David G. Bromley (Ph.D., Duke University, 1971)

Bird House, room 203
Tel.: (804) 828-6286
E-mail: dbromley@mail1.vcu.edu
Personal Web: http://saturn.vcu.edu/~dbromley

Specialty Areas

Religion, deviant behavior/social disorganization, social control

Biographical Sketch

David G. Bromley received his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1971. He has served on the faculties of the University of Virginia, University of Texas at Arlington, and University of Hartford. He joined the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University as department chair in 1984. He is currently a Professor of Sociology with an affiliate appointment in the Department of Religious Studies. He also holds an affiliate appointment in the Department of Sociology at the University of Virginia.

Dr. Bromley has worked in a variety of areas through his academic career. His early research and writing were in the areas of urban and political sociology. Most of his current work is in the areas of sociology of religion, social movements, and deviance, with a primary focus on contemporary religious movements. He is past-president of the Association for the Sociology of Religion and editor-emeritus of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. He has authored or edited over a dozen books and numerous journal articles and book chapters in the sociology of religion. He is currently working on two books, The Politics of Religious Apostasy, an edited collection of papers examining the role that apostates have played in the development of religious movements, and Prophetic Religion in a Secular Age (with Anson Shupe), which examines the structure and significance of a variety of contemporary religious movements.

Dr. Bromley currently teaches courses in Sociology of Religion and in Deviant Behavior on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The undergraduate course in Deviant Behavior (SOC 303) is an introductory survey course without departmental prerequisites. Major types of deviance and sociological explanations for them are examined. The Sociology of Religion (SOC 360) is an advanced course oriented to majors in sociology and religious studies or other students with some background in the subject area. Additional information on the two undergraduate courses is contained on Dr. Bromley's web page.