Sociology of Religion ― A Reader

Sociology of Religion is a collection that seeks to explore the relationship between the structure and culture of religion and various elements of social life in the United States. This reader is an ideal standalone course text and can also serve as supplement to the text written by the same author team, Religion Matters (Routledge, 2010). Based on both classic and contemporary research in the sociology of religion, this new, third edition highlights a variety of research methods and theoretical approaches to studying the sociological elements of religion. It explores the ways in which religious values, beliefs and practices shape the world outside of church, synagogue, or mosque walls while simultaneously being shaped by the non-religious forces operating in that world.

William A. Mirola is Professor of Sociology and former chair of the Department of History and Social Science at Marian College. His teaching and research interests focus on the sociology of religion, social class, and social movements and change. In 2009, he co-edited (with Sean McCloud), Religion and Class in America: Culture, History, and Politics. He has published articles in Sociology of Religion, Social Problems, and Social Science History, principally addressing the intersections of religion and social class as well as religious dynamics in the American labor movement, past and present.

Susanne C. Monahan is Associate Professor and former chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Montana State University. She received a Ph.D. and A.M. in Sociology from Stanford University, and a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology and Economics from Swarthmore College. Her research focuses on complex organizations, including work on American congregations and clergy. She has published articles and reviews in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Review of Religious Research, Sociology of Religion, Theoretical Criminology, Justice Quarterly, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and Child Development.

Michael O. Emerson is the Allyn and Gladys Cline Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Institute for Urban Research at Rice University. In addition to many articles on the topic of religion, he is the author of several books, including Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America (Oxford University Press) and People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States (Princeton University Press).