so much fun participating in this melding of the minds for sociologist and tax expert (taxpert?) @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social’s Substack!
ruthbraunstein.substack.com/p/why-are-so...
ruthbraunstein.substack.com/p/why-are-so...
I've said it before and I'll say it again: "Native-born Americans" are just immigrants plus time. Once we accept this, the logic of the Great Replacement Theory becomes nonsensical. In @kevinmkruse.bsky.social's latest essay, he offers some excellent evidence of this, including this great cartoon.
Some perspective on the great conservative freak-out about Mamdani in NYC:
campaign-trails.ghost.io/the-not-so-g...
campaign-trails.ghost.io/the-not-so-g...
The Not-So-Great Replacement Theory, Revisited
The success of Zohran Mamdani in the mayoral primary in New York City has predictably set of the worst possible takes from the worst possible people. And while I'm generally loathe to drag out any pos...
campaign-trails.ghost.io
June 25, 2025 at 9:33 PM
I've said it before and I'll say it again: "Native-born Americans" are just immigrants plus time. Once we accept this, the logic of the Great Replacement Theory becomes nonsensical. In @kevinmkruse.bsky.social's latest essay, he offers some excellent evidence of this, including this great cartoon.
Fascinating tool that calculates the impact of Trump's tax bill on a family's finances. It accounts for tax changes *and* changes to benefits (like Medicaid) and policies (SNAP deduction) bc of the bill. Create diff profiles to see how various people fare. www.washingtonpost.com/business/int...
How much will you save or lose with Trump’s ‘big’ tax bill?
How will Trump’s tax bill affect your finances? Check out its affects using this calculator.
www.washingtonpost.com
June 25, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Fascinating tool that calculates the impact of Trump's tax bill on a family's finances. It accounts for tax changes *and* changes to benefits (like Medicaid) and policies (SNAP deduction) bc of the bill. Create diff profiles to see how various people fare. www.washingtonpost.com/business/int...