A Day
Biographic Data
| ID | 9183 |
|---|---|
| NAME | A Day |
| GIVEN NAMES | A |
| FAMILY NAME | Day |
| SIGNATURE | DAY A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Goldsmiths University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1537-1985 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 39 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 98 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 39 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1941 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
St-Century Theories of Religion, edited by Michael STAUSBERG
Honestly, no God
Anglican Baby Boomers left religion, typically after confirmation, and later raised their Millennial children to be non-religious. During recent research, many expressed views that resonated with Robinson's themes - particularly that there is no old man in the sky, spirits are both here and there, and ethical relationality is preferred over religion
I believe therefore I am
Sociology of Religion
The first sociology of religion textbook to begin the task of diversifying and decolonizing the study of religion, Sociology of Religion develops a sociological frame that draws together the personal, political and public, showing how religion – its origins, development and changes – is understood as a social institution, influenced by and influencing wider social structures. Organized along sociological structures and themes, the book works with…
Towards increasing diversity in the study of religion
The study of religion needs to be enriched by more diverse voices. The author argues that some progress has been made, but more needs to be done, particularly through collaborating with those most frequently muted. The challenge is to not simply to include those outside the traditional bastions of white, male privilege in the global north, but to actively widen the current reach to make an impact on how knowledge is actually created and shared. I…
Vegan YouTubers Performing Ethical Beliefs
In Great Britain, "religion or belief" is one of nine "protected characteristics" under the Equality Act 2010, which protects citizens from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. This paper begins with a discussion about a 2020 ruling, "Jordi Casamitjana vs. LACS", which concluded that ethical vegans are entitled to similar legal protections in British workplaces as those who hold philosophical religious beliefs. While not all vega…
The Anglican Communion at a Crossroads
Textbooks for teaching the sociology of religion
The sociology of religion, a vibrant sub-discipline of sociology, is popular amongst students taking degrees in Sociology, Theology, and Religious Studies. Teachers are often not sociology specialists and seek a standard text to help with classes. Others, who specialise in sociology, have usually no background in the study of religion. His review surveys the field of books recommended by teachers and students and finds few to wholly recommend. Th…
Sacred Time
Sacred time is described in this entry as time that is socially imagined, imposed, and practiced in keeping with a religion's symbols and stories. Although anthropologists may differ on definitions and theories about what constitutes sacred time, the fact that time is universally experienced has intrigued scholars. When time is examined historically and currently, there arise several common themes about how and when it becomes sacred or, indeed, …
Rationality and Belief
The apparently dichotomous, yet mutually constitutive, relationship between rationality and belief has a history particular to anthropology. As anthropologists studied people in, initially, colonial environments their questions reflected those of their era. Nineteenth‐ and early twentieth‐century anthropology concerned itself with whether the so‐called primitives were using rational, reasoned, evidence‐based cognitive apparatuses or continued to …
Anatomy of a Schism
The Religious Lives of Older Laywomen
The book draws on ethnographic fieldwork, cross-cultural comparisons, and theories exploring the beliefs, identities, and practices of 'Generation A'—Anglican laywomen born in the 1920s and 1930s, often described as the 'backbone' of the Church and likely its final active generation. They attend the mainstream churches every Sunday, polish the brasses, organize fund-raisers, keep the church open on weekdays, bake cakes, and visit vulnerable peopl…
Textbooks for teaching the anthropology of religion
Written from the perspective of those who teach the anthropology of religion, the paper reviews a selection of texts commonly used in teaching. The authors find the texts are generally useful, although those written clearly and with good cross-referencing detail (index, bibliography, overviews) are the most helpful. One major finding is the range of views over what might constitute 'textbook’ - itself a fairly contested term more widely
Lois Lee, Recognizing the Non-Religious
Around Abby Day's Believing in Belonging
Sacred Communities
