Faculty and Staff

Wendy Christensen

Professor • Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice

My research focuses on how political discourse and participation is shaped by social inequalities. I am particularly interested in how institutions, like the media, the military, and the family, contribute to the shaping of political engagement. My book, Mothers of the Military: Support and Politics During Wartime, was published by Rowman & Littlefield Press in 2018. In it I examine how gender, race, and class ideologies organize political relationships for military families in ways that sometimes limit their participation in the political process.

Professional Interests

My current research examines how gender, race, and class ideologies organize political participation in local grassroots political movements.

Other Interests

I am active in efforts on campus to empower students to political activism, and I involved in local community organizing and social movements.

Degrees

PhD Sociology, University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI

Specialization

Political participation, social inequality (race, gender, class), militarism, and feminist theory

Representative Publications


Mothers of the Military Support and Politics during Wartime; Rowman & Littlefield Press; 2018
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538114247/Mothers-of-the-Military-Support-and-Politics-during-Wartime#


The politics of foot powder: depoliticizing motherhood during the US War on Terrorism; , International Journal of Feminist Politics; 2018
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616742.2017.1419825?scroll=top&needAccess=true


The black citizen-subject: black single mothers in US military recruitment material; Ethnic and Racial Studies; Volume 39, Issue 14 2016
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2016.1160139


Recruiting through mothers: you made them strong, we’ll make them Army Strong; , Critical Military Studies; 2016
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23337486.2016.1162975


Changing Society Through Social Movements; Sociology in Action; SAGE; 2017
https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/sociology-in-action/book249345

Notable Courses Taught

Sociology of Social Movements
Social Stratification
Senior Seminar in Sociology
Principles of Sociology
Research Methods
Sociology of the Family
Social Problems

462 Raubinger Hall

By appointment