Handbook of the Sociology of Religion

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
List of Contributors......Page 11
Acknowledgment......Page 15
PART ONE Religion as a Field of Sociological Knowledge......Page 17
CHAPTER ONE The Sociology of Religion in Late Modernity......Page 19
REASON IN RELIGION......Page 21
THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION......Page 22
WHY STUDY RELIGION?......Page 23
THE HANDBOOK......Page 25
A NOTE TOWARD THE FUTURE......Page 30
CHAPTER TWO Studying Religion, Making It Sociological......Page 32
OBJECTION #1: SOCIOLOGISTS THINK RELIGION IS STUPID......Page 33
OBJECTION #2: SOCIOLOGY HAS A QUIRKY VIEW OF THE WORLD......Page 35
MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT THEORY......Page 37
MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT METHOD......Page 40
MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT NORMATIVE CONCERNS......Page 42
A BASIS FOR DISCIPLINARY INTEGRITY......Page 43
OPPORTUNITIES FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY EXCHANGE......Page 44
CONCLUSION......Page 45
CHAPTER THREE The Ritual Roots of Society and Culture......Page 47
RITUAL AND THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE......Page 48
RITUAL AND THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC......Page 51
THE NATURE OF RITUAL......Page 53
RITUAL IN VARIOUS SPHERES OF LIFE......Page 55
CONCLUSION......Page 59
CONCEIVING AND DEFINING RELIGION AND RELIGIONS......Page 61
DIFFERENTIATED RELIGION IN GLOBAL SOCIETY......Page 63
RELIGIONS, CONTESTED BOUNDARIES, AND MATTERS RELIGIOUS OUTSIDE RELIGIONS......Page 66
SOCIAL FORMS OF RELIGION AND RELIGIONS IN GLOBAL SOCIETY......Page 69
1. Organized Religion......Page 70
2. Politicized Religion......Page 71
3. Social Movement Religion......Page 72
4. Communitarian/Individualistic Religion......Page 73
CHALLENGES OF RELIGIONS IN GLOBAL SOCIETY......Page 74
CHAPTER FIVE The Evolution of the Sociology of Religion......Page 77
THE FOUNDING FATHERS......Page 78
THE SECOND GENERATION: OLD WORLD AND NEW......Page 82
THE TWO PARADIGMS: SECULARIZATION THEORY VERSUS RATIONAL CHOICE......Page 84
A Geographical Perspective......Page 87
Thematic Approaches......Page 88
PART TWO Religion and Social Change......Page 93
CHAPTER SIX Demographic Methods for the Sociology of Religion......Page 95
BASICS: POPULATION, EVENT, AND EXPOSURE......Page 96
HETEROGENEITY AND EXPLANATION......Page 97
DEMOGRAPHY AND RELIGIOUS RESEARCH......Page 98
DATA NEEDS AND RESOURCES......Page 99
CONCLUSION......Page 100
HOW MANY AMERICANS ATTEND RELIGIOUS SERVICES?......Page 101
WHAT S THE TREND IN ATTENDANCE AT RELIGIOUS SERVICES?......Page 106
CONCLUSION......Page 109
The Old Paradigm......Page 112
An Emerging New Paradigm......Page 114
Regulating Religion......Page 116
Regulation and Sacralization......Page 117
Religious Competition and Commitment......Page 118
The Lively Experiment in America......Page 120
Supply-Side Changes in Latin America......Page 122
Conflict and Commitment in Quebec......Page 123
CONCLUSION......Page 124
CHAPTER NINE Historicizing the Secularization Debate......Page 126
THE RECEIVED ORTHODOXY: CLASSICAL SECULARIZATION THEORY......Page 127
PRETENDERS TO THE THRONE: THE RELIGIOUS ECONOMIES MODEL......Page 129
A THIRD APPROACH: THE SOCIOPOLITICAL CONFLICT MODEL......Page 131
A FOURTH APPROACH: NOTES TOWARD A SOCIOCULTURAL TRANSFORMATION MODEL......Page 135
CONCLUSION: AN AGENDA FOR RESEARCH......Page 136
INTRODUCTION......Page 139
WEBER’S STUDIES OF THE CHURCH......Page 140
The Church-Sect Typology......Page 141
Religious Organizations as Bureaucracies......Page 143
Neoinstitutional Theory......Page 145
New Directions for Studying the Religion Sector......Page 149
CHAPTER ELEVEN Religion and Spirituality......Page 153
I......Page 154
II......Page 158
III......Page 162
PART THREE Religion and the Life Course......Page 165
RELIGIOUS PREFERENCES, DYNAMICS, AND CHOICES......Page 167
Social Influences on Individuals’ Choices......Page 169
Parents and Children......Page 171
Family Research and Socialization......Page 173
Denominations......Page 174
Educational Influences......Page 176
