Religion is alive and well in the modern world, and the social-scientific study of religion is undergoing a renaissance. For much of this century, respected social theorists predicted the death of religion as inevitable consequence of science, education, and modern economics. But they were wrong. Stark and Bainbridge set out to explain the survival of religion. Using information derived from numerous surveys, censuses, historical case studies, and ethnographic field expeditions, they chart the full sweep of contemporary religion from the traditional denominations to the most fervent cults. This wealth of information is located within a coherent theoretical framework that examines religion as a social response to human needs, both the general needs shared by all and the desires specific to those who are denied the economic rewards or prestige enjoyed by the privileged. By explaining the forms taken by religions today, Stark and Bainbridge allow us to understand its persistence in a secular age and its prospects for the future.
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Sets out to explain the survival of religion. This book charts the contemporary religion from the traditional denominations to the most fervent cults. It presents information derived from numerous surveys, censuses, historical case studies, and ethnographic field expeditions. It examines religion as a social response to human needs.
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Acknowledgments 1 The Nature of Religion 2 Of Churches, Sects, and Cults I THE RELIGIOUS ECNOMY 3 The Spectrum of Faiths 4 Religious Regionalism II SECT MOVEMENTS 5 The Eternal Exodus: Causes of Religious Dissent and Schism 6 American-Born Sect Movements 7 Sect Transformation and Upward Mobility: The Missing Mechanisms   III CULTS 8 Three Models of Cult Formation 9 Cult Movements in America: A Reconnaissance 10 Client and Audience Cults in America 11 Cult Membership in the Roaring Twenties 12 Scientology: To Be Perfectly Clear 13 The Rise and Decline of Transcendental Meditation IV RECRUITMENT 14 Networks of Faith: Interpersonal Bonds and Recruitment to Cults and Sects 15 Friendship, Religion, and the Occult 16 The Arithmetic of Social Movements: Theoretical Implications 17 The "Consciousness Reformation" Reconsidered 18 Who Joins Cult Movements? V SOURCES OF RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS 19 Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation 20 Church and Cult in Canada 21 Europe's Receptivity to Cults and Sects 22 Rebellion, Repressive Regimes, and Religious Movements Bibliography Index
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"The authors break new ground for the social scientific study of religion in scope and theory. The result is an empirically based rebuttal of the secularization thesis. . . . Future will enlighten its intended audience: social scientists who study religion, and their students. Its conceptual and empirical rigor enhances the standing of the sociology of religion in the scientific community."
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780520057319
Publisert
1986-01-16
Utgiver
Vendor
University of California Press
Vekt
862 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Dybde
36 mm
Aldersnivå
UU, UP, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet

Biographical note

Rodney Stark is one of the leading authorities on the sociology of religion. Stark has authored more than 150 scholarly articles and 32 books in 17 different languages, including several widely used sociology textbooks and best-selling titles. William Sims Bainbridge earned his doctorate in sociology from Harvard University in 1975. Altogether he has published about 300 articles and written or edited 40 books in a variety of scientific fields.