The Nonreligious Understanding Secular People and Societies

by Zuckerman, Phil; Galen, Luke W.; Pasquale, Frank L.

• ISBN13: 9780199393350
• ISBN10: 0199393354
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2016-03-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The number of nonreligious people has increased dramatically over the past several decades, yet scholarship on the nonreligious is severely lacking. In response to this critical gap in knowledge, The Nonreligious provides a comprehensive summation and analysis of existing social scientific research on secular people and societies. The authors present a thorough overview of existing knowledge while also drawing upon ongoing research and suggesting ways to improve our understanding of this growing population. Offering a research- and data-based examination of the nonreligious, this book will be an invaluable source of information and a foundation for further scholarship. Written in clear, accessible language that will appeal to students and the increasingly interested general reader, The Nonreligious provides an unbiased and thorough account of relevant existing scholarship within the social sciences that bears on lived experiences of the nonreligious.

Author Biography

Phil Zuckerman is Professor of Sociology and Secular Studies at Pitzer College.

Luke W. Galen is Professor of Psychology at Grand Valley State University.

Frank L. Pasquale is a cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on secularity and the role of the religious-secular construct in the world.