The Importance of Social Science in the Study of Religion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v4i1.7Keywords:
census, definition, false extrapolation, limits of fieldwork, statisticsAbstract
The author uses a range of contentious assertions about contemporary religion and spirituality to show the limits on what can be extrapolated from ethnographic work and to argue for the centrality of empirical positivistic social science to claims about the popularity and social significance of religious and spiritual phenomena.
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References
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Bailey, E. 1997. “Implicit Religion: What Might it Be?” Inaugural chair lecture, Middlesex University, November 1997.
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—1994. Religion in Britain Since 1945: Believing without Belonging. Oxford: Blackwell.
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Hoggart, R. 1957. The Uses of Literacy. London: Chatto and Windus.
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Kelley, D. 1972. Why the Conservative Churches are Growing. New York: Harper & Row.
Kemp, D. 2003. The New Age: A Guide. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Luhrmann, T. 1988. Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft. Oxford: Blackwell.
Müller, O. 2008. “Religion in Central and Eastern Europe: Was There a Re-awakening after the Breakdown of Communism?” in D. Pollack and D. V. A. Olson, The Role of Religion in Modern Societies. New York: Routledge, 63–91.
Norris, O., and R. Inglehart. 2004. Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Percy, M. 2004. “Losing our Space, Finding our Place? The Changing Identity of the English Parish Church,” in S. Coleman and P. Collins eds. Religion, Identity and Change: Perspectives on Global Transformations. Aldershot: Ashgate, 27–41.
Petito, F., and P. Hatzopoulos, eds. 2003. Religion in International Relations: The Return from Exile. London: Palgrave.
Prince, R., and D. Riches. 2001. The New Age in Glastonbury: The Construction of Religious Movements. London: Berghahn.
Putnam, R. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Runciman, W. J. 1983. A Treatise on Social Theory Vol 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sutcliffe, S. 2004. “Unfinished Business – Devolving Scotland/Devolving Religion,” in S. Coleman and P. Collins eds. Religion, Identity and Change: Perspectives on Global Transformations. Aldershot: Ashgate, 84–106.
Sutcliffe, S. and M. Bowman eds. 2003. Beyond New Age: Exploring Alternative Spirituality. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Voas, D., and S. Bruce. 2004. “The 2001 Census and Christian Identification in Britain,” Journal of Contemporary Religion, 19, 23–28. doi:10.1080/1353790032000165087
Voas, D., and S. Bruce. 2008. “The Spiritual Revolution: Another False Dawn for the Sacred,” in K. Flanagan and P. Jupp eds. A Sociology of Spirituality. Aldershot: Ashgate, 43–62.
Wallis, R., and S. Bruce. 1989. “Religion: The British Contribution,” British Journal of Sociology, 40, 493–520. doi:10.2307/591044
York, M. 2003. “Alternative Spirituality in Europe: Amsterdam, Aup and Bath,” in Sutcliffe and Bowman eds. 2003, 118–35.
Bailey, E. 1997. “Implicit Religion: What Might it Be?” Inaugural chair lecture, Middlesex University, November 1997.
Blumer, H. 1979/1939. Critiques of Research in the Social Sciences: An Appraisal of Thomas and Znaniecki’s The Polish Peasant in Europe and America. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
Bromley, C., J. Curtice, K. Hinds and A. Park eds. 2003. Devolution – Scottish Answers to Scottish Questions. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Bruce, S. 2002. God is Dead: Secularization in the West. Oxford: Blackwell.
Bruce. S., and T. Glendinning. 2003. “Religious Beliefs and Differences,” in Bromley et al., 2003, 86–115.
Crockett, A. 1998. “A Secularising Geography? Patterns and Processes of Religious Change in England and Wales, 1676–1851.” Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Leicester.
Crockett, A., and D. Voas. 2006. “Generations of Decline: Religious Change in TwentiethCentury Britain,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 45, 567–84. doi:10.1111/j.14685906.2006.00328.x
Davie, G. R. C. 1990. “Believing without Belonging: Is This the Future of Religion in Britain?” Social Compass, 37, 455–69. doi:10.1177/003776890037004004
—1994. Religion in Britain Since 1945: Believing without Belonging. Oxford: Blackwell.
—1999. “Europe: The Exception that Proves the Rule,” in P. L. Berger ed. The Desecularization of the World. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 65–84.
Davis, F., E. Paulhus and A. Bradstock. 2008. Moral But No Compass: Government, Church and the Future of Welfare. Chelmsford: Matthew James Publishing.
Dokt?r, T. 2004. “Churches, Sects and Invisible Religion in Central and Eastern Europe After the Transformation,” in D. M. Jerolimov, S. Zrinš?ak and I. Borowik eds. Religion and Patterns of Social Transformation. Zagreb: Institute for Social Research, 299–313.
Gellner, E. 1968. Words and Things. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Hacking, I. 1999. The Social Construction of What? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Heelas, P., and L. Woodhead. 2004. The Spiritual Revolution. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hoggart, R. 1957. The Uses of Literacy. London: Chatto and Windus.
Hout, M. A., A. Greeley and M. Wilde. 2001. “The Demographic Imperative in Religious Change in the US,” American Journal of Sociology, 107, 468–500. doi:10.1086/324189
Kelley, D. 1972. Why the Conservative Churches are Growing. New York: Harper & Row.
Kemp, D. 2003. The New Age: A Guide. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Luhrmann, T. 1988. Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft. Oxford: Blackwell.
Müller, O. 2008. “Religion in Central and Eastern Europe: Was There a Re-awakening after the Breakdown of Communism?” in D. Pollack and D. V. A. Olson, The Role of Religion in Modern Societies. New York: Routledge, 63–91.
Norris, O., and R. Inglehart. 2004. Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Percy, M. 2004. “Losing our Space, Finding our Place? The Changing Identity of the English Parish Church,” in S. Coleman and P. Collins eds. Religion, Identity and Change: Perspectives on Global Transformations. Aldershot: Ashgate, 27–41.
Petito, F., and P. Hatzopoulos, eds. 2003. Religion in International Relations: The Return from Exile. London: Palgrave.
Prince, R., and D. Riches. 2001. The New Age in Glastonbury: The Construction of Religious Movements. London: Berghahn.
Putnam, R. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Runciman, W. J. 1983. A Treatise on Social Theory Vol 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sutcliffe, S. 2004. “Unfinished Business – Devolving Scotland/Devolving Religion,” in S. Coleman and P. Collins eds. Religion, Identity and Change: Perspectives on Global Transformations. Aldershot: Ashgate, 84–106.
Sutcliffe, S. and M. Bowman eds. 2003. Beyond New Age: Exploring Alternative Spirituality. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Voas, D., and S. Bruce. 2004. “The 2001 Census and Christian Identification in Britain,” Journal of Contemporary Religion, 19, 23–28. doi:10.1080/1353790032000165087
Voas, D., and S. Bruce. 2008. “The Spiritual Revolution: Another False Dawn for the Sacred,” in K. Flanagan and P. Jupp eds. A Sociology of Spirituality. Aldershot: Ashgate, 43–62.
Wallis, R., and S. Bruce. 1989. “Religion: The British Contribution,” British Journal of Sociology, 40, 493–520. doi:10.2307/591044
York, M. 2003. “Alternative Spirituality in Europe: Amsterdam, Aup and Bath,” in Sutcliffe and Bowman eds. 2003, 118–35.
Published
2010-01-15
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Bruce, S. (2010). The Importance of Social Science in the Study of Religion. Fieldwork in Religion, 4(1), 7-28. https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v4i1.7
