Believing in Belonging

Belief and Social Identity in the Modern World
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-19-957787-3
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Format (B × H): 145 mm x 222 mm, Gewicht: 475 g

The first work to analyse and synthesise anthropological and sociological understandings of belief
The first work to offer a qualitative critique of the religious question on the national UK census
Makes cross-cultural comparisons of belief in European and American societies
Pilots a unique method of researching religion without asking religious questions
Provides a new response to Grace Davie's 'believing without belonging' theory, one of the most accepted theories within the sociology of religion worldwide

Believing in Belonging draws on empirical research exploring mainstream religious belief and identity in Euro-American countries. Starting from a qualitative study based in northern England, and then broadening the data to include other parts of Europe and North America, Abby Day explores how people 'believe in belonging', choosing religious identifications to complement other social and emotional experiences of 'belongings'. The concept of 'performative belief' helps explain how otherwise non-religious people can bring into being a Christian identity related to social belongings.

What is often dismissed as 'nominal' religious affiliation is far from an empty category, but one loaded with cultural 'stuff' and meaning. Day introduces an original typology of natal, ethnic and aspirational nominalism that challenges established disciplinary theory in both the European and North American schools of the sociology of religion that assert that most people are 'unchurched' or 'believe without belonging' while privately maintaining beliefs in God and other 'spiritual' phenomena.

This study provides a unique analysis and synthesis of anthropological and sociological understandings of belief and proposes a holistic, organic, multidimensional analytical framework to allow rich cross cultural comparisons. Chapters focus in particular on: the genealogies of 'belief' in anthropology and sociology, methods for researching belief without asking religious questions, the acts of claiming cultural identity, youth, gender, the 'social' supernatural, fate and agency, morality and a development of anthropocentric and theocentric orientations that provides a richer understanding of belief than conventional religious/secular distinctions.

Zielgruppe

Students and scholars of religious studies; of the sociology of religion; of comparative religion; of theories of secularization

Autoren/Hrsg.

Day, Abby

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Praktische Theologie Christliches Leben & Praxis
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie des Brauchtums und der Traditionen
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Praktische Theologie Christliche Spiritualität, Christliche Mystik
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1: Methods and theoretical frameworks
1: Genealogies of belief in sociology and anthropology: transcending disciplinary boundaries
2: A research journey begins
2: Cosmologies of the mainstream
3: Believing in belonging: the cultural act of claiming identity
4: Youth and belief: belonging to connected selves
5: The sensuous social supernatural
6: Believing in fate: covering the cracks in belonging
7: Boundaries of belonging: doing unto ourselves
3: Relocating belief and belonging
8: Theorising belief: an holistic, organic, seven-dimensional model
9: Understanding Christian nominalism: rethinking Christian identity
10: Conclusion: relocating belief to the social

Über Autor(innen)

Day, Abby
Dr. Abby Day, Research Fellow, Department of Anthropology, University of Sussex, is an internationally recognised scholar in the social scientific study of religion. She has conducted several inter-disciplinary research projects focusing on contemporary belief and belonging in Euro American contexts and is a sought-after speaker at international conference and workshops. Previous publications include an edited volume, Religion and the Individual, several academic papers and book chapters focusing on youth, gender, the 'social supernatural', cultural identity and the nature of 'nominal belief'.