American sociology of religion : histories /
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This is a collection of histories of various aspects of American sociology of religion. The contributions range from descriptions of early dissertations, accounts of changes in theoretical conceptualization, the evolution of studies of particular denominations, to the rise of new areas of inquiry such as globalization, feminism, new religions, and the study of the religious traditions of Latino/a Americans. Taken as a whole, the volume complements rather than duplicates commemorative issues of the relevant journals, which focused on the scholarly organizations in the field. It represents a first effort to develop an organized treatment of the fascinating history of the specialty in the U.S.A.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789047421047 :
1061-5210 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Vocation and social context /
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The category of Beruf has intrigued sociology since Max Weber made it a fundamental element in understanding the relationship between the individual and society. The richness of the concept can be found in the simultaneous polarity and interpenetration between the subject's personal profession and the feeling of a call from God: precisely this ambiguity widens the possibility of applying the concept in understanding the meaning that individuals give to their own professions, activities and, more generally, \'life in the world." Illustrating the different ways in which "vocation-profession" can be interpreted, and how it can be studied from various perspectives and with different scientific sensibilities, this book demonstrates how the concept of Beruf continues to be fertile for contemporary sociology. Contributors: Anthony J. Blasi, Andrew J. Weigert, Franco Garelli, Luigi Berzano, Robert M. Fishman, Keeley S. Jones, Laura M. Leming, Giovanni Dal Piaz, Robert C. Butler
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789047421023 :
1061-5210 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
State, Market, and Religions in Chinese Societies /
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This collection of original, new studies about Mainland China and Taiwan focuses on religious changes, and especially the role of the state and market in affecting religious developments in these societies. Information was gathered by participant observation and interviews primarily, and the analysis of documents secondarily. The topics covered are: the growing interest in the study of religion, the methods used by Christians to be able to coexist with a communist government, revival techniques being used by Buddhist monks, the strategies of Daoist priests and sect leaders to attract followers, the significance of mass-circulating morality books, and the ongoing debate about the significance and nature of Confucianism. The book will interest social scientists, religious specialists, journalists, and others who want to understand the changing nature of Chinese societies, and those interested in religious change in modernizing societies.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047408192
9789004145979
Sociologies of religion : national traditions /
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Sociologies of Religion: National Traditions presents fourteen histories of the sociological study of religion in a diverse set of nations. Each of the histories is newly written by author who are uniquely situated to tell narrate the story of the field in their countries. They give us the stories behind major personages, theoretical traditions, seminal works, research institutes, and professional associations. The histories trace the various ways the field was established in different academic and religious contexts and the trajectories it took in emerging as a scientific specialty.
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1 online resource (viii, 412 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004297586 :
1061-5210 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Toward a sociological theory of religion and health
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Driven by funding agencies, empirical research in the social scientific study of health and medicine has grown in quantity and developed in quality. When it became evident, in what is now a tradition of inquiry, that people's religious activities had significant health consequences, a portion of that body of work began to focus more frequently on the relationship between health and religion. The field has reached a point where book-length summaries of empirical findings, especially those pertinent to older people, can identify independent, mediating, and dependent variables of interest. Every mediating variable, even if considered as a "control" variable, represents an explanation, a small theory of some kind. However, taken in granular form, as it were, the multiple theories do not comprise mid-level theory, let alone a general theoretical framework. This volume seeks to move toward more general theoretical development.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004210844 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religious and sexual nationalisms in Central and Eastern Europe : gods, gays, and governments /
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Religious and Sexual Nationalisms in Central and Eastern Europe: Gods, Gays, and Governments. presents case studies from some ten countries that serve to explore the ways in which religion, nationalism, and (homo)sexuality intersect in public discourse. It shows how religious leaders, political and social movements, LGBT-organizations, governments, and media negotiate the powers of religion and state in taking position regarding sexual diversity. These negotiations are as much about sexual morality as they are about national identity, anti-EU sentiments, and the efforts of religious institutions to regain power in post-communist societies.
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1 online resource (viii, 186 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004297791 :
1061-5210 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Testing pluralism : globalizing belief, localizing gods /
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This volume of the Religion and the Social Order series examines the phenomenon of the globalization of religions that has particularly characterized the last fifty years. Historically, religions were relatively tightly connected with territoriality. The advent of relatively inexpensive and relatively accessible air transport has made it possible for groups of significant size to move from their original homelands and resettle in new sites. In contrast to predictions associated with secularization theories that dominated the middle of the twentieth century, today we find that the world's religions continue to provide meaning and value in the lives of their adherents. This volume examines at a global level a variety of such groups and their adjustments.
