A Mckinnon
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 244706 |
|---|---|
| NOME | A Mckinnon |
| PRENOMES | A |
| SOBRENOME | Mckinnon |
| ASSINATURA | MCKINNON A |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Aberdeen |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2001-5707 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 31 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 149 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 31 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1988 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 8 |
Method for an historical political sociology of religion
The work of Shailer Mathews (1863-1941) offers an important, though neglected, sociological theory of the evolution of religion. A theologian and long-time dean of the divinity school at the University of Chicago, Mathews develops his sociological understanding as a foundation for articulating a theology adequate to the needs of the modern age. Influenced by evolutionary currents of thought, interpreted along pragmatist lines, Mathews sees religi…
The sociology of conversion narratives
Using Paul Ricoeur’s theory of narrative to consider John Lofland and Rodney Stark’s classic “Becoming a World-Saver”, I address a fundamental conundrum in the sociology of conversion. If the conversion story is told in the light of the new discourse—brought about by the conversion—how can sociologists use it to explain the conversion and the factors that led to it? I consider the extent to which the sociology of religion has conflated the necess…
Growth of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
This paper contributes to the emerging debate and revaluation of the growth and membership of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). Building on literature which has shown that the Church is unlikely to have nearly the membership of more than 18 million that it usually claims, this paper considers evidence of conversion to and defection from Anglican identification in Nigeria. The analysis uses data from the Pew Research Centre Tolerance and…
Christians, Muslims and Traditional Worshippers in Nigeria
Background The absence of census data on religious identification in Nigeria since 1963 leaves much uncertainty about the most basic religious composition of the country. It is generally accepted that identification with traditional worship declined over the middle of the twentieth century as identification with Islam and Christianity increased, leaving these the two dominant religious groups in the country. The current relative proportions of Ch…
Demography of Anglicans in Sub-Saharan Africa
There is an emerging debate about the growth of Anglicanism in sub-Saharan Africa. With this debate in mind, this paper uses four statistically representative surveys of sub-Saharan Africa to estimate the relative and absolute number who identify as Anglican in five countries: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. The results for Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania are broadly consistent with previous scholarly assessments. The findings…
Reshaping Offline Community in the Image of Online Experience
As more and more people join social media networks, Christian churches struggle to discern how best to adapt to this emerging cultural phenomenon and employ it in ways that are consistent with Christian beliefs, values, and practices. This essay argues that as Christians explore the potential of digital media, they should not neglect to also reflect deeply on the negative aspects of the medium, which are increasingly coming under scrutiny among s…
Michael Mayerfeld Bell, City of the Good
Belonging without believing
Same-sex marriage has become a divisive issue in established western democracies. As in earlier research on abortion, there is now a growing body of studies which suggests that religious factors, such as identity, belief and practice, are the most frequent predictors of opposition towards gay marriage. Yet, what we know about the combined influence of these religious factors remains unexamined. Mindful of this omission, this study examines the re…
Ritual, narrative and time
Paul Ricoeur's theory of the narrative constitution of time and Emile Durkheim's conception of the ritual construction of time seem, at least on first examination, incommensurable. While their important and influential theories of the social constitution of time are not easily harmonised, it is possible to construct several bridges between the two, such that they may, at least, be brought into conversation with one another (a dialogue Ricoeur him…
Ritual
Ritual theory begins with Freud and Durkheim, the latter having been more influential in the long run for his emphasis on the meaning and effects of ritual. Although there is no universally accepted definition of ritual, there is a noticeable trend towards a broad understanding: Ritual is shared action with a common focus by copresent participants, resulting in a sense of shared identity, and feelings that can be maintained by appropriate symbols…
Religion and Social Class
