Sociology of Religion

Catalog description

This seminar focuses on the social causes and consequences of religion, using the frameworks and methods of social science to understand religion and non-religion and their implications for social life. It will introduce basic ideas in the sociology of religion and survey the social landscape of religion in the United States and around the world. This seminar, while covering a number of key texts and core topics, will put particular attention on the ways religion intersects with inequality and politics. We will be less concerned with religion for its own sake than for its substantial social implications. Religion has been one of the most powerful and pervasive forces throughout history and remains so today. Without an understanding of religion, a central part of the lives of millions of Americans and billions of people around the world, you cannot fully understand American society or world politics.