Dr Andrew McKinnon

Biography

I was trained at the Universities of British Columbia and Toronto before coming to Aberdeen at the beginning of 2008. Most of my long-standing research interests involve two themes: the place of religion in social life, and our fundamental theories of the social world.  I have also spent a lot of time thinking about metaphors in religious thought and practice, as well as in scholarly theories of religion.  I am not committed to a particular methodological approach having done quantitative, qualitative, and historical research, and think it is most important for methods to be appropriate to the questions we're asking.

Over the past several years I have been doing research on conflicts over homosexuality in the worldwide Anglican Communion with Christopher Brittain, interviewing church leaders in Britain and from around the globe.

I am an experienced PhD supervisor, and I am happy to hear from prospective PhD students interested in either sociology of religion (especially religion and conflict, sexuality, Anglican/Episcopal churches, evangelicalism, historical sociology of religion) or theory (especially critical or classical theory; rhetoric). Please take a look at my publication list and see if you think there might be a good fit with the doctoral research you might wish to undertake. 

Current Research

Current research interests include:

• Sociological theory, especially with reference to religion (sociological use of metaphors, classical theory, critical theory)
• Conflict in the Anglican Communion (research conducted with Dr. Christopher Brittain, Divinity, University of Aberdeen)
• Historical Sociology (especially in relation to religion and conflict, violence and social control, energy).

Teaching Responsibilities