Social Theory and Religion

ISBN-13: 9780521773362 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 264 str.

Professor James A. Beckford

Opis

This book looks at ways of improving our understanding of religious change by strengthening the links between social theory and the social scientific study of religion. James Beckford reviews the current state of social scientific knowledge about religion. He clarifies the social processes involved in constructing religious and non-religious environments in public and private life. Beckford reveals the importance of these boundaries by referring to studies of secularization, religious diversity, globalization, religious movements and self-identity.

Recenzje

'… a long-pondered distillation of major themes in the sociology of religion, expressed with clarity and logical consistency … should be mandatory reading for all sociologists seeking, in Max Weber's well-known phrase, 'to understand religion at the level of meaning'. Journal of Contemporary Religion

Spis treści

Introduction; 1. Religion: a social constructionist approach; 2. Secularisation; 3. The vagaries of religious pluralism; 4. Globalisation and religion; 5. Social theory and religious movements; 6. Constructing religion, self and society.