My research spans the fields of political, medical, development, and cultural sociology, and focuses on the contours of globalization, social policy, and political culture. I seek to understand processes of social change by examining the macro-influences at the level of the nation-state and beyond (governments, international organizations) as well as micro-level dynamics (individual attitudes). My interest in social policy and institutions has led me to investigate topics ranging from public attitudes about science and religion in the U.S. to health policy reform in Latin America. Below I detail my main lines of inquiry and publications. Further, I am developing a new research stream on kindness.

Science, Religion, Political Culture, and Public Opinion

In an ongoing stream of research, I examine political culture and public opinion in the context of science and religion. I have several papers in this line of research in collaboration with Tim O’Brien examining Americans’ attitudes towards science and religion, both in the U.S. and cross-nationally. I am also collaborating with Linda Thunström on the value of thoughts and prayers and the debate surrounding these gestures.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Noy, Shiri and Timothy L. O’Brien. 2023. “Learning Right from Wrong: A Cross-national Analysis of Education, National Scientific Investment, and the Morality of Science.” Science, Technology, and Human Values 48(4): 832-860. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/01622439211055144 [pdf]

Thunström, Linda and Shiri Noy. 2022. “What we think prayers do: Americans’ expectations and valuation of intercessory prayer.” PLoS ONE 17(3): e0265836. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265836 (open-access) [pdf]

O’Brien, Timothy L. and Shiri Noy. 2021. “Threatening Morality: Religious and Political Opposition to Science in the United States.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 60(3): 628-644. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12731 [pdf]

O’Brien, Timothy L. and Shiri Noy. 2020. “Political Identity and Confidence in Science and Religion in the United States.” Sociology of Religion 81(4): 439-461. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/sraa024 [pdf]

Thunström, Linda and Shiri Noy. 2019. “The Value of Thoughts and Prayers.” Proceedings for the National Academic of Science (PNAS), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1908268116 (open-access) [pdf]

Noy, Shiri and Timothy L. O’Brien. 2019. “Science for Good? The effects of education and national context on perceptions of science?” Public Understanding of Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662519863575 [pdf]

O’Brien, Timothy L. and Shiri Noy. 2018. “Cultural Authority in Comparative Context: A Multilevel Analysis of Trust in Science and Religion.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 57(3): 495-513. [pdf]

Noy, Shiri and Timothy L. O’Brien. 2018. “An Intersectional Analysis of Perspectives on Science and Religion in the United States.” The Sociological Quarterly 59(1): 40-61. [pdf]

Noy, Shiri and Timothy L. O'Brien. 2016. "A Nation Divided: Science, Religion, and Public Opinion in the United States." Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World (2): 1-15. [pdf]

O’Brien Timothy L. and Shiri Noy. 2015. “Traditional, Modern, and Post-Secular Perspectives on Science and Religion in the United States.” American Sociological Review 80(1): 92-115. [pdf]

Additional Pieces

Noy, Shiri. 2022. Book Review: Varieties of Atheism in Science. Sociology of Religion.

Kennedy, John, Brian Powell, J. Scott Long, Kyle Dodson, Emily Meanwell, Shiri Noy, and Tim O’Brien. 2011. “Examining the Science and Technology Items in the General Social Survey.” Report to the National Science Foundation.

Globalization, Development, and Health

A second line of my research examines how globalization influences health policy in developing countries. While I conceptualize states’ decisions about social policy reform in the context of the theoretical literature on the welfare state I am also interested in ways in which globalization, both economic and political, influences discourses surrounding and concrete social policy decisions. You can find additional information about my book on health sector reform in Latin America here.

Book

Noy, Shiri. 2017 (paperback 2019). Banking on Health: The World Bank and Health Sector Reform in Latin America. London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.

reviewed in Social Forces, International Sociology, Contemporary Sociology

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Noy, Shiri. 2021. “Looking out, working in: How policymakers and experts conceptualize health system models in Argentina, Costa Rica, and Peru.” World Development 139, 105300: 1-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105300 (lead article) [pdf]

Noy, Shiri. 2021. “For the children? A mixed methods analysis of World Bank structural adjustment loans, health projects, and infant mortality in Latin America.” Globalization and Health 17(6): 1-13. DOI: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12992-020-00649-1 (open-access) [pdf]

Painter II, Matthew A., Shiri Noy, and Malcolm D. Holmes. 2019. “Skin tone and asset inequality in Latin America.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2019.1592881. [pdf]

Noy, Shiri. 2018. “Healthy Targets? World Bank Projects and Targeted Health Programmes and Policies in Peru, Argentina, and Costa Rica, 1980-2005.” Oxford Development Studies 46(2):164-183. [pdf]

Noy, Shiri and Jessica Sprague-Jones. 2016. “Comparative dynamics in public health spending: Re-conceptualizing delta-convergence to examine how convergence occurs in the OECD and Latin America.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology 57(6): 425-448.[pdf]

