Professor Mooney‘s research has primarily been in rural sociology with emphases on rural class structure and social movements. He has published research on the structure of agriculture, farmers’ movements, agricultural cooperatives, social change in rural Poland, and food security in the U.S. He recently finished a project on the food policy council movement and a book with Prof. Krzysztof Gorlach, Piotr Nowak and other colleagues at Jagiellonian University based on an exceptional sample of 3500 Polish farmers. He has  begun research on religion and ecology, particularly the role of religion as a motivational factor in sustainable agriculture. Dr. Mooney has held a Fulbright Research Fellowship and a German Marshall Fund Fellowship for his research with colleagues at Jagiellonian University on social change in rural Poland. He served as Chair of the UK Sociology Department from 2005-2013. Dr. Mooney has taught a variety of courses. Recently, he has primarily been teaching courses on social movements, sociological theory and the sociology of religion. He has held Visiting Faculty positions at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland; University of Calabria in Cosenza, Italy; and Kyoto University in Japan. His work has been published in English, Spanish, Polish and Italian languages.