Jerry Park, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Sociology | Baylor University
Waco, TX, UNITED STATES
Jerry Park is an Associate Professor of Sociology and an Affiliate Fellow of the Institute for Studies on Religion at Baylor University.
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Biography
Dr. Jerry Park is an associate professor of sociology and an affiliate fellow of the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a psychology degree and earned his masters and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from the University of Notre Dame. His research interests include the sociological study of religion, racial and religious prejudice, identity, culture and civic participation. Recent publications have covered stereotypes about Asian Americans, religious media consumption, religion in the workplace, religious attitudes of academic scientists, and Asian-American religiosity. Currently his research focuses on the role of religion and entrepreneurial and work behavior, as well as religion and racial stratification attitudes. His undergraduate teaching is in race and ethnicity, and at the graduate level, he teaches a seminar on the sociology of culture and religiosity, and the sociology of religion, race, and gender.
Areas of Expertise (8)
Racial and Religious Minority Experiences
Prejudice and Discrimination
Identity
Cultural Ideology and Cultural Capital
Civic Participation
Religion's Effect on Entrepeneurship and Work Behavior
Asian-American Religiosity
Religious Media Consumption
Accomplishments (5)
Editorial Board member for Social Psychology Quarterly
2017 - 2019
Associate Editor for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
2017 - 2019
Co-Investigator, “Asian American Politics” Cooperative Multiracial Politics Survey
2016 - 2017
Co-Investigator, “National Study of Asian Pacific Islander Catholic Americans” (Tricia Bruce, PI, Maryville College), United States Catholic Conference of Bishops
2014 - 2015
Social Sciences 21st Century America Scholar (professional)
Awarded by the University of California at Irvine
Education (3)
University of Notre Dame: Ph.D., Sociology 2004
University of Notre Dame: M.A., Sociology 1998
University of Virginia: B.A., Psychology 1995
Media Appearances (4)
Asian American evangelicals' theology is conservative. But that doesn't mean they vote that way
Associated Press online
2024-10-20
Jerry Park, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology at Baylor whose research interests include the sociological study of religion, race, identity, culture and civic participation, is quoted in this AP article about the diversity of political and social concerns among Asian American evangelicals ahead of the upcoming election.
Report: Asian American women have fewer church leadership opportunities
Presbyterian Mission online
2024-05-16
Jerry Park, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology at Baylor and an affiliate fellow of the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, is among the researchers with the first-of-its kind National Survey of Asian American Congregational Practices conducted by the Innovative Space for Asian American Christianity. The survey explored women’s and young adult leadership in Asian American congregations, church conflict and church involvement in the Stop AAPI Hate movement. Park’s research interests include the sociological study of religion, race, identity, culture and civic participation.
Christian nationalism experts to discuss political future of the ideology within US religious, political life at Rice Baker Institute event
Rice University online
2024-04-24
Experts on Christian nationalism, including Baylor theologian Jonathan Tran. Ph.D., and sociologists Jerry Park, Ph.D., and Kevin Dougherty. Ph.D., will examine the ideology within American religious and political life at an April 26 event hosted by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance.
The Stop Asian Hate movement is at a crossroads
Vox online
2022-03-15
Sociologists Jerry Park of Baylor University and Joshua Tom of Seattle Pacific University analyzed a UCLA-led survey, conducted between 2017 and 2021, which found that the percentage of people who believed Asian Americans experienced significant discrimination more than doubled.
Research Grants (1)
Co-Investigator, “National Study of Entrepreneurial Behavior, Regulatory Focus, and Religion”
Baylor University, Hankamer School of Business), National Science Foundation $394,654
Mitchell Neubert, PI 2009-2011 Grant # 0925907
Articles (5)
Exceptional Outgroup Stereotypes and White Racial Inequality Attitudes toward Asian Americans
Social Psychology Quarterly2015 Stereotypes of outgroups help create social identificational boundaries for ingroups. When the ingroup is dominant, members employ individualist sentiments to justify their status. In this study, we build on advances in social psychological research that account for multiple outgroup stereotypes. We argue the Asian American model minority stereotype is analogous to the “cold but competent” position of perceptions toward Asians in Fiske’s stereotype content model. Asian Americans are perceived to be exceptional to other minority groups, and we hypothesize that ...
Congregational Size and Attitudes towards Racial Inequality among Church Attendees in America
Religions2015 Research suggests that congregational characteristics are associated with the racial attitudes of American churchgoers. This study examines the relationship between congregational size and beliefs about the Black/White socioeconomic gap among religious adherents. Method. Drawing upon data from the General Social Survey and the National Congregations Study, we fit binary logistic regression models to estimate the association between congregational size and Americans’ explanations of Black/White economic inequality. Results. Findings reveal that ...
Faith and Work: An Exploratory Study of Religious Entrepreneurs
Religions2014 The influence of religion on work has not been fully explored, and, in particular, the relationship between religion and entrepreneurship as a specific type of work. This study explores the link between entrepreneurial behavior and religion. The study finds that religion, for entrepreneurs, is highly individualized, leading to the initial impression that religion and work have no relationship. Upon closer inspection, however, the study finds that religion does shape entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurial activity is impacted by a need for the entrepreneurs to reinterpret their ...
Workplace-Bridging Religious Capital: Connecting Congregations to Work Outcomes
Sociology of Religion2014 Research in the sociology of work has long considered the importance of individual worker values but has not considered one of the central sources of those values: the congregation. In this study, we examine this understudied relationship and propose greater theoretical specification on religious capital. We argue that religious capital, like social capital, may have bridging characteristics. We introduce the concept of workplace-bridging religious capital (WBRC) and describe its cultivation within congregations. Using data from a survey of 1,000 fulltime workers, we test ...
Ethnic Insularity Among 1.5- and Second-Generation Korean American Christians
Development and Society2013 Building on insights from Min’s (2010) comparisons between Korean Protestants and Indian Hindus, and my findings of elite freshmen Korean racial insularity (Park 2012), I use data from the Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles (2004) survey to examine the extent to which religion serves to not only preserve ethnicity but also support insularity in young adult 1.5- and second-generation (“second generation” hereafter) Korean Americans. Findings suggest that at the racial level of comparison, second-generation Korean-American endogamy resembles that of white, black, and Latino endogamy; second-generation Korean-American endogamy reflects not only the highest intraracial marriage rate, but also the highest intraethnic marriage rate of all Asian groups in the sample. Further, religious married second-generation Korean Americans have the highest racially homogeneous composition rate in the congregations they attend relative to other racial groups and other Asian ethnicities. In multivariate analyses, these two dynamics of marital endogamy and congregational racial homophily produce strong effects on one another and diminish the unique Korean effect. Findings suggest that these group relational patterns are more evident for second-generation Korean Americans and may have implications for social mobility in a racialized context.
