President Lindsay studies leadership and elites, and how they relate to American society. His long-range research agenda closely examines the role leaders play in wider society and how social, personal and moral dynamics influence their leadership and public life.
Faith in the Halls of Power
Faith in the Halls of Power examines evangelicalism’s rise in four arenas of influence: politics and government; business and corporate life; arts, entertainment, and the media; and higher education. This influential work includes interviews with 360 elite informants, including two former Presidents of the United States; Cabinet secretaries and senior White House staffers; presidents, CEOs, or senior executives at large firms (both public and private); accomplished Hollywood professionals; leaders from the world of professional athletics; and leaders from the worlds of philanthropy and the arts.
The PLATINUM Study
Lindsay has interviewed 550 leaders in the business, government, and nonprofit sectors in recent years, logging 400,000 miles and gathering 8,000 pages of data. The broad nature of his research is summarized as the PLATINUM Study: Public Leaders in America Today and the Inquiry into their Networks, Upbringings, and Motivations. This larger project flows out of his earlier study of the White House Fellows Program, as well as his groundbreaking work studying religion among American elites.
Scholarly Papers
D. Michael Lindsay is published in the leading scholarly journals of his home discipline of sociology as well as religion and American studies. His scholarly work has addressed a wide array of topics, from organizational behavior to cultural differences between the United States and Great Britain. Through his research, Lindsay has introduced various theoretical concepts such as “organizational liminality,” “populist evangelicalism” and “cosmopolitan evangelicalism.” In addition to his book, Faith in the Halls of Power, Lindsay has authored or co-authored over a dozen scholarly papers.