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Sociology of Religion charts changes in the sociology of religion without ignoring the continuing relevance of Weber, Durkheim, and Marx. Veteran sociologists Christiano, Swatos, and Kivisto address both the foundations and the profound changes in the field, placing new conceptions against their historical background. Charts, pictures, down-to-earth examples, and a readable style keep the history and new developments within the reach of undergraduates. Instructors who want to give their students a current and comprehensive overview of the field should take a look at Sociology of Religion: Contemporary Developments.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• About Ourselves(p. xi)
• About the Book(p. xiii)
• Part 1 The Basics
• 1 By Way of Introduction(p. 3)
• Background(p. 3)
• The Definition Problem(p. 4)
• Exploring the Dimensions of Religion(p. 12)
• Social Relationships(p. 12)
• Ethical Considerations(p. 16)
• A Definitional Revision(p. 18)
• The Plan of the Book(p. 19)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. 25)
• 2 Studying Religion(p. 27)
• How Do We Study Religion?(p. 27)
• Survey Research(p. 29)
• Participant Observation(p. 32)
• Historical Research(p. 34)
• Theory in the Study of Religion(p. 35)
• Functionalist Theories(p. 35)
• Conflict Theories(p. 37)
• A Paradigm Shift(p. 38)
• Rational Choice Theories(p. 39)
• Sociologie Religieuse(p. 45)
• Why Study Religion?(p. 47)
• Implicit Religion(p. 51)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. 53)
• 3 The "Religion" of Secularization and the History of Religions(p. 55)
• The "World" of Religion(p. 55)
• The Arguments(p. 59)
• The Critique(p. 63)
• The "Religions" of Secularization(p. 64)
• Civil Religion(p. 65)
• Invisible Religion(p. 70)
• The Myth of the Age of Faith(p. 73)
• Pluralism(p. 74)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. 82)
• 4 Religion in the United States: Denominationalism and Beyond(p. 85)
• Churches and Sects(p. 86)
• Weber's Sociology and Troeltsch's Ethics(p. 88)
• Elaboration, Reaction, and Revision(p. 89)
• Neo-Weberian Analyses(p. 91)
• Denominationalism(p. 92)
• Typology(p. 93)
• Denominations Today(p. 95)
• Congregationalism(p. 98)
• American Religious Renewal(p. 102)
• Mainlines and Sidelines in Religion in the United States(p. 105)
• Evangelicals and Fundamentalists: Alike and Different(p. 112)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. 118)
• Part 2 Religion and Social Differentiation
• 5 Social Class, Religion, and Power: A Classic Field of Inquiry(p. 123)
• Sociological Classics(p. 123)
• Marx: The Permanent Exile and Prophet(p. 124)
• Weber: Theodicy, Religious Ethics, and Social Class(p. 128)
• Religion and the U.S. Class Structure(p. 133)
• U.S. Classes and Religion in the Industrial Age: 1870-1970(p. 134)
• The Class/Religion Nexus in a Postindustrial Society(p. 143)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. 150)
• 6 Religion and Ethnicity: A Complex Relationship(p. 153)
• Clarifying Terms: Ethnic, Nationality, and Racial Groups(p. 154)
• Defining Ethnic Groups(p. 154)
• Nationality Groups and Territoriality(p. 155)
• The Specter of Race(p. 156)
• Relational Patterns between Religion and Ethnicity(p. 159)
• Ethnicity in the "Righteous Empire"(p. 161)
• The Ethnic Factor in the Formative Period of U.S. Catholicism(p. 162)
• The Jewish Diaspora(p. 164)
• Herberg's Thesis and the Triple Melting Pot(p. 166)
• The African-American Religious Experience(p. 168)
• From Different Shores: The New Immigrants(p. 173)
• The New Ethnics as Protestants, Catholics, and Jews(p. 175)
• Beyond Protestant, Catholic, Jew(p. 176)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. 183)
• 7 Gender, Sexuality, and Religion: Spirituality in Different Voices?(p. 185)
• The Ordination Debate(p. 187)
• Women in Clerical and Lay Roles(p. 192)
• Culture Wars: Gender, Religion, and Family Values(p. 196)
• Abortion and the Politics of the Body(p. 197)
• Family Matters(p. 199)
• Gays, Lesbians, and Religion(p. 204)
• Images of God and Gendered Spirituality(p. 208)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. 209)
• Part 3 Religion, Culture, and Change
• 8 Religious Change: The Case of Catholicism in the United States(p. 213)
• Church with a Capital C(p. 213)
• Change: From Breeze to Tornado(p. 214)
• Commitment: Loyalty, but Not Obedience(p. 215)
• Devotion: A Collapse of Authority(p. 216)
• Governance: Guiding the People of God(p. 217)
• Leadership: Failures at the Top(p. 219)
• Membership: Problems in the Pews(p. 223)
• African-American Catholics(p. 223)
• Hispanic Catholics(p. 225)
• Women in the Church(p. 227)
• Personnel: People without Priests(p. 231)
• Finances: Expanding Mission, Declining Resources(p. 237)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. 240)
• 9 The Globalization Dynamic: Historic Animosities or Postmodern Politics?(p. 243)
• Global Culture(p. 246)
• Excursus on the History of Religions(p. 249)
• Globalization and Fundamentalisms(p. 250)
• The Religious Right in the United States(p. 251)
• Islamization(p. 256)
• Fundamentalism, Globalization, and American Civil Religion(p. 260)
• Ultraorthodoxy(p. 265)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. 270)
• 10 Mediating Meaning: Religion in-and as-Contemporary Culture(p. 273)
• Mass Faith: The Media of Religion(p. 275)
• Religion in Material Culture: Faith in the Flesh(p. 275)
• Religious Publishing: Words and The Word(p. 278)
• "That Old-Time Religion": Broadcast Faith in the United States(p. 283)
• "In the Beginning..."(p. 283)
• The Message: "His Master's Voice"?(p. 285)
• The Messengers: The Return of Elmer Gantry?(p. 286)
• The Audience: Preaching to the Converted?(p. 288)
• Cyber-Faith: Religion on the Internet(p. 290)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. 296)
• 11 Boundary Issues: Church, State, and New Religions(p. 299)
• Religious Novelty(p. 302)
• Cult and Anticult: Social Science and Social Movements(p. 304)
• Asceticism and Mysticism(p. 307)
• The Attraction of the Margin(p. 310)
• Illustrations of NRM Dynamics(p. 312)
• Unificationism(p. 313)
• "Satanism" and Anti-Satanism(p. 319)
• Neopaganism: Of Gods and Goddesses(p. 325)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. 328)
• References(p. 329)
• Index(p. 361)

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Kevin J. Christiano is associate professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame. For more than two decades he has published research on such subjects as religion and the family, church membership and labor activism, Roman Catholics among immigrants to the United States, and American denominations at the end of the nineteenth century
William H. Swatos, Jr., is executive director of the Association for the Sociology of Religion and of the Religious Research Association. His concentrations include secularization, church-sect theory, religion and slave/master relations in the antebellum South, Icelandic spirituality, family and sexuality, and social theory. He holds a degree in theology and is a priest in the Anglican Communion. He is editor in chief of the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society
Peter Kivisto is currently professor and chair of sociology at Augustana College, where he has taught for twenty-five years. He teaches courses in social theory, race and ethnicity, and citizenship, as well as introductory sociology, and has written or edited texts in most of these areas