This article outlines two inter-related but distinct theoretical approaches to the study of Christianity and Social Class developed from the work of Pierre Bourdieu. The first is a model derived from Distinction (Bourdieu [1979] 1984), the second comes from Bourdieu's work on religious fields with a focus on the conversion of capital between different fields. The former, better known, approach has the potential to provide important insights, incl…
Religion as Metaphor
Courtney Bender, Wendy Cadge, Peggy Levitt and David Smilde, Religion on the Edge
Elementary forms of the metaphorical life
Scholars have not infrequently called attention to the master metaphors in Durkheim's writing, those figures, typically drawn from biology, physics and chemistry, which structure his sociological thought. Less attention has been given to the work that metaphors do in Durkheim's texts, or to Durkheim's fundamental ambivalence about metaphor. This paper argues that Durkheim depends on metaphor to construct the building blocks, and not just the over…
George Herbert Mead on Humans and Other Animals
The turn towards nonhuman animals within sociology has shed a critical light on George Herbert Mead, his apparent prioritisation of language and the anthropocentric focus of Symbolic Interactionism (SI). Although Herbert Blumer canonised Mead as the founder of this perspective he also played a key role in excising the evolutionary and 'more-than-human' components in Mead's work. This intervention not only misrepresented Mead's intellectual projec…
Ideology and the Market Metaphor in Rational Choice Theory of Religion
Despite the many criticisms of the empirical and theoretical adequacy of Rational Choice theory, it continues to have considerable influence and appeal in the sociological study of religion. This article examines the use of the market metaphor and its subsidiary metaphors, with a view to understanding how these metaphors work in rational choice theory, and what this might be able to tell us about its enduring influence. I suggest that the metapho…
Metaphors in and for the Sociology of Religion
Peer reviewed
Bourdieu, Capital, and Conflict in a Religious Field
Although Bourdieu's sociological project is a generalised sociology of religion, his work has not been as influential among sociologists of religion as one might have expected it to be. In this article we provide an overview of Bourdieu's analysis of religion, paying particular attention to key problems that have been identified in the literature and suggesting how his work can be understood in such a way as to overcome these limitations. Drawing…
Paranormal America
Homosexuality and the Construction of 'Anglican Orthodoxy
The conflict over “homosexuality,” which has embroiled the Anglican Communion over the past 15 years, has not primarily been a conflict about homosexuality, or even about sexuality per se. Rather, we argue that the conflict has been so intense because “homosexuality” has become a salient symbol, to which different Anglican constituencies (Evangelical, Liberal, and Anglo-Catholic) have brought their own agenda. The conflict does not simply reflect…
The Sociology of Religion
Energy and society
Herbert Spencer is usually thought to use a biological metaphor for understanding social-evolutionary processes. Spencer’s evolutionary theory is an ‘energetic’ theory, premised on a particular understanding of physical principles; he applied these ‘energetic’ principles equally to inorganic, organic and supra-organic (social) evolution. The centrality of energy metaphors makes Spencer’s theory of social evolution directly relevant in a global so…
Martin Riesebrodt, The Promise of Salvation
Sociological Epistemology
Emile Durkheim first outlined the problem of the categories for sociologists after Kant: how do we acknowledge the socially constituted nature of all knowledge and yet still make claims about social reality? In Durkheim's late work he identifies two opposite responses to this problem: empiricism, which denies the problem; and idealism (or constructionism), which finds it difficult to talk about anything beyond our conceptions of social conception…
Elective Affinities of the Protestant Ethic
Although scholars have long recognized the importance of 'elective affinity' as a key word in Weber's sociology, surprisingly little systematic research has gone into understanding this metaphor in Weber's writing, or the source from which he drew the term. For Weber, this was an implicit reference to Goethe's novel, well known to Weber's educated German audience, entitled Elective Affinities (1807). In this article, I provide a systematic accoun…
Elective Affinities of the Protestant Ethic
Although scholars have long recognized the importance of 'elective affinity' as a key word in Weber's sociology, surprisingly little systematic research has gone into understanding this metaphor in Weber's writing, or the source from which he drew the term. For Weber, this was an implicit reference to Goethe's novel, well known to Weber's educated German audience, entitled Elective Affinities (1807). In this article, I provide a systematic accoun…
Reading 'Opium of the People
Marx's phrase 'opium of the people' is one of the most frequently quoted lines he ever wrote; perhaps because of that, it has been just as frequently misunderstood. By returning to the various meanings of opium in the mid-19th century, I revisit Marx's analysis, offering a way of reading the metaphor that is more consistent with Marx's dialectical method. The paper provides a revised analysis of Marx's 'Towards a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of…
