Katie (Kathleen) Steeves, PhD

Associate Professor of Sociology; Assistant Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; Chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Katie is an Associate Professor of Sociology specializing in gender, religion, micro-sociology and qualitative research methods. Katie’s passions include teaching theory and introductory sociology courses and working with undergraduate research assistants. Her current research attempts to explore the experiences of women in religious leadership positions, investigating and encouraging the budding relationship between sociology of religion and feminist theories in sociology while also connecting with and contributing back to religious practitioners. She is also involved in research on flourishing congregations in Canada as the associate director of Research for the Flourishing Congregations Institute.

  • PhD, Sociology (McMaster University)
  • MA, Sociology (McMaster University)
  • BA, Sociology (Crandall University)

Expertise

Gender, feminism, Sociology of Religion, Sociological theory, Symbolic Interactionism, Micro-Sociology, Self and Identity, Qualitative Methods

Selected Research Grants & Funding
  • 2021-2023: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Counsel of Canada Insight Development Grant: Religious and Gendered Selves on the Front Stage of Leadership, $44,196.00 CAD
  • 2020: Council for Christian Colleges & Universities Networking Grant for Christian Scholars (with Michael Wilkinson (PI), Cathy Holtmann, Joel Thiessen, Mark Chapman and Sam Reimer), $38,000 USD

Recent Publications

Selected Publications:
  • Steeves, K., Smith, L., Kreiter, E., & Stobbe, J. “Investigating the Intellectual Bifurcation between Feminist Theory and Sociology of Religious Leadership,” Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 9(1), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/16020 (2025).
  • Steeves, K., Burtt, J., & Wilkinson, M. “Cultivating Repertoires of Resilience: Storying Challenges and Change towards Future Flourishing,” Chapter 3 in J. Thiessen, M. Chapman, & A. C. K. Wong (eds.), The Stories Congregations Tell: Flourishing in the Face of Transition and Change, Wipf and Stock Publishers (2024).
  • Steeves, K. “Symbolic Interactionism,” Chapter 71 in J. Okoko, S. Tunison, & K. Walker (eds.), Varieties of Qualitative Research Methods: Selected Contextual Perspectives, Springer Cham (2023).
  • Steeves, K. “Preserving a Place for Interpretive Work in Canadian Sociology: A Reflection on Dorothy Pawluch’s Contributions,” The American Sociologist. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-021-09518-9 (2021).
  • Steeves, K., & Simonetto, D. “Using a ‘Visual Interview Guide’ as a Method of Qualitative Interviewing,” in S. W. Kleinknecht, L. van den Scott, & C. Sanders (eds.), The Craft of Qualitative Research, pp. 178-184, Canadian Scholars’ Press, Toronto (2018).
  • Pawluch, D., & Steeves, K. “Constructionist Reflections on Noetics,” in C. Levitt & S. Sander (eds.), Lawrence Krader: Beyond the Juxtaposition of Nature and Culture, pp. 83-98, Peter Lang, Frankfurt (2018).
  • Steeves, K. “Experiencing a Call to Ministry: Changing Trajectories, Restructuring Life Stories,” Qualitative Sociology Review, 13(4) (2017).

Affiliations & Memberships

  • Canadian Sociological Association (CSA)
  • Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR)
  • Flourishing Congregations Institute Member at Large

  • SOCI 101 Introduction to Sociology
  • SOCI 240 Individual & Society
  • SOCI 356 Self & Identity
  • SOCI 335 Classical Theory
  • SOCI 336 Contemporary Theory
  • SOCI 385 Qualitative Data Analysis in the Social Sciences
  • SOCI 390 Special Topics in Sociology
  • SOCI 450 Seminar in Sociology
  • SOCI/GNDR 105 Introduction to Gender Studies