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1 online resource (244 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004254756 :
1061-5210 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
How prophecy lives /
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Taking its inspiration from the 50th anniversary of the publication of Festinger and others's 1956 seminal and controversial volume When Prophecy Fails , which introduced the notion of \'cognitive dissonance\' as an explanation for how a small group of flying saucer devotees handled the failure of a predicted visit from space aliens, this volume looks at both theoretical and empirical studies of religious groups for whom space beings and civilizations provided an inspiration to prepare for the nearness of events that would trigger \'the end of the world.\' Rather than examining merely the rationales adopted to account for the disappointments associated with such \'failures,\' the core of the present volume seeks to explore the dynamics that inspire not only such beliefs but also the vigorous participation in activities in which adherents engage to prepare for the coming of (or transport to) alien civilizations from \'outer space.\'
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Publ. on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the publication "When prophecy fails" by Leon Festinger. :
1 online resource (viii, 191 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004222687 :
1061-5210 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religion and diversity in Canada /
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Canada officially prides itself on being a multicultural nation, welcoming people from all around the world, and enshrining that status in its Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as in an array of laws and policies that aim to protect citizens from discrimination on various grounds, including race, cultural origin, sexual orientation, and religion. This volume explores the intersection of these diversities, foregrounding religion as the primary focus of analysis. Taking as their point of departure the contested meaning and implications of the term diversity, the various contributions address issues such as the power relations that diversity implies, the cultural context that limits the understanding and practical acceptance of religious diversity, and how Canada compares in these matters to other countries. Taken together the essays therefore elucidate the Canadian case while also having relevance for understanding this critical issue globally.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789047443544 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religion in times of crisis /
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Religion is alive and well all over the world, especially in times of personal, political, and social crisis. Even in Europe, long regarded the most "secular" continent, religion has taken centre stage in how people respond to the crises associated with modernity, or how they interact with the nation-state. In this book, scholars working in and on Europe offer fresh perspectives on how religion provides answers to existential crisis, how crisis increases the salience of religious identities and cultural polarization, and how religion is contributing to changes in the modern world in Europe and beyond. Cases from Poland to Pakistan and from Ireland to Zimbabwe, among others, demonstrate the complexity and ambivalence of religion's role in the contemporary world.
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Includes index. :
1 online resource (pages) :
9789004277793 :
1061-5210 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Conversion in the age of pluralism /
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The theme of conversion constitutes a privileged point to study the framework linking an individual to the sociocultural contexts in which he or she is included. Changes in personal biographies and sociocultural change are interwoven when we speak of conversion: values, speech, norms, behaviors, beliefs, lifestyles, interests--everything is open to potential debate when an individual \'converts.\' Conversion is especially developed here through a connection with the dynamics of pluralism, which appears to be the most peculiar cultural characteristic of our era: what does it mean to speak of \'conversion\' in a time in which it seems that the presumption of only one \'true\' truth no longer exists, while instead many different truths live together, each with its own judgment criteria.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789047444947 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Mapping religion and spirituality in a postsecular world /
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Individualization of believing and the logic of pluralism today inevitably bring a redefinition of the role of religion in the lives of individuals as well as societies themselves. New concepts and new theories are necessary to try to describe and understand how such processes work: this is without doubt the most problematic and intriguing aspect of the processes of change that characterize our era. This is a difficulty that makes us use only partially, and often with much caution, words, concepts and theories that until not long ago had a convincing heuristic and explanatory power and were, at least apparently, indisputable. Once it is established that under the sacred vaults of religion nothing is created and nothing is destroyed, but everything is preserved and transformed, what are the connections that are now being established with the sacred in society? The concepts "spirituality" and "post-secular" give important insights into the new religious landscape.
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Description based upon print version of record. :
1 online resource. :
9789004230231 :
1061-5210 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Intersecting Religion and Sexuality : Sociological Perspectives /
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This edited collection, Intersecting Religion and Sexuality: Sociological Perspectives , outlines what an intersectional analysis can offer research into religion and sexuality. It draws on various research projects which focus on different facets of this topic, such as queer sexualities, unmarried motherhood and heterosexuality, to explore how religion and sexuality intersect with each other, and with other identities such as ethnicity, gender and social class. Given the predominantly heteronormative nature of many religious traditions, marginality, power dynamics and inequalities are central to these interrogations. Intersectionality is an important theoretical lens through which to explore identities that are variously impacted by particular power dynamics and axes of privilege and disadvantage.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004390713
9789004372474
History, time, meaning, and memory ideas for the sociology of religion /
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It can be said that history is poor sociology that does not account sufficiently for present social circumstances, while sociology is bad history in that it does not go back in time. This volume in the Religion and Social Order series sets out to address these conjoint problems of history and sociology within the disciplinary boundaries of the sociology of religion. History has such a fickle nature that it has seen religion hold varied and different places within the timeline of sociological thought. Religion had a high level of importance among the early founders of sociology. A perceived decline of significance for religion by sociology in the latter half of the twentieth century mirrored the changing social location of religion. The increase in world fundamentalisms, religious movements, private spiritualities and other indicators in the millennial age have brought a renaissance to this longstanding subdiscipline and shown that religion is far from extinction.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004215610 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
North American Buddhists in social context /
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This volume marks an important milestone in the growing literature on North American Buddhists-the first multi-author collection of social scientific scholarship on the topic. Chapters examine the current state of research and key aspects of Buddhist life and experience in social context, including group identity and status, religious practices, organizational structures, generational dynamics, relations with non-Buddhist groups and the larger society, and migratory and adaptive processes. Case studies feature Southeast Asian, Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, meditation-oriented, and socially engaged Buddhists. For social scientists, this volume provides a convenient overview of scholarship heretofore available only piecemeal. All readers will discover how social scientific perspectives and approaches helpfully inform the study of North American Buddhists.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789047443537 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.