Sociological definitions, language games, and the "essence" of religion
Sociologists of religion have long debated the definition of religion. In this article, I survey the debate and find a partially hidden consensus. This debate, in conjunction with recent criticisms of the concept "religion" in religious studies, and by drawing on Ludwig Wittgenstein's notion oflanguage games, provides helpful pointers for developing a non-essentialist conception of religion. I argue that "religion" (as a phenomenon and as a conce…
Bourdieu, Capital, and Conflict in a Religious Field
Although Bourdieu's sociological project is a generalised sociology of religion, his work has not been as influential among sociologists of religion as one might have expected it to be. In this article we provide an overview of Bourdieu's analysis of religion, paying particular attention to key problems that have been identified in the literature and suggesting how his work can be understood in such a way as to overcome these limitations. Drawing…
Religion and Social Class
This article outlines two inter-related but distinct theoretical approaches to the study of Christianity and Social Class developed from the work of Pierre Bourdieu. The first is a model derived from Distinction (Bourdieu [1979] 1984), the second comes from Bourdieu's work on religious fields with a focus on the conversion of capital between different fields. The former, better known, approach has the potential to provide important insights, incl…
George Herbert Mead on Humans and Other Animals
The turn towards nonhuman animals within sociology has shed a critical light on George Herbert Mead, his apparent prioritisation of language and the anthropocentric focus of Symbolic Interactionism (SI). Although Herbert Blumer canonised Mead as the founder of this perspective he also played a key role in excising the evolutionary and 'more-than-human' components in Mead's work. This intervention not only misrepresented Mead's intellectual projec…
Ideology and the Market Metaphor in Rational Choice Theory of Religion
Despite the many criticisms of the empirical and theoretical adequacy of Rational Choice theory, it continues to have considerable influence and appeal in the sociological study of religion. This article examines the use of the market metaphor and its subsidiary metaphors, with a view to understanding how these metaphors work in rational choice theory, and what this might be able to tell us about its enduring influence. I suggest that the metapho…
Homosexuality and the Construction of 'Anglican Orthodoxy
The conflict over “homosexuality,” which has embroiled the Anglican Communion over the past 15 years, has not primarily been a conflict about homosexuality, or even about sexuality per se. Rather, we argue that the conflict has been so intense because “homosexuality” has become a salient symbol, to which different Anglican constituencies (Evangelical, Liberal, and Anglo-Catholic) have brought their own agenda. The conflict does not simply reflect…
Sociological Epistemology
Emile Durkheim first outlined the problem of the categories for sociologists after Kant: how do we acknowledge the socially constituted nature of all knowledge and yet still make claims about social reality? In Durkheim's late work he identifies two opposite responses to this problem: empiricism, which denies the problem; and idealism (or constructionism), which finds it difficult to talk about anything beyond our conceptions of social conception…
Belonging without believing
Same-sex marriage has become a divisive issue in established western democracies. As in earlier research on abortion, there is now a growing body of studies which suggests that religious factors, such as identity, belief and practice, are the most frequent predictors of opposition towards gay marriage. Yet, what we know about the combined influence of these religious factors remains unexamined. Mindful of this omission, this study examines the re…
Elementary forms of the metaphorical life
Scholars have not infrequently called attention to the master metaphors in Durkheim's writing, those figures, typically drawn from biology, physics and chemistry, which structure his sociological thought. Less attention has been given to the work that metaphors do in Durkheim's texts, or to Durkheim's fundamental ambivalence about metaphor. This paper argues that Durkheim depends on metaphor to construct the building blocks, and not just the over…
Energy and society
Herbert Spencer is usually thought to use a biological metaphor for understanding social-evolutionary processes. Spencer’s evolutionary theory is an ‘energetic’ theory, premised on a particular understanding of physical principles; he applied these ‘energetic’ principles equally to inorganic, organic and supra-organic (social) evolution. The centrality of energy metaphors makes Spencer’s theory of social evolution directly relevant in a global so…
Christians, Muslims and Traditional Worshippers in Nigeria