This article discusses a project whose purpose was to review existing qualitative and quantitative data from two separate studies to provide new insights about everyday religion and belonging. Researchers engaged in knowledge exchange and dialogue with new and former research participants, with other researchers involved in similar research, and with wider academic networks beyond the core disciplines represented here, principally anthropology an…
Making sense of surveys and censuses
Censuses and surveys shape decisions, discourse and debates about people and their lived environments. The outcomes, in the case of a census, inform governments about resource distribution but also shape people's self-understanding about who they are and where they may be going. How people self-identify on censuses and surveys produces certain types of knowledge. This introduction emphasises the impact of those instruments on knowledge production…
Nominal Christian Adherence
It is the desire for belonging, not believing, that explains why so many apparently non-religious people who do not believe in even the minimal tenets of organized religion will claim a religious identity in specific contexts. This paper draws on qualitative longitudinal empirical research seeking to explain that claim through exploring mainstream religious belief and identity in Euro- American countries. What is often described as nominal, fuzzy…
Yes, but Not in the North
Introduction
Although the concept of belief has become a focus of critical discussion in other disciplines, sociologists of religion have tended to assume that belief is a universal phenomenon, structured around cognitive propositions which can be made explicit in the context of research surveys and interviews The articles in this special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Religion explore belief in the lives of young people in different religious, cultural…
Varieties of Belief over Time
This article reports longitudinal research involving young people in adolescence and early adulthood, focusing on questions about belief and identity. The author finds that significant varieties of belief-propositional, felt (emotional/embodied), performative-were created and sustained through social relationships. A seven-part analytical model permits holistic, organic analysis to identify the shifting and mutually interdependent dimensions of b…
The Problem of Generalizing Generation
Research into the religious beliefs and behaviors of children, young people, adults and elderly people prompt questions about the way “generation” is understood in the social scientific study of religion. What seems to the researcher at first to be shared values and beliefs on broad “social code” issues appear, at least to older people, to be lacking amongst the young. Such a different in perception could be an example of a “generation” gap where…
Extraordinary Relationality Ancestor Veneration in Late Euroamerican Society
Non-religious Christians
Scholars who recently rejected secularisation theses on the grounds that they were insufficiently defined or contextualised now seem to be accepting with unseemly, uncritical haste, the new, in vogue notion of the post-secular. Scholars seem tempted to drop the term ‘post-secular’ into their papers and presentations as if it is a generally accepted and understood term. It is not and nor, as this paper will argue, is it plausible unless applied to…
An Author Meets His Critics
Good teaching is a craft. It requires constant honing. While perfection eludes most of us most of the time, our best days are intellectually generative, meaningful, and often quite fun. I intend this essay as a gesture in that same spirit
Believing in belonging
Evidence from a three-year case study suggests that how young people discuss their beliefs reflect where they define and locate legitimate sites of power, meaning and authority. For many young people today, religion is an insufficient source and mode of belief and belonging. The findings discussed here suggest an orientation to family, friends and other social relationships as legitimate and sufficient sites for locating belief, authority and tra…
Propositions and performativity
Divergent disciplinary approaches are traced to effect an inter-disciplinary understanding of how scholars in both sociology and anthropology frame their discussions about belief. A preliminary 'genealogy of belief' is proposed, tracing epistemological and methodological approaches over the last 200 years showing how some debates presume individual and intellectualist orientations to belief while others favour the collective and emotional. Presen…
Making sense of surveys and censuses
Censuses and surveys shape decisions, discourse and debates about people and their lived environments. The outcomes, in the case of a census, inform governments about resource distribution but also shape people's self-understanding about who they are and where they may be going. How people self-identify on censuses and surveys produces certain types of knowledge. This introduction emphasises the impact of those instruments on knowledge production…
Varieties of Belief over Time
This article reports longitudinal research involving young people in adolescence and early adulthood, focusing on questions about belief and identity. The author finds that significant varieties of belief-propositional, felt (emotional/embodied), performative-were created and sustained through social relationships. A seven-part analytical model permits holistic, organic analysis to identify the shifting and mutually interdependent dimensions of b…
