Publications
2026
Tal, O., & Pagis, M. (2026). Prefigurative Occupational Activism: How Religion-Inspired Psychologists Transform Their Profession as a Means for Social Change. Work and Occupations, 53(1 Special Issue: Working for Social Change), 180-213. https://doi.org/10.1177/07308884251363841
2025
Pagis, M., Elbaz, A., & Ben Yair, Y. (2025). The Different Faces of Religion in Therapy: An Exploratory Qualitative Study of a Religion-Based Therapeutic Community for Addiction Recovery in Israel. Journal of Religion and Health, 64(1), 64-81. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-024-02152-y
Gilboa, Y., Pagis, M., & Lyons, K. (2025). Self-determination Theory as a Lens to Explore the Implementation Challenges of Telehealth. International Journal of Telerehabilitation, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.5195/ijt.2024.6648
Pagis, M. (Accepted/In press). The reflexive affirmation of tradition: popular psychology in conservative regimes. American Journal of Cultural Sociology, Article 101415. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41290-025-00258-8
Goldberg, D., & Pagis, M. (2025). Cultural Discrepancies in Interaction: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Men Encounter Popular Psychology. Qualitative Sociology, 48(4), 609-636. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-025-09612-1
Pagis, M. (2025). Seeing Others: How Recognition Works—and How It Can Heal a Divided World. Contemporary Sociology, 54(6), 528-530. https://doi.org/10.1177/00943061251374867k
2023
Alfi-Nissan, S. R., & Pagis, M. (2023). Glitches in the Aspirational Discourse: Between Enterprise and Compromise1. Sociological Forum, 38(3), 708-729. https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12935
2022
Winchester, D., & Pagis, M. (2022). Sensing the Sacred: Religious Experience, Somatic Inversions, and the Religious Education of Attention. Sociology of Religion, 83(1), 12-35. https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srab004
Pagis, M., & Tal, O. (2022). Collective mindfulness: Somatic attention to group and self in meditation practice in Israel. Anthropology Today, 38(2), 13-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12708
2021
Pagis, M. (2021). Transcending Locality: From Embodied Meaning to Universal Identification in Vipassana Meditation Practice in Israel. In O. Mayseless , & P. Russo-Netzer (Eds.), Finding Meaning: An Existential Quest in Post-Modern Israel (pp. 296-316). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190910358.003.0013
אלפי-ניסן, ש., גבאי-אגוזי, ל., & פגיס, מ. (2021). להיות אור לגויים ביזמות״": אידיאל ההייטקיסט הציוני בחינוך הבית־-ספרי בישראל. סוציולוגיה ישראלית: כתב-עת לחקר החברה הישראלית, 22(2), 108-127. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27083978?seq=1
Pagis, M. (2021). Inhabiting the Self-Work Romantic Utopia: Positive Psychology, Life Coaching, and the Challenge of Self-Fulfillment at Work. Work and Occupations, 48(1), 40-69. https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888420911683
Pagis, M. (2021). American JewBu: Jews, Buddhists, and Religious Change, by EMILY SIGALOW. Sociology of Religion, 82(1), 120-122. https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/sraa055
Pagis, M., & Summers-Effler, E. (2021). Aesthetic Engagement*. Sociological Forum, 36(S1), 1371-1394. https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12768
Pagis, M., & Winchester, D. (2021). Mediating the Sacred: Thinking Through Religious Experience in the Classics and Beyond. In Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research (pp. 301-322). (Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research). Springer Science and Business Media B.V.. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78205-4_13
2020
Pagis, M., Tal, O., Cadge, W., & קייג', ו. (2020). החזרת הקסם לסוף החיים: מלווים רוחניים במערכת הרפואית בישראל. In S. Brill, H. Hazan, J. Cohen-Mansfield, & S. Lavi (Eds.), סוף החיים: רפואה, משפט ותרבות בישראל לנוכח פני המוות (pp. 30-48). (קו אדום). Hakibbutz Hameuchad. https://kotar.cet.ac.il/KotarApp/Viewer.aspx?nBookID=107775887#1.0.6.default
Pagis, M. (2020). Embodied therapeutic culture. In D. Nehring, O. J. Madsen, E. Cabanas, C. Mills, & D. Kerrigan (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Global Therapeutic Cultures (pp. 177-190). Routledge,. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429024764
2019
Pagis, M. (2019). Inward: Vipassana Meditation and the Embodiment of Self. (Fieldwork encounters and discoveries). The University of Chicago Press.
Pagis, M. (2019). The Sociology of Meditation. In The Oxford Handbook of Meditation (pp. 570-589). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198808640.013.50
2018
Pagis, M., Cadge, W., & Tal, O. (2018). Translating Spirituality: Universalism and Particularism in the Diffusion of Spiritual Care from the United States to Israel. Sociological Forum, 33(3), 596-618. https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12434
2017
Pagis, M., Tal, O., & Cadge, W. (2017). What do Non-clergy Spiritual Care Providers Contribute to End of Life Care in Israel? A Qualitative Study. Journal of Religion and Health, 56(2), 614-622. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0349-x
Pagis, M., & Ailon, G. (2017). The Paradoxes of Self-Branding: An Analysis of Consultants’ Professional Web Pages. Work and Occupations, 44(3), 243-267. https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888417709327
Pagis, M., & Ailon, G. (2017). "The Paradoxes of Self¬ Branding: An Analysis of Consultants' Professional Web Pages.". Paper presented at The Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Montreal, Canada.
