My alma mater, Gordon College, has installed a new president, D. Michael Lindsay, a sociologist, lately of Rice University. Lindsay received his PhD from Princeton, and published in 2007 a book entitled Faith in the Halls of Power. It was explained to me once that the cycle of college presidents rolls from those who are fundraisers, to those who are caretakers. Every now and then a president manages to straddle both lines. It is hoped that Lindsay will be a caretaker of students and faculty in the wake of the former fundraising president.
I was excited to hear of the hire because of my new interest in Sociology, so I borrowed Linday’s book from my father-in-law. 
Published in 2007 it is an ethnographic study of powerful people who are also evangelicals. There is also an implicit acknowledgement to C Wright Mills book The Power Elite as predecessor, and in the conclusion an explicit reference to some of it’s findings. The main critiques of the book according to this New York Times article, are that Lindsay is rather accepting of the answers he has been given to his questions. He does not attempt to muckrake about the lack of women or minorities in these positions of power, nor about the “bottom line” of some of the business deals. His most censorious statements are about businessmen and money, acceptance of bonuses and their increasing lack of connection to specific location churches.
One of the things that he notes about evangelicals (which is very true, in my personal experience with them) is that evangelicals are serious about bringing their worldview to the workplace. They are obsessed with the idea of vocation, that they have been “called” (by God) to a certain career, rather than that they have “chosen” of their own free will. Once in this position they are then to use their calling as a ministry, an extension of their faith.
The other things which Lindsay highlights in his book, which I think is important for the general public to know, is that there are two populations within evangelicalism. One is a more cosmopolitan segment, and the other a more populist segment. The cosmopolitan segment is more of a supporter of the arts, social justice, and likely to be less hellfire and brimstone. The populist segment is all about mobilizing large groups of people about hot button issues. Yet, both are committed to their faith, and the evangelizing part of evangelicalism.
Lindsay’s book grew out of his own evangelicalism, and this is almost to be expected based on some of his observations of evangelicals. Overall, an interesting and important read about a nuanced minority (which is becoming a highly visible minority) in the United States.
The Sociology Project 