'Religion' and 'Secular' Categories in Sociology

Informed by 'critical religion' perspective in Religious Studies and postcolonial self-reflection in Sociology, this book interrogates the ideas of 'religion' and 'the secular' in social theory and Sociology. It argues that as long as social theory and sociological discourse embed the religion-secular distinction and locate themselves on the 'secular' side of the binary, Sociology will continue to serve the very ideologies it tries to subvert namely Western modernity/coloniality.

Provides a unique cross fertilization of critical approaches in sociology and religious studies Challenges the binary of religion and secularism by historicizing it and placing it in a discursive framework Challenges the hegemony of Western modernity/coloniality

Autorentext
Mitsutoshi Horii is Professor of Sociology at Shumei University, Japan, and Principal of Chaucer College, UK.

Inhalt
Introduction.- Theoretical Background.- 'Religion' in Social Theory.- 'The Secular' in Sociology.- Social Construction of Secularisation Thesis.- Textbooks and Other Introductory Materials.- 'Religion' in Liquid Late Modernity of Risk Society.- Conclusion: Social Theory and Sociology after Deconstructing the Religious-Secular Binary.