Doing Theodicy
The study of a weekly women's prayer group in a small northern English town discusses how participants resolve tensions which may arise from unanswered prayer. The most important mechanism in that process is the informal 'chatting' which precedes the period of formal prayer. The author concludes that women actively conduct a 'ritual of theodicy' to rescue their worldview from chaos. The participants maintain that they are directed by God's wisdom…
Researching Belief without Asking Religious Questions
A unique research method was designed to answer the question “What do people believe in nowadays and how do we find out?” This approach was intended to research belief by asking non-religious questions of apparently non-religious people. The qualitative method, detailed here, produced data that led me to conclude that statements of religious affiliation are often expres-sions of “believing in belonging,” where people associate with religion to re…
Introduction
Several common themes emerging from an inter-disciplinary collection of papers on belief are identified and discussed: place, notions of the individual, and the role of institutions. The disciplinary perspectives represented here ranged from anthropology, business, drama, development, political science and sociology. ‘Belief’ is often treated unproblematically because it is assumed it resides in the minds of ‘believers’, so-called often without a…
Wilfully Disempowered
Two cases from the UK are discussed to explore why, in the author's terms, women wilfully disempower themselves in religion and spiritual contexts. A case study of a women's prayer group shows how they resist acknowledging their own power or the idea that they are engaging in informal ritual equally important to their male counterparts. Second, qualitative data from a large study of people's beliefs are used to show how women willingly submit to …
Emotional reactions in women attending a UK colposcopy clinic
STUDY OBJECTIVE--To assess the emotional responses of women attending a colposcopy clinic for investigation of an abnormal cervical smear, and to elicit the women's views on the screening service and colposcopy clinic. DESIGN--Over 12 months all new attenders at a colposcopy clinic were invited to join the study. They were assessed psychiatrically four weeks before their first clinic appointment, and four weeks and 32 weeks after their first clin…
Textbooks for teaching the sociology of religion
The sociology of religion, a vibrant sub-discipline of sociology, is popular amongst students taking degrees in Sociology, Theology, and Religious Studies. Teachers are often not sociology specialists and seek a standard text to help with classes. Others, who specialise in sociology, have usually no background in the study of religion. His review surveys the field of books recommended by teachers and students and finds few to wholly recommend. Th…
Sacred Communities
This article discusses a project whose purpose was to review existing qualitative and quantitative data from two separate studies to provide new insights about everyday religion and belonging. Researchers engaged in knowledge exchange and dialogue with new and former research participants, with other researchers involved in similar research, and with wider academic networks beyond the core disciplines represented here, principally anthropology an…
Yes, but Not in the North
A model for monitoring Web site effectiveness
Presents a model which organizations can use to monitor Web site effectiveness. Argues that anecdotal evidence can be colorful but is not useful in structuring and managing an effective site. Suggests that traditional disciplines of composition and communication ‐ explicit purpose, coherent structure, relevant conclusion ‐ should be applied to Web site design. Concludes that customer feedback must be managed in a disciplined way, by ensuring that…
Vegan YouTubers Performing Ethical Beliefs
In Great Britain, "religion or belief" is one of nine "protected characteristics" under the Equality Act 2010, which protects citizens from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. This paper begins with a discussion about a 2020 ruling, "Jordi Casamitjana vs. LACS", which concluded that ethical vegans are entitled to similar legal protections in British workplaces as those who hold philosophical religious beliefs. While not all vega…
Around Abby Day's Believing in Belonging
Introduction
Although the concept of belief has become a focus of critical discussion in other disciplines, sociologists of religion have tended to assume that belief is a universal phenomenon, structured around cognitive propositions which can be made explicit in the context of research surveys and interviews The articles in this special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Religion explore belief in the lives of young people in different religious, cultural…
The Coronado Cuarto Centennial
The Coronado Cuarto Centennial
Knowledge and attitudes of health care staff about HIV infection in a health district with low HIV prevalence