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT......Page 178
CHAPTER THIRTEEN In Rhetoric and Practice......Page 180
The Family as Anchoring Schema......Page 181
Beyond the Culture War......Page 182
The Religion and Family Project......Page 184
The Good Family in Rhetoric and Practice......Page 185
Religious Familism Today......Page 192
RELATION BETWEEN RELIGIOUSNESS AND SPIRITUALITY......Page 195
THE IHD LONGITUDINAL STUDY......Page 196
CHANGES IN RELIGIOUSNESS AND SPIRITUALITY IN THE SECOND HALF OF ADULT LIFE......Page 197
VITAL INVOLVEMENT IN LATE ADULTHOOD......Page 201
RELIGION AS A BUFFER AGAINST ADVERSITY IN LATE ADULTHOOD......Page 203
CONCLUSION......Page 204
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Religion and Health......Page 206
RELIGION AND MENTAL HEALTH: DEPRESSION AS A CASE STUDY......Page 207
Conclusions from a Meta-Analytic Review......Page 208
Studies Establishing a Relationship......Page 210
Conclusions from a Meta-Analytic Review......Page 212
How Important Are the Associations of Religion and Health?......Page 214
How “Real” Is the Religion-Health Association?......Page 217
UNIFYING MODELS OF RELIGION AND HEALTH: FROM GENERAL TO SPECIFIC......Page 218
SUMMARY......Page 219
PART FOUR Religion and Social Identity......Page 221
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Religious Identities and Religious Institutions......Page 223
CONSTRUCTING AND DECONSTRUCTING SOCIAL IDENTITY......Page 225
IDENTITY AS A PROBLEM OF AGENCY AND STRUCTURE......Page 227
IDENTITY AS A NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION......Page 229
INGREDIENTS FOR UNDERSTANDING IDENTITY......Page 231
LOCATING RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES......Page 232
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND NARRATIVES OF IDENTITY......Page 233
RELIGIOUS NARRATIVES BEYOND RELIGIOUS BOUNDARIES......Page 236
CONSTRUCTING RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES......Page 238
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT......Page 241
RECENT RESEARCH ON RELIGION AND THE NEW IMMIGRANTS......Page 244
The Reproduction of Ethnic Identity......Page 246
Congregationalism as a Form of Organization......Page 248
Conflict and Segregation within Multiethnic Congregations......Page 249
The Second Generation......Page 250
The Role/Status of Women in Immigrant Religious Institutions......Page 251
Transnational Religious Ties......Page 252
FUTURE RESEARCH......Page 253
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN A Journey of the “Straight Way” or the “Roundabout Path”......Page 256
EVOLUTION OF JEWISH CIVILIZATION AND IDENTITY......Page 257
JEWISH IDENTITY AND GROUP IDENTIFICATION......Page 258
Behavioral Dimensions......Page 260
POSTMODERN INSTABILITY OF JEWISH IDENTITY......Page 262
Static Model......Page 263
GENDER AND JEWISH IDENTITY......Page 265
Contrasting the Religiosity of American and Israeli Jews......Page 267
INTERMARRIAGE......Page 270
The Relations Among Jews of Different Denominations......Page 272
THE DENOMINATIONAL SITUATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL......Page 273
The Study of Jewish Identity in Sociological Context......Page 274
For Further Research......Page 275
Final Thoughts......Page 276
CHAPTER NINETEEN Beyond the Synagogue Walls......Page 277
DEBATES ABOUT/WITHIN FEMINISM......Page 292
Critiques of Androcentric Biases......Page 295
Women in the Protestant Mainline......Page 296
Gender and American Jews......Page 297
Anglo-Roman Catholic Women......Page 298
Global Feminism in the Sociology of Religion......Page 299
God is a Woman......Page 300
THE FEMINIST THEORY AS A METHOD OF INQUIRY......Page 301
Dorothy Smith: Institutional Ethnography and the Relations of Ruling......Page 302
Patricia Hill Collins: Black Feminist Thought and Intersectionality......Page 304
Nancy Nason-Clark: Breaking the Silence......Page 305
Cheryl Townsend Gilkes: Black Women in Church and Community......Page 306
Milagros Peña: Border Crossings......Page 307
CONCLUSION......Page 308
PART FIVE Religion, Political Behavior, and Public Culture......Page 311
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Religion and Political Behavior......Page 313
