The Role of Religion in Modern Societies

by Pollack; Detlef

• ISBN13: 9780415397049
• ISBN10: 0415397049
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-09-07
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Does modernization lead to the decline of religion? This question lies at the centre of a key debate in the sociology of religion. During the past decade American scholars, using primarily American data, have dominated this debate and have made a strong case that the answer to this question is no. Recently, however, a new crop of European scholars, working with new sources of European data, have uncovered evidence that points toward an affirmitive answer. This volume pays special attention to these trends and developments to provide the reader with a more well-rounded understanding of the many ways in which religion interacts with modernization. Respected scholars such as David Voas, Steve Bruce and Anthony Gill examine modern societies across the world in this splendid book which will interest sociologists, political scientists, historians, and theologians in equal measure.

Table of Contents

Tables	p. ix
Figures	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
Introduction: Religious Change in Modern Societies-Perspectives Offered by the Sociology of Religion	p. 1
Secularization Theory: Classical Assumptions and Ramifications	p. 23
The Continuing Secular Transition	p. 25
God, Gaelic, and Needlepoint: Religion as a Social Accomplishment	p. 49
Religion in Central and Eastern Europe: Was There a Re-Awakening after the Breakdown of Communism?	p. 63
The Market Model: Classical Assumptions and Ramifications	p. 93
Quantitative Evidence Favoring and Opposing the Religious Economies Model	p. 95
Secularization and the State: The Role Government Policy Plays in Determining Social Religiosity	p. 115
Unsecular Europe: The Persistence of Religion	p. 141
The Individualization Thesis: Classical Assumptions and Ramifications	p. 163
From Believing without Belonging to Vicarious Religion: Understanding the Patterns of Religion in Modern Europe	p. 165
The Cultural Paradigm: Declines in Belonging and Then Believing	p. 177
Religious Individualization or Secularization: An Attempt to Evaluate the Thesis of Religious Individualization in Eastern and Western Germany	p. 191
New Theories on Religion and Modernity Exemplified at the European Case	p. 221
Religion and Science or Religion versus Science?: About the Social Construction of the Science-Religion-Antagonism in the German Democratic Republic and Its Lasting Consequences	p. 223
Secularization Theory and Rational Choice: An Integration of Macro- and Micro-Theories of Secularization Using the Example of Switzerland	p. 249
Contributors	p. 271
Index	p. 273
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