Social Theory and Religion

Social Theory and Religion PDF Author: James A. Beckford
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521774314
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
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, James A. Beckford reviews the current state of social scientific knowledge about religion.

Religion and Social Theory

Religion and Social Theory PDF Author: Bryan S Turner
Publisher: SAGE Publications Limited
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
The second edition of this major book on the social analysis of religion incorporates a substantial new introduction by Bryan S Turner. Religion and Social Theory assesses the different theoretical approaches to the social function of religion. Turner discusses at length the ideas of key contributors to these approaches (including Engels, Durkheim, Weber, Nietzsche, Freud, Parsons, Marcuse, Habermas and Foucault). In so doing, he develops a distinctive perspective on the role of religion as an institutional link between economic and human reproduction. Social theories of religion are explored through a resolutely comparative and historical analysis of the Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Relating c

Social Theory and Religion

Social Theory and Religion PDF Author: James A. Beckford
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521774314
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book Here

Book Description
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, James A. Beckford reviews the current state of social scientific knowledge about religion.

Religion, Realism and Social Theory

Religion, Realism and Social Theory PDF Author: Philip A Mellor
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780761948650
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
This book challenges those contemporary sociologists who argue that the notion of 'society' is an outmoded basis for sociological analysis and instead revitalizes the idea that sociology is truly 'the study of society'. Mellor returns the human and religious aspects of social life to the centre of social theory.

Sociological Theory and the Question of Religion

Sociological Theory and the Question of Religion PDF Author: Andrew McKinnon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131705301X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Religion lies near the heart of the classical sociological tradition, yet it no longer occupies the same place within the contemporary sociological enterprise. This relative absence has left sociology under-prepared for thinking about religion’s continuing importance in new issues, movements, and events in the twenty-first century. This book seeks to address this lacunae by offering a variety of theoretical perspectives on the study of religion that bridge the gap between mainstream concerns of sociologists and the sociology of religion. Following an assessment of the current state of the field, the authors develop an emerging critical perspective within the sociology of religion with particular focus on the importance of historical background. Re-assessing the themes of aesthetics, listening and different degrees of spiritual self-discipline, the authors draw on ethnographic studies of religious involvement in Norway and the UK. They highlight the importance of power in the sociology of religion with help from Pierre Bourdieu, Marx and Critical Discourse Analysis. This book points to emerging currents in the field and offers a productive and lively way forward, not just for sociological theory of religion, but for the sociology of religion more generally.

Toward a Sociological Theory of Religion and Health

Toward a Sociological Theory of Religion and Health PDF Author: Anthony Blasi
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004205977
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
This book seeks to involve recognized researchers in the social scientific study of health, medicine and religion, which has burgeoned across the past twenty years, toward more general theoretical development within the field, particularly with respect to the elderly and disadvantaged.

Interpreting Charles Taylor’s Social Theory on Religion and Secularization

Interpreting Charles Taylor’s Social Theory on Religion and Secularization PDF Author: Germán McKenzie
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319477005
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
This book examines “Taylorean social theory,” its sources, main characteristics and impact. Charles Taylor’s meta-narrative of secularization in the West, prominently contained in his major work A Secular Age (2007), has brought new insight on the social and cultural factors that intervened in such process, the role of human agency, and particularly on the contemporary conditions of belief in North America and Europe. This study discusses what Taylor’s approach has brought to the scholarly debate on Western secularization, which has been carried on mostly in sociological terms. McKenzie interprets Taylor’s views in a way that offers an original social theory. Such interpretation is possible with the help of sociologist Margaret Archer’s “morphogenetic theory” and by making the most of Taylor’s particular understanding of the method of the social sciences and of his philosophical views on human beings, knowledge and modernity. After exploring the philosophical and sociological sources informing Taylorean social theory and proposing its basic concepts and hermeneutic guidelines, the author compares it with two widespread theories of secularization: the now waning “orthodox” account and that proposed by Rational Choice Theory scholars, particularly prevalent in the United States. In doing so, the book shows in which ways Taylorean social theory supersedes them, what new issues it brings into the scholarly discussion, and what difficulties might limit its future development.

Encyclopedia of Social Theory

Encyclopedia of Social Theory PDF Author: Austin Harrington
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0415290465
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 752

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Book Description
The Encyclopedia of Social Theory cuts across all relevant disciplines, theories, approaches, and schools to present the latest information and research.

An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion

An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion PDF Author: Inger Furseth
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 9780754656586
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion provides an overview of sociological theories of contemporary religious life. Some chapters are organized according to topic. Others offer brief presentations of classical and contemporary sociologists from Karl Marx to Zygmunt Bauman and their perspectives on social life, including religion. Throughout the book, illustrations and examples are taken from several religious traditions.

Handbook of Religion and Social Institutions

Handbook of Religion and Social Institutions PDF Author: Helen Rose Ebaugh
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387237895
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Handbook for Religion and Social Institutions is written for sociologists who study a variety of sub-disciplines and are interested in recent studies and theoretical approaches that relate religious variables to their particular area of interest. The handbook focuses on several major themes: - Social Institutions such as Politics, Economics, Education, Health and Social Welfare - Family and the Life Cycle - Inequality - Social Control - Culture - Religion as a Social Institution and in a Global Perspective This handbook will be of interest to social scientists including sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and other researchers whose study brings them in contact with the study of religion and its impact on social institutions.

Citizenship and Capitalism (RLE Social Theory)

Citizenship and Capitalism (RLE Social Theory) PDF Author: Bryan S. Turner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317652436
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 127

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Book Description
In this study of politics in capitalist society Bryan Turner explores the development of citizenship as a way of demonstrating the effective use of political institutions by the working class and other subordinate groups to promote their interests. Marxist criticisms of reformism are rejected; it is shown that subordinate groups can achieve significant advances in social and economic rights, and that democracy is not a sham but a necessary mechanism for the pursuit of interests.