The level of awareness of HIV related problems and their implications for health workers were investigated in Oxford, where the problem of HIV infection has not reached the levels of other metropolitan areas. Four hundred nurses and doctors in Oxford were surveyed to ascertain their knowledge about HIV infection, their attitudes to care of HIV patients, and to examine the relationship between knowledge and attitudes. The response rate was 64%. Pr…
Partners of men with HIV infection and haemophilia
The study was concerned with determining the prevalence of psychosocial problems in partners of men with haemophilia and HIV infection, and with identifying factors associated with psychological morbidity. Partners of 17 HIV positive and partners of 19 HIV negative men with haemophilia were assessed in a cross-sectional controlled investigation. Outcome measures included current psychological status and psychiatric history; coping and health beli…
Whose health is it? Views about decision-making and information-seeking from people with HIV infection and their professional carers
The views of people with HIV and their professional carers about patients' views on involvement in decision-making and information-seeking were studied, using a standardized self-report instrument. Patients and staff reported high levels of desire for patients' involvement in their care, but there were important differences between groups. Staff had higher preference for patients' involvement in decision-making than the patients themselves, while…
Emotional reactions in women attending a UK colposcopy clinic
STUDY OBJECTIVE--To assess the emotional responses of women attending a colposcopy clinic for investigation of an abnormal cervical smear, and to elicit the women's views on the screening service and colposcopy clinic. DESIGN--Over 12 months all new attenders at a colposcopy clinic were invited to join the study. They were assessed psychiatrically four weeks before their first clinic appointment, and four weeks and 32 weeks after their first clin…
A model for monitoring Web site effectiveness
Presents a model which organizations can use to monitor Web site effectiveness. Argues that anecdotal evidence can be colorful but is not useful in structuring and managing an effective site. Suggests that traditional disciplines of composition and communication ‐ explicit purpose, coherent structure, relevant conclusion ‐ should be applied to Web site design. Concludes that customer feedback must be managed in a disciplined way, by ensuring that…
Doing Theodicy
The study of a weekly women's prayer group in a small northern English town discusses how participants resolve tensions which may arise from unanswered prayer. The most important mechanism in that process is the informal 'chatting' which precedes the period of formal prayer. The author concludes that women actively conduct a 'ritual of theodicy' to rescue their worldview from chaos. The participants maintain that they are directed by God's wisdom…
Society for the Anthropology of Religion
Wilfully Disempowered
Two cases from the UK are discussed to explore why, in the author's terms, women wilfully disempower themselves in religion and spiritual contexts. A case study of a women's prayer group shows how they resist acknowledging their own power or the idea that they are engaging in informal ritual equally important to their male counterparts. Second, qualitative data from a large study of people's beliefs are used to show how women willingly submit to …
Believing in belonging
Evidence from a three-year case study suggests that how young people discuss their beliefs reflect where they define and locate legitimate sites of power, meaning and authority. For many young people today, religion is an insufficient source and mode of belief and belonging. The findings discussed here suggest an orientation to family, friends and other social relationships as legitimate and sufficient sites for locating belief, authority and tra…
Researching Belief without Asking Religious Questions
A unique research method was designed to answer the question “What do people believe in nowadays and how do we find out?” This approach was intended to research belief by asking non-religious questions of apparently non-religious people. The qualitative method, detailed here, produced data that led me to conclude that statements of religious affiliation are often expres-sions of “believing in belonging,” where people associate with religion to re…
Introduction
Several common themes emerging from an inter-disciplinary collection of papers on belief are identified and discussed: place, notions of the individual, and the role of institutions. The disciplinary perspectives represented here ranged from anthropology, business, drama, development, political science and sociology. ‘Belief’ is often treated unproblematically because it is assumed it resides in the minds of ‘believers’, so-called often without a…
Propositions and performativity
Divergent disciplinary approaches are traced to effect an inter-disciplinary understanding of how scholars in both sociology and anthropology frame their discussions about belief. A preliminary 'genealogy of belief' is proposed, tracing epistemological and methodological approaches over the last 200 years showing how some debates presume individual and intellectualist orientations to belief while others favour the collective and emotional. Presen…