2016
Pagis, M. (2016). Mindfulness: A Micro-sociological Perspective. Paper presented at Mindfulness on the Margins., Sussex, United Kingdom.
Pagis, M. (2016). Fashioning Futures: Life Coaching and the Self-Made Identity Paradox. Sociological Forum, 31(4), 1083-1103. https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12297
פגיס, מ. (2016). תרגום פסיכולוגיה חיובית למקום העבודה: האימון (קואצ'ינג) בישראל כמקרה בוחן. In ז. ברונר, & ג. פלוטקין עמרמי (Eds.), מעבר לקליניקה: השיח הפסיכולוגי בתרבות העכשווית (pp. 23-48)
2015
Pagis, M., & Ailon, G. (2015). Professionals' Market Immersion: Self-Commodification and the Individualization of Professional Identity and Expertise. Paper presented at American Sociological Association annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States. https://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/2015_annual_meeting_program_book_opt.pdf
Pagis, M. (2015). Can the Body Forget? The Deliberate Erosion of Embodied Memories. In G. Galizia, & D. Shulman (Eds.), On Forgetting: an interdisciplinary conversation (pp. 69-81). ( Martin Buber Society of Fellows Notebook Series). Magnes Press.
Pagis, M. (2015). Evoking Equanimity: Silent Interaction Rituals in Vipassana Meditation Retreats. Qualitative Sociology, 38(1), 39-56. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-014-9295-7
Sabar, G., & Pagis, M. (2015). Enhancing the spirit of entrepreneurship: African labor migrants returning from Israel. Migration Studies, 3(2), 260-280. https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnu045
Pagis, M. (2015). Somatic Modes of Attention: An Interactive Perspective. Paper presented at The Cultivated Spirit: Between Anthropology and Psychology., Ramat Gan, Israel.
Pagis, M. (2015). The Interaction Order of Equanimity: A Microsociological perspective on Vipassana Meditation. Paper presented at Association for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States.
Pagis, M. (2015). Re-enchanting the End of Life.
Pagis, M. (2015). Fashioning Futures: Life Coaching and the Self-Made Identity Paradox. Paper presented at American Sociological Association annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States.
2014
Pagis, M. (2014). Self or Not-self? Therapeutic Encounters in Vipassana Meditation Retreats. Paper presented at New Religions and Spiritualties conference, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Pagis, M. (2014). Passion, Self-fulfilment and the workplace: The case of life coaching in Israel. Paper presented at Israeli Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2013
Pagis, M. (2013). Can the body forget? On pain and embodied memories.
Pagis, M. (2013). Religious Self-Constitution: A Relational Perspective. In Religion on the Edge: De-centering and Re-centering the Sociology of Religion Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199938629.003.0005
Pagis, M. (2013). Consuming Individuality: The Case of Life Coaching. Paper presented at American Sociological Association Meeting, New York, United States.
Pagis, M. (2013). Pain Relationships and the Possibility of Salvation.
2012
Pagis, M. (2012). Religious self-constitution: A relational perspective. Paper presented at American Sociological Association Meeting, Denver Colorado., United States.
Pagis, M., & Sabar, G. (2012). Enhancing the Spirit of Entrepreneurship: African Labour Migrant Returning from Israel. Paper presented at American Sociological Association Meeting, Denver Colorado., United States.
2011
Pagis, M. (2011). The Promise of Salvation: A Theory of Religion. Sociology of Religion, 72(3), 375–377. https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srr036
Pagis, M. (2011). Beyond Habitus: The Phenomenology of Embodied Practice. Paper presented at American Sociological Association Meeting, Las Vegas, United States.
Pagis, M. (2011). De-saturating the Self: Silent Interaction Rituals in Buddhist and Christian Meditation Retreats. Paper presented at American Sociological Association Meeting, Las Vegas, United States.
2010
Pagis, M. (2010). From Abstract Concepts to Experiential Knowledge: Embodying Enlightenment in a Meditation Center. Qualitative Sociology, 33(4), 469-489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-010-9169-6
Pagis, M. (2010). Producing intersubjectivity in silence: An ethnographic study of meditation practice. Ethnography, 11(2), 309-328. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138109339041
2009
Pagis, M. (2009). Embodied self-reflexivity. Social Psychology Quarterly, 72(3), 265-283. https://doi.org/10.1177/019027250907200308
2008
Pagis, M. (2008). Society without God: What the least religious nations can tell us about contentment. NYU Press.
2007
Pagis, M. (2007). Subjectivity: ethnographic investigations. Univ of California Press.
2003
Pagis, M., Kafkafi, N., Lipkind, D., Benjamini, Y., & Golani, I. (2003). Darting behavior: a quantitative movement pattern designed for discrimination and replicability in mouse locomotor behavior. Behavioural Brain Research.
Kafkafi, N., Pagis, M., Lipkind, D., Mayo, C. L., Bemjamini, Y., Golani, I., & Elmer, G. I. (2003). Darting behavior: A quantitative movement pattern designed for discrimination and replicability in mouse locomotor behavior. Behavioural Brain Research, 142(1-2), 193-205. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4328(03)00003-2