Religion, Sociology of
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7077945 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michele Dillon (0000-0001-8484-5999, University of New Hampshire, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Pages | 1-5 |
| Publication date | 2015-10-26 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | OTHER |
| Venue | The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosr049.pub2 |
| OpenAlex | W4249953358 |
| ISBN | 9781405165518 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
The sociology of religion is a core component of the discipline. It is central to the substantive and methodological questions discussed in the classical theorizing of Max Weber and Émile Durkheim and it comprises one of the more researched areas of inquiry among contemporary sociologists. The sociology of religion is concerned with the multiple ways in which religion is part of human society and how it influences and is embedded in institutional, cultural, and individual practices across varying social, geographical, and historical contexts. A common typology is to differentiate between substantive and functional approaches to studying religion. The substantive is concerned with the symbolic contents or beliefs and meanings within a discrete religious tradition worldview and the functional with religion's purposes or functions in society. Weber's (1946 [1915]) wide‐ranging analysis of the doctrinal tenets of the major world religions (e.g., Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Confucianism, Hinduism) exemplifies the depth of substantive investigation. And as elaborated by Weber, for example, in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1958 [1904–1905]), a substantive analysis probes how particular religious beliefs (e.g., Calvinism) give rise to specific concerns about God, transcendence, and otherworldly salvation and how they are understood, acted upon, and given meaning in everyday life
Anthropology of religion · Capitalism · Christianity · Epistemology · Hinduism · History of religions · Islam · Meaning (existential · Protestant work ethic · Secularization · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of religion · Theology · Transcendence (philosophy · Typology · Anthropology · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious studies
A general theory of secularization
Suicide
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Secularization as Declining Religious Authority
Notes on Post‐Secular Society
Varieties of second modernity
Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference
Religion on the Edge
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
From Max Weber
The Secularization Paradigm
Work in Progress Toward a New Paradigm for the Sociological Study of Religion in the United States
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |