Dr Isabella Kasselstrand

Biography

Isabella Kasselstrand joined the Sociology Department at the University of Aberdeen in December of 2020. 

After completing a PhD in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh in 2014, she held faculty positions in the United States, most recently as Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at California State University, Bakersfield. She also held a visiting position in Sociology and Secular Studies at Pitzer College. 

As a sociologist of religion, Isabella conducts research on secularization and secularity, including aspects of religious indifference, immigration, social trust, cultural religion, and ritual participation. Using quantitative and mixed methods, her work is broadly comparative and cross-national, with a primary focus on Northern Europe. Scotland and Scandinavia are two contexts of particular interest. Her articles are published in journals such as Sociology of Religion; Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion; Social Compass; Journal of Contemporary Religion; Nordic Journal of Religion & Society; Secularism & Nonreligion; and Scottish Affairs. She recently published the book Beyond Doubt: The Secularization of Society (NYU Press), coauthored with Phil Zuckerman and Ryan Cragun. She has also contributed chapters to a number of edited volumes.

Isabella has taught and developed a wide range of methods and topics courses across the sociology curriculum, with a particular emphasis on social statistics and quantitative methods. At the University of Abderdeen, she teaches on courses in undergraduate and postgraduate research methods, social inequality, and introduction to sociology. 

PhD Supervision: Isabella is interested in supervising PhD students who have a research interest in the sociology of religion, secularity and nonreligion, and/or who have projects that use quantitative or mixed methods. 

External Memberships

Co-Editor (Current): 

Secularism & Nonreligion

Editorial Board Member (Current): 

Sociology of Religion and the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Leadership Roles in Professional Associations (Current): 

Publications Officer for the British Sociological Association - Sociology of Religion Study Group (Socrel)

Manuscript Reviewer:

European Societies; Evaluation and Program Planning; Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion; Journal of Contemporary Religion; Journal of Religion in Europe; Journal of Church and State; Nordic Academic Press; New York University Press; Religion; Religion and Popular Culture; Religion, Brain, and Behavior; Review of Religious Research; Routledge; SAGE Open; Scottish Affairs; Secularism & Nonreligion; Social Compass; Social Forces; Sociology of Religion; Temenos; The Sociological Quarterly.