Believing in BelongingBelief and Social Identity in the Modern World
The book draws on empirical research exploring mainstream religious belief and identity in Euro-American countries. Starting from a qualitative study based in northern England, and then broadening the data to include Europe and North America, the book explores how people ‘believe in belonging’, choosing religious identifications to complement other social and emotional experiences of ‘belongings’. The concept of ‘performative belief‘ helps explai…
Extraordinary Relationality Ancestor Veneration in Late Euroamerican Society
Non-religious Christians
Scholars who recently rejected secularisation theses on the grounds that they were insufficiently defined or contextualised now seem to be accepting with unseemly, uncritical haste, the new, in vogue notion of the post-secular. Scholars seem tempted to drop the term ‘post-secular’ into their papers and presentations as if it is a generally accepted and understood term. It is not and nor, as this paper will argue, is it plausible unless applied to…
An Author Meets His Critics
Good teaching is a craft. It requires constant honing. While perfection eludes most of us most of the time, our best days are intellectually generative, meaningful, and often quite fun. I intend this essay as a gesture in that same spirit
Nominal Christian Adherence
It is the desire for belonging, not believing, that explains why so many apparently non-religious people who do not believe in even the minimal tenets of organized religion will claim a religious identity in specific contexts. This paper draws on qualitative longitudinal empirical research seeking to explain that claim through exploring mainstream religious belief and identity in Euro- American countries. What is often described as nominal, fuzzy…
Yes, but Not in the North
Introduction
Although the concept of belief has become a focus of critical discussion in other disciplines, sociologists of religion have tended to assume that belief is a universal phenomenon, structured around cognitive propositions which can be made explicit in the context of research surveys and interviews The articles in this special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Religion explore belief in the lives of young people in different religious, cultural…
Varieties of Belief over Time
This article reports longitudinal research involving young people in adolescence and early adulthood, focusing on questions about belief and identity. The author finds that significant varieties of belief-propositional, felt (emotional/embodied), performative-were created and sustained through social relationships. A seven-part analytical model permits holistic, organic analysis to identify the shifting and mutually interdependent dimensions of b…
The Problem of Generalizing Generation
Research into the religious beliefs and behaviors of children, young people, adults and elderly people prompt questions about the way “generation” is understood in the social scientific study of religion. What seems to the researcher at first to be shared values and beliefs on broad “social code” issues appear, at least to older people, to be lacking amongst the young. Such a different in perception could be an example of a “generation” gap where…
Sacred Communities
This article discusses a project whose purpose was to review existing qualitative and quantitative data from two separate studies to provide new insights about everyday religion and belonging. Researchers engaged in knowledge exchange and dialogue with new and former research participants, with other researchers involved in similar research, and with wider academic networks beyond the core disciplines represented here, principally anthropology an…
Making sense of surveys and censuses
Censuses and surveys shape decisions, discourse and debates about people and their lived environments. The outcomes, in the case of a census, inform governments about resource distribution but also shape people's self-understanding about who they are and where they may be going. How people self-identify on censuses and surveys produces certain types of knowledge. This introduction emphasises the impact of those instruments on knowledge production…
Textbooks for teaching the anthropology of religion
Written from the perspective of those who teach the anthropology of religion, the paper reviews a selection of texts commonly used in teaching. The authors find the texts are generally useful, although those written clearly and with good cross-referencing detail (index, bibliography, overviews) are the most helpful. One major finding is the range of views over what might constitute 'textbook’ - itself a fairly contested term more widely
Sociology (30 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (24 works) · Philosophy (21 works) · Religion, Society, and Development (17 works) · Epistemology (16 works) · Psychology (14 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (10 works) · Social Psychology (10 works) · Social science (10 works)