Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Conference › Academic
Description
This panel takes up sociological theories from Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and rational choice theory of religion to challenge some of the central assumptions derived from these theories and their contributions to the sociology of religion. The papers offer a critique or addendum to longstanding scholarly debates including: the use category of religion, the classification of Protestantism as a form of this-worldly asceticism, the nature of prophecy, and the viability of the market theory of religion. They reexamine these theories either by analyzing them directly (e.g. their use of the religious and secular), incorporating new theories (e.g. the social psychology of Leon Festinger), applying them to more recent cases (e.g. 20th century American evangelicalism), or considering how other factors affect them (e.g. ascribed and achieved religious identities). In doing so, this panel offers fresh insights about what we call religion and its relationship to rationality and rational decision-making.