Religion and Social Problems

ISBN-13: 9780415849296 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 254 str.

Titus Hjelm

Opis

Although students and scholars of social problems have often acknowledged the role of religion, no thorough examinations of the relation between the two have emerged. This volume fills this gap by providing a definitive work on the role of religion in assessing, constructing, and solving social problems. Contributors chart the relation between religion and social problems, exploring such case studies as the impact of religion on drugs and alcohol use among Muslims, the rising importance that religion is given in social policy, the role of the Orthodox and Catholic churches in tackling social problems in post-communist East Europe, and the contested role of religion in the national and international politics of contemporary Japan. Religion and Social Problems is a broad and path-breaking contribution to the fields of sociology of religion, sociology of social problems, and religious studies.

Spis treści

1. Religion and Social Problems: Three Perspectives  Titus Hjelm  Part 1: The Impact of Religion on Social Problems  2. The Indirect Result of Religious Norms and Practices: Explaining Islam’s Role in Limiting the Spread of HIV/AIDS  Amy Adamczyk  3. Islam and Labor Market Integration in Denmark  Peter B. Andersen and Peter Lüchau  Part 2: Constructing Religion as a Solution to Social Problems  4. Religious Diversity and Social Problems: The Case of Britain  James A. Beckford  5. Fighting Against Unemployment: Finnish Parishes as Agents in European Social Fund Projects  Sanna Lehtinen  6. Religion as a Solution to Social Problems: A Christian Orthodox Approach to International Humanitarian Issues  Lina Molokotos-Liederman  7. Religion and Social Capital Research in South Africa: Mapping an Agenda in Progress  Ignatius Swart  8. Campaigning for Justice: Religious and Legal Activism in Challenging Illegal Immigration as a Social Problem in the U.S. Gastón Espinosa  9. Missionaries and Social Workers: Visions of Sexuality in Religious Discourse  Marian Burchardt  Part 4: Constructing Religion as a Social Problem  10. Perception of Muslims and Islam in Australian Schools: A National Survey  Abe W. Ata  11. Religious Problems in Contemporary Japanese Society: Two Cases after the Aum Shinrikyo Affair  Michiaki Okuyama  12. George W. Bush and Church-State Partnerships to Administer Social Service Programs: Cautions and Concerns  Derek H. Davis  13. The Cult as a Social Problem  Eileen Barker  14. Other Religions as Social Problem: The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and Afro-Brazilian Traditions  Steven Engler  15. Islam and Integration in German Media Discourse  Yasemin El-Menouar and Melanie Becker

O autorze

Titus Hjelm is Lecturer in Finnish Society and Culture at University College London. His main areas of expertise are cultural sociology, sociology of religion, social problems, social theory, media and popular culture. His research focuses on the role of minority religions in contemporary societies and the media treatment of alternative religion. He is currently working on a book on social constructionism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and has published several books in Finnish and articles in journals such as Social Compass and Journal of Contemporary Religion.