Background The absence of census data on religious identification in Nigeria since 1963 leaves much uncertainty about the most basic religious composition of the country. It is generally accepted that identification with traditional worship declined over the middle of the twentieth century as identification with Islam and Christianity increased, leaving these the two dominant religious groups in the country. The current relative proportions of Ch…
Response - Ritual Re-Description as Passport Control
Peer reviewed
Ritual, narrative and time
Paul Ricoeur's theory of the narrative constitution of time and Emile Durkheim's conception of the ritual construction of time seem, at least on first examination, incommensurable. While their important and influential theories of the social constitution of time are not easily harmonised, it is possible to construct several bridges between the two, such that they may, at least, be brought into conversation with one another (a dialogue Ricoeur him…
Metaphors in and for the Sociology of Religion
Peer reviewed
The sociology of conversion narratives
Using Paul Ricoeur’s theory of narrative to consider John Lofland and Rodney Stark’s classic “Becoming a World-Saver”, I address a fundamental conundrum in the sociology of conversion. If the conversion story is told in the light of the new discourse—brought about by the conversion—how can sociologists use it to explain the conversion and the factors that led to it? I consider the extent to which the sociology of religion has conflated the necess…
Martin Riesebrodt, The Promise of Salvation
Services and Uneven Development
This book surveys the development of service industries in Britain from a geographical perspective, assessing their contribution to other sectors of the economy. The location of new service industries is described and explained, with an analysis of the effect of locational changes on employment opportunities and patterns. The contributors consider the economic role of private sector producer services and provide a British view of issues to comple…
Sociological definitions, language games, and the "essence" of religion
Sociological definitions, language games, and the "essence" of religion
Sociologists of religion have long debated the definition of religion. In this article, I survey the debate and find a partially hidden consensus. This debate, in conjunction with recent criticisms of the concept "religion" in religious studies, and by drawing on Ludwig Wittgenstein's notion oflanguage games, provides helpful pointers for developing a non-essentialist conception of religion. I argue that "religion" (as a phenomenon and as a conce…
The Religious, the Paranormal, and Church Attendance
Orenstein's (2002) JSSR article “Religion and Paranormal Belief” uses Reginald Bibby's 1995 Project Canada data to argue that religious and paranormal belief are positively correlated, but that church attendance and paranormal belief are negatively correlated. In this response, I use the same data to show that while his basic model is true, we also need to consider the interaction between church attendance and religious belief. Religious attendan…
Reading 'Opium of the People
Marx's phrase 'opium of the people' is one of the most frequently quoted lines he ever wrote; perhaps because of that, it has been just as frequently misunderstood. By returning to the various meanings of opium in the mid-19th century, I revisit Marx's analysis, offering a way of reading the metaphor that is more consistent with Marx's dialectical method. The paper provides a revised analysis of Marx's 'Towards a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of…
Response - Ritual Re-Description as Passport Control
Peer reviewed
The Sociology of Religion
Energy and society
Herbert Spencer is usually thought to use a biological metaphor for understanding social-evolutionary processes. Spencer’s evolutionary theory is an ‘energetic’ theory, premised on a particular understanding of physical principles; he applied these ‘energetic’ principles equally to inorganic, organic and supra-organic (social) evolution. The centrality of energy metaphors makes Spencer’s theory of social evolution directly relevant in a global so…
Martin Riesebrodt, The Promise of Salvation
Sociological Epistemology
Emile Durkheim first outlined the problem of the categories for sociologists after Kant: how do we acknowledge the socially constituted nature of all knowledge and yet still make claims about social reality? In Durkheim's late work he identifies two opposite responses to this problem: empiricism, which denies the problem; and idealism (or constructionism), which finds it difficult to talk about anything beyond our conceptions of social conception…
Elective Affinities of the Protestant Ethic
Although scholars have long recognized the importance of 'elective affinity' as a key word in Weber's sociology, surprisingly little systematic research has gone into understanding this metaphor in Weber's writing, or the source from which he drew the term. For Weber, this was an implicit reference to Goethe's novel, well known to Weber's educated German audience, entitled Elective Affinities (1807). In this article, I provide a systematic accoun…
Bourdieu, Capital, and Conflict in a Religious Field
