Dr. Hunt's interests lie at the intersection of social stratification and sociology of religion, with a substantive focus on race, religion, and region. In the area of race and religion, I have been examining the socio-economic antecedents and consequences of membership in religious groups that deviate from the mainstream religious tradition of specific race/ethnic minority groups. Specifically, I have published a series of articles (see below) that explore "minority" religious affiliations within "minority" race/ethnic groups (i.e., the growth of Catholicism among African-Americans and Protestantism among Hispanics/Latinos in the United States and in Latin America).

With regard to region, I have examined regional variations in religious involvement among African-Americans and among whites in the North and the South. My research in progress includes (a) a nationwide comparative study of ethnic identification among Euro-Americans, African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans, (b) a comparative study that explores structural and social-psychological factors that account for the pervasive "absence" of ethnic identification among both whites and African-Americans in the South, and (c) a study of the push/pull factors underlying the "return migration" of African-Americans to the South that has been emerging over the past three decades.