Religion as a Social Cleavage: A General Model......Page 314
Types of Religious Cleavages......Page 315
The Dynamics of Secularization......Page 316
RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES: AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM?......Page 317
Historical Evidence of Electoral Impacts......Page 318
Empirical Research on Recent Trends in Religious Voting......Page 319
New Evidence Using Relative Measures of Religious Cleavages......Page 323
A Note on Religion and African-American Voters......Page 324
RELIGION AND POLITICS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE: WESTERN EUROPE......Page 325
Macro Factors: The Fate of Religious Parties......Page 326
Individual-Level Factors: Religion and the Alignment of Voters and Parties in Western Europe......Page 328
CONCLUSION......Page 329
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Religious Social Movements in the Public Sphere......Page 331
RELIGION AS A MOBILIZING FORCE......Page 332
Religion and Movement Culture......Page 333
Religious Organizations and Movement Activity......Page 334
THE CHANGING CHARACTER OF AMERICAN POLITICAL LIFE......Page 336
DILEMMAS OF IDEOLOGY AND ORGANIZATION......Page 342
RELIGIOUS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE......Page 345
INTRODUCTION......Page 347
BIPOLAR CONCEPTIONS OF AMERICAN RELIGION......Page 348
A MAP OF THE MORAL ORDER IN THE UNITED STATES......Page 349
MAPPING U.S.RELIGIOUS GROUPS......Page 352
Understanding Intragroup Conflict......Page 357
Impact of Peripheral Groups on the Mainstream......Page 358
Understanding the New Religious Pluralism......Page 359
CONCLUSION......Page 362
CIVIL SOCIETY AND A SOCIETY THAT IS CIVIL......Page 364
Civility as a Western Chestnut and Conceit......Page 365
ASSESSING “CIVIL RELIGION”......Page 369
AMERICAN CIVIL RELIGION IN DOUBT AND IN DECLINE?......Page 371
CONCLUSION: CIVIL SOCIETY AND CIVIL RELIGION AS MUTUALLY DEPENDENT......Page 373
RELIGION AND VIOLENCE: SOCIAL PROCESSES IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE......Page 375
CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE–THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS......Page 376
Defining Violence......Page 377
General Theories of Conflict and Violence......Page 378
The Violence of Religion......Page 380
Religion, the Social Order, and the State......Page 381
TOWARD A TYPOLOGY OF RELIGION AND VIOLENCE......Page 383
Violence under Hierocratic Domination......Page 384
Competition between Religions......Page 386
UTOPIA, HEGEMONY, AND VIOLENCE......Page 387
Nationalism, Rebellion, and Revolution......Page 389
Religious Responses to Colonialism......Page 390
Countercultural Religious War......Page 391
Conflicts with Countercultural Religious Movements......Page 392
Violent Countercultural Responses to “Persecution” and Defeat......Page 394
CONCLUSION......Page 395
PART SIX Religion and Socioeconomic Inequality......Page 399
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Religion, Faith-Based Community Organizing, and the Struggle for Justice......Page 401
OVERVIEW......Page 403
FAITH-BASED STRUGGLES FOR JUSTICE AROUND THE WORLD......Page 404
FAITH-BASED COMMUNITY ORGANIZING IN THE UNITED STATES......Page 405
DEMOCRATIC IMPLICATIONS OF FAITH-BASED COMMUNITY ORGANIZING......Page 409
CAVEAT......Page 413
CONCLUSION: RELIGION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE......Page 414
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Latina Empowerment, Border Realities, and Faith-Based Organizations......Page 416
CHALLENGING MYTHS: FOUNDATIONS FOR LATINA EMPOWERMENT......Page 417
LATINAS, CULTURE, AND THE SUBVERSION OF PASSIVITY......Page 418
BORDER REALITIES......Page 421
FAITH-BASED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS IN EL PASO-JUÁREZ......Page 423
BORDER WOMEN’S FAITH-BASED COALITIONS IN EL PASO/JUÁREZ......Page 424
CONCLUSION......Page 427
INTRODUCTION......Page 428
Theological Conservatism and Activism......Page 430
RELIGIOUS RITUAL AND “TRICKLE DOWN” SPIRITUAL ACTIVISM......Page 434
DISCUSSION......Page 436
References......Page 439
Index......Page 487