Although Bourdieu's sociological project is a generalised sociology of religion, his work has not been as influential among sociologists of religion as one might have expected it to be. In this article we provide an overview of Bourdieu's analysis of religion, paying particular attention to key problems that have been identified in the literature and suggesting how his work can be understood in such a way as to overcome these limitations. Drawing…
Paranormal America
Homosexuality and the Construction of 'Anglican Orthodoxy
The conflict over “homosexuality,” which has embroiled the Anglican Communion over the past 15 years, has not primarily been a conflict about homosexuality, or even about sexuality per se. Rather, we argue that the conflict has been so intense because “homosexuality” has become a salient symbol, to which different Anglican constituencies (Evangelical, Liberal, and Anglo-Catholic) have brought their own agenda. The conflict does not simply reflect…
Metaphors in and for the Sociology of Religion
Peer reviewed
George Herbert Mead on Humans and Other Animals
The turn towards nonhuman animals within sociology has shed a critical light on George Herbert Mead, his apparent prioritisation of language and the anthropocentric focus of Symbolic Interactionism (SI). Although Herbert Blumer canonised Mead as the founder of this perspective he also played a key role in excising the evolutionary and 'more-than-human' components in Mead's work. This intervention not only misrepresented Mead's intellectual projec…
Ideology and the Market Metaphor in Rational Choice Theory of Religion
Despite the many criticisms of the empirical and theoretical adequacy of Rational Choice theory, it continues to have considerable influence and appeal in the sociological study of religion. This article examines the use of the market metaphor and its subsidiary metaphors, with a view to understanding how these metaphors work in rational choice theory, and what this might be able to tell us about its enduring influence. I suggest that the metapho…
Courtney Bender, Wendy Cadge, Peggy Levitt and David Smilde, Religion on the Edge
Elementary forms of the metaphorical life
Scholars have not infrequently called attention to the master metaphors in Durkheim's writing, those figures, typically drawn from biology, physics and chemistry, which structure his sociological thought. Less attention has been given to the work that metaphors do in Durkheim's texts, or to Durkheim's fundamental ambivalence about metaphor. This paper argues that Durkheim depends on metaphor to construct the building blocks, and not just the over…
Religion as Metaphor
Ritual
Ritual theory begins with Freud and Durkheim, the latter having been more influential in the long run for his emphasis on the meaning and effects of ritual. Although there is no universally accepted definition of ritual, there is a noticeable trend towards a broad understanding: Ritual is shared action with a common focus by copresent participants, resulting in a sense of shared identity, and feelings that can be maintained by appropriate symbols…
Religion and Social Class
This article outlines two inter-related but distinct theoretical approaches to the study of Christianity and Social Class developed from the work of Pierre Bourdieu. The first is a model derived from Distinction (Bourdieu [1979] 1984), the second comes from Bourdieu's work on religious fields with a focus on the conversion of capital between different fields. The former, better known, approach has the potential to provide important insights, incl…
Belonging without believing
Same-sex marriage has become a divisive issue in established western democracies. As in earlier research on abortion, there is now a growing body of studies which suggests that religious factors, such as identity, belief and practice, are the most frequent predictors of opposition towards gay marriage. Yet, what we know about the combined influence of these religious factors remains unexamined. Mindful of this omission, this study examines the re…
Ritual, narrative and time
Paul Ricoeur's theory of the narrative constitution of time and Emile Durkheim's conception of the ritual construction of time seem, at least on first examination, incommensurable. While their important and influential theories of the social constitution of time are not easily harmonised, it is possible to construct several bridges between the two, such that they may, at least, be brought into conversation with one another (a dialogue Ricoeur him…
Demography of Anglicans in Sub-Saharan Africa
There is an emerging debate about the growth of Anglicanism in sub-Saharan Africa. With this debate in mind, this paper uses four statistically representative surveys of sub-Saharan Africa to estimate the relative and absolute number who identify as Anglican in five countries: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. The results for Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania are broadly consistent with previous scholarly assessments. The findings…
Sociology (27 obras) · Philosophy (23 obras) · Epistemology (20 obras) · Religion and Society Interactions (17 obras) · Law (16 obras) · Philosophy (14 obras) · Political science (14 obras) · Social science (14 obras) · Law (8 obras) · Politics (8 obras)