AQA Sociology Religion - List of Sociologists

Armstrong - religions as treating women poorly

Badawi - liberal feminist

Barker - Making of a Moonie; examination of Middle-class and highly-educated sect; very few interested people actually become part of sect

Beauvoir - religion acts for women as Marx noted for classes; women as considered close to God to give false appreciation of religion

Berger – roots of secularisation in the rise of rationality (Protestant Reformation); Christianity as self-destructing

Berger and Luckmann – interpretive view – religion as people giving meaning to the world around them; alternative to scientific meaning; all-embracing view

Beyer - global society characterized between particularism/universalism; religion as privatized; identities need to be revitalized; religion attempts to become universal by becoming liberal

Bird – women’s sexuality seen as threat to major religions

Bruce – New Christian Right’s American political strength; men’s interest in the esoteric/women’s in the spiritual

Bruce and Wallis – proponent of secularisation; as caused by – social differentiation, societalisation, rationalisation

Casanova - deprivatizations of religion

Comte - scientific knowledge would lead to secularization; theological to metaphysical to positive stage of society

Davie- Women’s involvement in religion because of life/death links

Durkheim – sacred and the profane; totemism; collective consciousness through worship; religion as worshipping society; believes something ‘eternal’ in religion; within division of labour, force of religion for integration diminishes

El Saadawi – Islam not particularly problematic r.e. women over other religions; patriarchal religion as unauthentic; Adam and Eve misinterpreted; society as patriarchal causes element of patriarchy in religion, not vice versa; not directly hostile to religion

Engels - similarity between religion and social movements

Giddens - increased reflexivity; separation of time-space; Disembedding; increasing trust in expert systems

Hadden and Stark – secularisation as a contemporary myth

Heelas - New Age involving de-differentiation/detraditionalization; New Age accepting relativism/consumerism/experience

Holm - women generally subordinate in religion – related to female sexuality

Huntingdon - unsecularization as seen by rise of fundamentalism and co-operation

Maduro – religion as relatively autonomous; liberation theology

Malinowski – religion as important during crises of life; rituals overcoming socially destructive events;

Martin – opponent of secularisation

Marshall - methods for measuring religion

Marx - religion as the opium of the masses; stupefies people so they ignore overarching social structures; promises an eternal bliss; virtue of suffering; religion offers supernatural intervention; religion as justifying social order; mechanism of social control; false class consciousness; religion justifying ruling-class position; as a conservative force; can aid social resistance; inevitable fall of religion under Communism

McGuire - conditions under which religion can cause social change

Parsons - importance of value consensus; purpose in industrialised world;

Robinson - potential of religion for social revolution

Stark and Bainbridge - secularisation as cyclical phenomena; problem of typologies

Shiner - many meanings of secularisation

Troeltsch - defining of religious institutions

Turner - religion as important to the ruling class

Archbishop Tutu - opposing Apartheid South-Africa; religion as progressive force

Watson - meaning of veiling – complexity to issue

Weber - The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism; religion causing social change; charisma as sect leader; sects appealing to the disadvantaged; rationalization as eroding religious influence

Wilson - main proponent of secularisation thesis; sects and cults as marginal/ephemeral;

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Thats my list - does it look comprehensive? Anyone I'm missing?

Reply 1

LuckySeven

Thats quite a bit....theres no need even to list near that many sociologists in an essay.

Reply 2

Finishing Touches

How many Sociologists do you think is the minimum you could get away with including and still get a relatively good grade?

Reply 3

Obscured

^ I don't think it is the number that is important. As long as you are using them to illustrate your agument you should be fine. There will always be the ones that you know in depth and then others in less detail- a combination of both will be fine.

Best of luck with today. I've got to go and do some more cramming!

Reply 4

friendsfreak88

I don't really think it is a case of the more sociologists the better. I think the key thing is making sure that you answer the question and include sociologists that are relative to the topic. If you put in sociologists that are not relevant, you won't get any credit for it. I think you are better of using fewer (although still using enough to demonstrate broad knowledge) but showing how they relate to the topic in question.

Reply 5

hangover_cure

thought i would add a few more

Bellah - church attendance - people may not attend because religion is now more personal and privatized - part of secularisation

Glock and Stark - secularisation is only occuring ig you take a narrow view of what religion is

Brown - Thinks religion has a function in society therefore there is no secularisation

:biggrin:

Reply 6

jasperstory

Thanks for the additions! :smile:

I hope I wasn't giving the impression that the more sociologists the better, I was more hoping whether my list of sociologists covered all the main areas, so that for the upcoming exam it is reasonable to think that I wont get a question where I'll be struggling to find relevant sociologists.