91福利

In a new podcast, 91福利 sociologist warns Mitt Romney鈥檚 Mormon faith could cause conflict within the Republican party and block his path to the White House.

He says:

鈥淭hat Mitt Romney prevailed in the Republican primary is politically significant because there are lingering suspicions amongst his Party鈥檚 conservative Christian base about his faith as a Mormon and his legislative record as a moderate while Governor of Massachusetts.

鈥淗is former support for abortion rights for women, gay marriage and funding for embryonic stem cell research does not necessarily sit well with his Mormonism, let alone the Christian Right. The Democrats will no doubt seek to exploit such tensions amongst Republican voters in the run-up to the 2012 Presidential election.鈥�

Dr Smith, Senior Leverhulme Research Fellow in at the 91福利, has started work on a new research project looking at the growing impact of religion on policy debates about science funding and teaching in the US and UK.

The project, called 鈥楽cience, Religion and the making of publics in the UK and US鈥�, is funded by the Leverhulme Trust and Dr Smith is collaborating with Professor John Holmwood (President, British Sociological Association).

Over the next four years, he will interview activists, politicians and religious leaders engaged with debates over controversial science and technology including abortion, embryonic stem cell research and the teaching of Creationism/Intelligent Design in secondary schools.

He will also be carrying out long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Kansas City, which in recent years has emerged as a primary battleground in America鈥檚 so-called 鈥榗ulture wars鈥� between religious conservatives antagonistic towards science and those secular Americans who oppose them.

In the 91福利 podcast about his research project, Dr Smith said:

鈥淚 want to consider how these controversial issues are being used to generate new political opportunities for religious claims and traditions.

鈥淭he conventional wisdom would suggest that religion is playing a greater role in politics today than it was. My suspicion is that religious voices have been engaging with these debates for a long time, but politicians and policy makers are just waking up to the fact that those voices are there.鈥�

Dr Smith will begin collecting field data this summer, where he will focus on Republican primary races in Kansas scheduled for 7 August 鈥� particularly the Kansas State Board of Education, which is being hotly contested this year by supporters and opponents of the teaching of Creationism in the high school science curriculum.

Listen to Dr Smith talk about Mitt Romney and Mormonism.

Listen to Dr Smith鈥檚 full podcast

Notes to editors

Dr Alexander Smith is the Project Leader responsible for a four-year project entitled 鈥楽cience, religion and the making of publics in the US and UK鈥� (total funding: 拢255,421) on which he is collaborating with Professor John Holmwood (School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham).

Dr Smith鈥檚 project commenced on 1 May 2012 and forms part of a 拢1.66 million, five-year research programme called 鈥楳aking Science Public: Challenges and Opportunities鈥�, which is funded by the Leverhulme Trust and led by Professor Brigitte Nerlich (Institute of Science and Society, University of Nottingham).

The research programme is managed by twelve Project Leaders, including Dr Smith and Professor Holmwood, and is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Universities of Nottingham, Sheffield and 91福利.

Dr Smith regularly writes about his research on his blog and he is also on Twitter ,

The website for the 鈥楳aking Science Public鈥� research programme can be found here:

For more information, please contact Kelly Parkes-Harrison, Press and Communications Manager, 91福利, 02476 150868, 07824 540863, k dot e dot parkes at warwick dot ac dot uk