Rational Choice Theory and Religion

Rational Choice Theory and Religion PDF Author: Lawrence A. Young
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134953429
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Rational Choice Theory and Religion considers one of the major developments in the social scientific paradigms that promises to foster a greater theoretical unity among the disciplines of sociology, political science, economics and psychology. Applying the theory of rational choice--the theory that each individual will make her choice to maximize gain and minimize cost--to the study of religion, Lawrence Young has brought together a group of internationally renowned scholars to examine this important development within the field of religion for the first time.

Rational Choice Theory and Religion

Rational Choice Theory and Religion PDF Author: Lawrence A. Young
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134953429
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book Here

Book Description
Rational Choice Theory and Religion considers one of the major developments in the social scientific paradigms that promises to foster a greater theoretical unity among the disciplines of sociology, political science, economics and psychology. Applying the theory of rational choice--the theory that each individual will make her choice to maximize gain and minimize cost--to the study of religion, Lawrence Young has brought together a group of internationally renowned scholars to examine this important development within the field of religion for the first time.

Rational Choice Theory and Religion

Rational Choice Theory and Religion PDF Author: Lawrence Alfred Young
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415911924
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
First Published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Choice and Religion

Choice and Religion PDF Author: Steve Bruce
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780198295846
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
"Choice and Religion provides a detailed critique of 'rational choice' to demonstrate that industrialisation has secularised the western world and that diversity, far from making religion more popular by allowing individuals to maximize their returns, undermines it. The claim that competition promotes religion is refuted with evidence from a wide variety of western societies. Bruce also examines the Nordic countries and the ex-communist states of eastern Europe to explore the consequences of different sorts of state regulation, and to show that ethnicity is a more powerful determinate of religious change than market structures. Where religion matters, it is not because individuals are maximising their returns but because it defines group identity and is deeply implicated in social conflict."--BOOK JACKET.

Marx, Critical Theory, and Religion

Marx, Critical Theory, and Religion PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047410181
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
The Sociology of Religion has had several frameworks guiding its analysis including functionalism, interpretive sociology, phenomenology, symbolic interactionism and now rational choice theory. Marxism has tended to ignore religion assuming it is something that would eventually disappear even though it retained theological elements. This collection of essays brings together a group of scholars who use frameworks provided by Marx and Critical Theory in analyzing religion. It's goal is to establish a critical theory of religion within the sociology of religion as an alternative to rational choice. In doing so, it engages in a critique of the positivism, uncritical praise of the market (neoconservativism) and one dimensional conception of rationality of the rational choice theory of religion.

The Cambridge Companion to Religion and Terrorism

The Cambridge Companion to Religion and Terrorism PDF Author: James R. Lewis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108509436
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
There is currently much discussion regarding the causes of terrorist acts, as well as the connection between terrorism and religion. Terrorism is attributed either to religious 'fanaticism' or, alternately, to political and economic factors, with religion more or less dismissed as a secondary factor. The Cambridge Companion to Religion and Terrorism examines this complex relationship between religion and terrorism phenomenon through a collection of essays freshly written for this volume. Bringing varying approaches to the topic, from the theoretical to the empirical, the Companion includes an array of subjects, such as radicalization, suicide bombing, and rational choice, as well as specific case studies. The result is a richly textured collection that prompts readers to critically consider the cluster of phenomena that we have come to refer to as 'terrorism,' and terrorism's relationship with the similarly problematic set of phenomena that we call 'religion.'

The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon

The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon PDF Author: Jon Mandle
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316193985
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 1112

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Book Description
John Rawls is widely regarded as one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, and his work has permanently shaped the nature and terms of moral and political philosophy, deploying a robust and specialized vocabulary that reaches beyond philosophy to political science, economics, sociology, and law. This volume is a complete and accessible guide to Rawls' vocabulary, with over 200 alphabetical encyclopaedic entries written by the world's leading Rawls scholars. From 'basic structure' to 'burdened society', from 'Sidgwick' to 'strains of commitment', and from 'Nash point' to 'natural duties', the volume covers the entirety of Rawls' central ideas and terminology, with illuminating detail and careful cross-referencing. It will be an essential resource for students and scholars of Rawls, as well as for other readers in political philosophy, ethics, political science, sociology, international relations and law.

Rational Choice and Democratic Deliberation

Rational Choice and Democratic Deliberation PDF Author: Guido Pincione
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521862698
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
This book offers a comprehensive and sustained critique of theories of deliberative democracy.

Secularization

Secularization PDF Author: Steve Bruce
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191612170
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
The decline in power, popularity and prestige of religion across the modern world is not a short-term or localized trend nor is it an accident. It is a consequence of subtle but powerful features of modernization. Renowned sociologist, Steve Bruce, elaborates the secularization paradigm and defends it against a wide variety of recent attempts at rebuttal and refutation. Using the best available statistical and qualitative evidence Bruce considers the implications for the

Social Theory and Religion

Social Theory and Religion PDF Author: James A. Beckford
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107320100
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
Many aspects of religion are puzzling these days. This 2003 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 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.

Bounded Choice

Bounded Choice PDF Author: Janja A. Lalich
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520384024
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Heaven's Gate, a secretive group of celibate "monks" awaiting pickup by a UFO, captured intense public attention in 1997 when its members committed collective suicide. As a way of understanding such perplexing events, many have seen those who join cults as needy, lost souls, unable to think for themselves. This book, a compelling look at the cult phenomenon written for a wide audience, dispels such simple formulations by explaining how normal, intelligent people can give up years of their lives—and sometimes their very lives—to groups and beliefs that appear bizarre and irrational. Looking closely at Heaven's Gate and at the Democratic Workers Party, a radical political group of the 1970s and 1980s, Janja Lalich gives us a rare insider's look at these two cults and advances a new theoretical framework that will reshape our understanding of those who join such groups. Lalich's fascinating discussion includes her in-depth interviews with cult devotees as well as reflections gained from her own experience as a high-ranking member of the Democratic Workers Party. Incorporating classical sociological concepts such as "charisma" and "commitment" with more recent work on the social psychology of influence and control, she develops a new approach for understanding how charismatic cult leaders are able to dominate their devotees. She shows how members are led into a state of "bounded choice," in which they make seemingly irrational decisions within a context that makes perfect sense to them and is, in fact, consistent with their highest aspirations. In addition to illuminating the cult phenomenon in the United States and around the world, this important book also addresses our pressing need to know more about the mentality of those true believers who take extreme or violent measures in the name of a cause.