Department of Sociology
450 Philip Hoffman Hall
Houston, TX 77204-3012
Phone: (713) 743-3940
Fax: (713) 743-3943

Shayne Lee

Shayne Lee

Associate Professor

Phone: (713)743-3954
Email: slee3@uh.edu 
Office: 471 Philip G. Hoffman Hall

Education

Ph.D. Northwestern University
M.A. Trinity International University
M.A. Regent University (Biblical Studies)
M.A. Regent University (Management)
B.A. Oral Roberts University

Biography

Shayne Lee received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University in 2002. Dr. Lee has quickly emerged as a noted interpreter of contemporary American religion and culture, appearing as guest expert on CNN, ABC, and Fox, while also providing commentary in the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Atlantic, Huffington Post, U.S.A. Today, CNN.com, Christian Science Monitor, and numerous other periodicals. 

Dr. Lee is the author of three books. His first book: T.D. Jakes: America’s New Preacher, analyzes the rise of a prominent African American spiritual leader as a microcosm of cultural changes in contemporary American religion. His second book: Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace, co-authored with historian Phillip Sinitiere, uses theory of religious economy to add complexity and nuance to our understanding of spiritual appeal and the postmodern cultural turn in American Protestantism. Lee’s third book: Erotic Revolutionaries: Black Women, Sexuality, and Popular Culture, navigates the uncharted spaces where social constructionism, third-wave feminism, and black popular culture collide.  His next two book projects include: a national study of black clergywomen that examines the micro-politics of gender oppression in black churches, and a study of the lyrical content of women rappers to envision a nexus between the sociology of sexuality and progressive sexual politics.

Research Interests

  • Religion
  • Culture
  • Gender and Sexuality
  • Sociology of Science

Teaching

  • The Wire (based on the HBO Series)
  • Sociology of Culture
  • Sexuality and Society
  • Sociology of Gender
  • Sociology of Religion

Selected Publications

  • Shayne Lee. 2010. Erotic Revolutionaries: Black Women, Sexuality and Popular Culture. Lanham, MD: Hamilton.
  • Shayne Lee and Phillip Sinitiere. 2009. Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace. New York and London: New York University Press.
  • Shayne Lee. 2005. T.D. Jakes: America’s New Preacher. New York and London:
    New York University Press.
  • Aldon Morris and Shayne Lee. 2005. “The National Baptist Convention: Tradition and
    the Challenges of Modernity.” In Church, Identity, and Change: Theology and
    Denominational Structures in Unsettled Times    . New York: Eerdmans.
  • Shayne Lee. 2004. “The Structure of a Spiritual Revolution: Black Baptists
    and Women in Ministry.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography33(2):154-177
  • Shayne Lee. 2003. “The Church of Faith and Freedom: African American
    Baptists and Social Change.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 42:31-42 

Affiliations

Links