Social Theory and Religion

James A. Beckford (University of Warwick)

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English

Cambridge University Pres
27 November 2003

Religion & beliefs; Society & Social Sciences; Social theory

Many aspects of religion are puzzling these days. 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. It clarifies the social processes involved in constructing religion and non-religion in public and private life. Taking illustrations of the importance of these boundaries from studies of secularisation, religious diversity, globalisation, religious movements and self-identity, Beckford reviews the current state of social scientific knowledge about religion and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of a wide range of theoretical attempts to account for religious change and continuity.

The discussion goes in two directions. The first is towards identifying ways in which studies of religion would benefit from taking better account of themes in recent social theory. The second is towards identifying reasons for social theorists to pay more attention to the findings of empirical investigations of religion.

By: James A. Beckford (University of Warwick)
Imprint: Cambridge University Pres
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 228mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 17mm
Weight: 430g
ISBN: 9780521774314
ISBN 10: 0521774314
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 27 November 2003
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

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.

James A. Beckford is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick. His previous publications include The Trumpet of Prophecy. A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses (1975), Cult Controversies. The Societal Response to New Religious Movements (1989), Religion and Advanced Industrial Society (1989), and Religion in Prison. 'Equal Rites' in a Multi-Faith Society (with S. Gilliat, Cambridge, 1998).

Reviews for Social Theory and Religion

'Some books transform our understanding of their topics. Fewer books transform their disciplines. And a very few transform those who read them, such that they can never again approach their own subject matters in their accustomed ways. Jim Beckford's long-awaited 'summa' may do all three.' Sociology of Religion '... 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