Noy, Shiri and Koen Voorend. 2016. “Social Rights and Migrant Realities: Migration Policy Reform and Migrants' Access to Health Care in Costa Rica, Argentina, and Chile.” Journal of International Migration and Integration 17(2): 605-629. [pdf]

Noy, Shiri and Kevin Doran. 2015. “Globalization and the National Determinants of Ethnic Conflict.” Political and Military Sociology: An Annual Review 43: 27-57. [pdf]

Noy, Shiri. 2015. “The Washington Consensus and Social Policy: World Bank Projects and Health Sector Reform in Costa Rica.” Latin American Policy 26(2): 182-204. (lead article) [pdf]

Noy, Shiri and Patricia A. McManus. 2015. "Modernization, Globalization, Trends, and Convergence in Health Expenditure in Latin America and the Caribbean." Sociology of Development 1(2): 321-346.[pdf]

Noy, Shiri. 2013. “Las Políticas de Salud del Banco Mundial [The World Bank's Health Policies].” Revista de Ciencias Sociales 142(5): 75-85. [pdf, in Spanish]

Noy, Shiri. 2011. “New Contexts, Different Patterns? A Comparative Analysis of Social Spending and Government Health Expenditure in Latin America and the OECD.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology 52(3): 215-244. [pdf]

Additional Pieces

Noy, Shiri. 2021. Book Review: Is Austerity Gendered? Gender & Society 35(5): 844-846

Noy, Shiri, Nicole Angotti, and Joseph Harris. 2020. “Development, Global Health, and COVID-19 (Sociology of Development).” American Sociological Association newsletter, Footnotes special issue on COVID-19. https://www.asanet.org/news-events/footnotes/may-jun-2020/research-policy/development-global-health-and-covid-19-sociology-development [pdf]

Noy, Shiri. 2019. “An Emergent Sociology of Global Health and Development: An Introduction.” Sociology of Development 5(1): 1-8. [pdf]

(foreword as guest editor for a special issue of Sociology of Development special issue on Global Health and Development)

Noy, Shiri. 2019. Book Review: Development after Statism: Industrial Firms and the Political Economy of South Asia. American Journal of Sociology 124(4): 1277–1279.

Noy, Shiri. 2010. “Citizenship, Nationalism and Human Rights.” In Race and Ethnic Relations in the 21st Century: History, Theory, Institutions and Policy edited by Rashawn Ray. University Readers, Social Issues Collection of Routledge, 261-268.

Pedagogy, Teaching, and Learning

As a teacher-scholar I integrate my scholarship and teaching in the classroom by teaching topical courses on science and religion, research methods, and development, but I also conduct research on student learning.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Marcos Miguel, Nausica and Shiri Noy. “Human Subjects Research Guidelines for Undergraduate Researchers: An Analysis of Institutional Review Board (IRB) Websites at Top Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States.” Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics 18(4):263-277. DOI: 10.1177/15562646231190818 [pdf]

Noy, Shiri and Megan Hancock. 2021. “Teaching International Development Locally: Using Museum Collections to Ground Students’ Learning.” Teaching Sociology 49(1): 32-44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X20966719 [pdf]

Noy, Shiri. 2014. “Secrets and the Sociological Imagination: Using PostSecret.com to Illustrate Sociological Concepts.” Teaching Sociology 43(3): 187-195. [pdf]

Noy, Shiri and Rashawn Ray. 2012. “Graduate Students' Perceptions of Their Advisors: Is There Systematic Disadvantage in Mentorship?” Journal of Higher Education 83(6): 876-914. [pdf]

Additional Pieces

Helmsing, Mark, and Shiri Noy. 2020. “Teaching Global Health in the Time of Covid-19: Key Concepts for Social Studies Classrooms.” Journal of International Social Studies 10(2): 103-112. https://www.iajiss.org/index.php/iajiss/article/view/555/0 [pdf]

Noy, Shiri. 2019. Book Review: Teaching with Compassion: An Educator’s Oath to Teach from the Heart. Teaching Sociology 47(3): 243–244.

Noy, Shiri and Kathleen C. Oberlin. September 8, 2011. “On the Spot: Tips for Successfully Handling the Q&A.” Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Social Dimensions of Agro-ecology

I conduct collaborative, mixed methods, multi-disciplinary research with my agro-ecologist colleague Randa Jabbour on alfalfa growers' insect-post management strategies.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Jabbour, Randa and Shiri Noy. 2020. “The Promise of a Multi-Disciplinary, Mixed-Methods Approach to Inform Insect Pest Management: Evidence From Wyoming Alfalfa.” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 4, 548545: 1-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.548545 (open-access) [pdf]

Noy, Shiri and Randa Jabbour. 2020. “Decision‐Making in Local Context: Expertise, Experience, and the Importance of Neighbours in Farmers’ Insect Pest Management.” Sociologia Ruralis 60(1): 3-19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12267 [pdf]

Noy, Shiri and Randa Jabbour. 2017. “Using Egocentric Networks to Illustrate Information Seeking and Sharing by Alfalfa Farmers in Wyoming.” Journal of Extension 55(2): 2RIB1 1-7. [pdf]