Katie (Kathleen) Steeves, PhD

Associate Professor of Sociology; Chair, Sociology and Anthropology; Assistant Dean, FHSS

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, Katie, Lucy Smith, Elizabeth Kreiter and Jessica Stobbe. 2025. “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), 10. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/16020
  • Steeves, Katie, Jason Burtt and Michael Wilkinson. 2024. "Cultivating repertoires of resilience: Storying Challenges and Change towards Future Flourishing.” Chapter 3 in The Stories Congregations Tell: Flourishing in the Face of Transition and Change edited by J. Thiessen, M. Chapman and A.C.K Wong. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
  • Steeves, Kathleen. 2023. “Symbolic Interactionism” Chapter 71 in Varieties of Qualitative Research
    Methods: Selected Contextual Perspectives edited by J. Okoko, S. Tunison and K. Walker. Springer Cham.
  • Steeves, Kathleen. 2021. “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.
  • Steeves, Kathleen and Deana Simonetto. 2018. “Using a 'Visual Interview Guide' as a Method of Qualitative Interviewing” pp. 178-184 in The Craft of Qualitative Research edited by S.W. Kleinknect, L. van den Scott and C. Sanders. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press.
  • Pawluch, Dorothy and Kathleen Steeves. 2018. “Constructionist Reflections on Noetics” pp. 83-98 in Lawrence Krader: Beyond the Juxtaposition of Nature and Culture edited by C. Levitt and S. Sander. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
  • Steeves, Kathleen. 2017. “Experiencing a Call to Ministry: Changing Trajectories, Restructuring Life Stories.” Qualitative Sociology Review 13(4).

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 and Society
  • SOCI 356 Self and 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