I bumped into this review of the book Religion in the Contemporary World: A Sociological Introduction, by Alan Aldridge . But I didn’t feel like signing up for the service to read the whole review. Instead I just checked the pubisher’s page and found that this is probably a worthy textbook on the subject, even though it is five years old. Here is the table of contents for starter:
1. Studying religion sociologically.
2. Defining religion: social conflicts and sociological debates.
3. Varieties of religious movement.
4. Secularization triumphant: the social significance of religion.
5. Secularization in retreat: the revival of religion.
6. The resurgence of fundamentalism.
7. Sacralization of modernity: civil and political religion.
8. Brainwashing, consumer protection and the state.
9. Religious identity and meaning in the modern world.