Honorable mention, 2019 ASA Section of the Sociology of Religion’s Distinguished Book Award
Includes chapter awarded the 2013 ASA Sociology of Religion Section Graduate Student Paper Award
Best Book Award, Eastern Religions, American Book Fest
Teaching Guide, created with the help of Hamilton College’s 2018 Sociology of Religion course.
Book Reviews:
Professor of Sociology Larry Isaac, Vanderbilt University:
"The Mindful Elite is an important contribution for its careful and creative assessment of the mindfulness movement, showing how an elite-driven alterative movement for cultural change worked its way into the upper-echelons of major institutions of capitalist America. The connections between the 1960s/1970s counterculture and many contemporary institutional elites--in business, military, medicine, education, sports--are as interesting and provocative as they are ironic. Kucinskas has skillfully excavated a fascinating and understudied form of movement and contributes to our understanding of movement-induced cultural change in the process."
Professor of Sociology Penny Edgell, University of Minnesota:
"Challenging conventional wisdom about social movements, Kucinskas turns attention away from outsiders and confrontational tactics to focus on the contemplative movement, led by privileged institutional entrepreneurs who have used insider--consensus-based tactics to take Buddhist practices'mainstream'--thus changing the meaning of mindfulness. A must-read for scholars of religion and movements, and anyone interested in cultural appropriation and transformation."
Dr. Lynette Monteiro, Ottawa Mindfulness Clinic:
"The Mindful Elite hits the target on many fronts. A three-fold community of contemplatives, clinicians, and academics has emerged and, for the most part, directs and filters what is acceptable in the creation of the mindfulness juggernaut. While there is a commonality among them, they do diverge somewhat in how to use the practices within their communities. This divergence perhaps unintentionally contributes to confusion for the everyday person leaving them easily taken in by media hype and misunderstanding of what mindfulness can accomplish.
Kucinskas' book is a painful and validating read - at least it was for me - as it shines the light on the many ways honourable intentions can become subverted to the degree that it has been in the mindfulness community. Still, it is good to be reminded that the birth intention of this path was and is the desire to transform suffering - individual and collective. Kucinskas has done well to name the beast and, hopefully, keep us from continuing to be devoured by it."
Professor of Sociology John Bartkowski, University of Texas, San Antonio, Contemporary Sociology:
"Among the many marvelous qualities of Kucinskas’s volume is its ability to balance
an appreciation for the inner workings of this movement as articulated by its advocates and devotees with a healthy sense of skepticism about it. Kucinskas’s incisive sociological imagination calls attention to the striking contradictions of the movement. For example, mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist ethics but has become infused with twenty first century Western rationality in a manner that profits from its proliferation. . .
The genius of the movement is found in the book’s paradoxical subtitle, ‘‘mobilizing from the inside out.’’ To be sure, this ‘‘inside out’’ pursuit of social change is not solely the province of the contemplative movement. . . One thinks of the Promise Keepers evangelical men’s movement (racial reconciliation one soul at a time), faith-based social service delivery (change people’s hearts and social transformation will follow), or even some variants of feminism (Gloria Steinem’s national bestseller, Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem). However, promises of personal transformation using ‘‘noncontentious tactics’’ that avoid institutional disruption may reach their apex in the contemporary contemplative movement. Kucinskas correctly recognizes the likely limits of consensus-based mobilization but also wisely cautions scholars from settling too quickly on key markers of social movement success and then dismissing this movement as largely ineffective. I would agree that the jury is still out on this movement’s impact and that social movement ‘‘outcomes’’ need to be defined very carefully before scholars render judgment. . .
The Mindful Elite would be an excellent volume in courses on religion, culture, social change, and qualitative methods. I will be adopting this volume in my graduate qualitative methods course, as it is an exemplary model of applying multiple qualitative methods to render a rich portrait of a complex movement. Its subject matter will appeal to a wide swath of students, and it is written in a manner that balances sharp analysis with engaging argumentation. It will definitely stimulate lively discussions.”
Associate Professor of Sociology Ruth Braunstein, University of Connecticut, American Journal of Sociology:
“This contradiction between apparent success (mindfulness is everywhere!) and apparent failure (but it is being used in ways that are inconsistent with Buddhist principles) becomes the core puzzle of the book. As Kucinskas notes in the conclusion, most portrayals of the movement have been “Janus faced,” concluding it is either a success or a failure, either good or bad. But she attempts “to show the story of the movement from multiple angles in an effort to eschew overly simplistic portrayals” (p. 191). On this count, she succeeds, and I finished the book feeling both sympathetic with the movement’s leaders yet pessimistic about the movement’s likelihood of achieving its original goals. The book also offers theoretical tools for asking more general questions about movement success and failure, which will be useful beyond this case. For example, the case of the mindfulness movement illuminates challenges faced by all movements that posit that social transformation flows from personal transformation. This theory of change requires a long-term, multistage strategy in which movements seek to change individuals’ ideas or practices, in the hopes that those individuals will transform their institutions or perhaps even society at large. This case shows where this process can short circuit. But it also raises questions about when to conduct the final analysis of such a movement; perhaps we are only now in the middle of this lengthy process, and the changes this movement originally sought may eventually come about. The book also provides insight into a mobilizing strategy that receives relatively little attention from social movement scholars: the noncontentious dissemination of ideas and practices through high-status insiders within elite institutions. This lack of attention is likely rooted in the fact that the strategy is relatively uncommon—indeed, social movements often mobilize precisely because they lack the elite connections and credentials that make this strategy possible. It is also far less visible than, say, street protests, and research on it requires access to elites who are willing to openly discuss their goals and tactics. Yet it is a potentially powerful strategy and is thus worthy of much greater focus.”
Assistant Professor of Sociology Di Di, Santa Clara University, Review of Religious Research 2019:
The Mindful Elite: Mobilizing from the Inside Out is an excellent book that describes the success and limitations of the contemplative movement in the U.S. It will attract readers from different theoretical and empirical perspectives who are interested in religion and spirituality, such as Eastern religions, spirituality, cultural diffusion and religious movements. While it would be an excellent reader for graduate-level seminars, The Mindful Elite is also highly accessible.
Professor of Sociology Jerry Z. Park, Baylor University, Sociology of Religion 2019
The Mindful Elite is an excellent work, a central text for the study of contemporary spirituality. Advanced undergraduates and graduate students will find much to glean from this in learning more about how social movements are studied, how the movements themselves gain legitimacy, and how they retain their influence over the course of years. Kucinskas’ work invites readers to reflect on how their daily experiences and vernacular language are rife with connections to religious and spiritually inspired movements that captured the imaginations of the middle and upper classes in other eras . . . The Mindful Elite stands as the key investigation of the contemplative movement and builds our knowledge base of how such movements impact the lives of millions.
Professor of Sociology Fabio Rojas, Indiana University, Bloomington, Orgtheory.net
The Mindful Elite is really great contribution to social movement studies and the social scientific analysis of religion. Her basic puzzle is this: Religious change is usually a very contentious process, but Buddhism and meditation in America appeared with relatively little struggle. Why? Based on field work at meditation organizations and interviews with leaders, she argues that Eastern meditative practices appeared in America as a result of a quiet mobilization among elites in academia and science.