Religion and Advanced Industrial Society

Beckford, James A.

doi:10.4324/9780429399435

Cited by 31 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…Inspired by Beckford's (1989; 'social constructionist' theoretical approach towards the meaning of 'religion', this research illustrates how the definition of 'Islam' has changed in the Iranian context during the last forty years. The largely non-ideological institutional 'Islam' in the pre-revolutionary era became highly political and remarkably organized around mosques throughout the country during the revolution of 1977-1979 and the early post-revolutionary era ('Islamism').…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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From ‘Islamism’ to ‘Spiritualism’? The Individualization of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Iran

Godazgar¹

2020

Religions

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In the first four centuries of Islam in Iran, mosques were arguably the only sacred places for Iranian Muslims to pray. It was only after the invasion of the Mongolians and the resulting expansion of Shi’ism and Sufism throughout the country that the tombs of some sacred figures, including Imams’ grandchildren (‘Imamzadehs’) or (‘Maqbarahs’), became shrines and important sites for pilgrims. It is interesting that pilgrimage to both Imams’ shrines and Imamzadehs and their associated expressions and perceptions lie at the center of the Shi’ite experience of ‘religion’, although they are rarely mentioned in the relevant core sources of Shi’ism. Nevertheless, to borrow a Weberian image, during the Islamic revolution of 1979, mosques became the ‘vehicles’ for the religio-political ideology of the revolution. Unlike Imamzadehs, they embraced dissidents from a variety of social classes, ranging from emigrants from rural areas to educated liberals and intellectuals. In the fortieth anniversary of the revolution, the findings of my three-year research project illustrates that whilst the religious status of mosques is decreasing, Imamzadehs as well as other venues detached from Islamic authority and political Islam are increasingly becoming ‘vehicles’ for ideas and sentiments for the expression of more individualistic and ‘spiritual’ sensations, rather than the manifestation of an established and institutionalized religio-political ideology. Taking inspiration from a social constructionist approach, discourse and content analysis of media, participant observation in ‘Shi’ite’ venues situated in three provinces, particularly three Imamzadehs or Maqbarahs, and thirty semi-structured interviews in north-west Iran, this article aims to report the findings of this project by focusing on the meanings of ‘religion’ (and ‘non-religion’) and ‘spiritual’ (and ‘non-spiritual’) attached to these venues, including Imamzadehs, and their material culture as well as the changes our informants have experienced in this regard through time and space, particularly during the last forty years.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In terms of the analysis of the qualitative data, influenced by Asad (1993) and Foucault (1972), and due to consistency with the theoretical approach of 'social constructionism' (Beckford 1989(Beckford , 2003…”

Section: 'Islam' In Its Fourth Decade: Methods and Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From ‘Islamism’ to ‘Spiritualism’? The Individualization of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Iran

Godazgar¹

2020

Religions

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“…One of the main factors is overcoming in the last 1990s the methodological stagnation in the sociology of religion (J. Beckford, 1985Beckford, , 1989; R. Robertson, 2001, Giordan, 2014. Since the early 1990s the problems of religious pluralism has becomethe new topic in the sociology of religion.…”

Section: Religious Pluralismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The questions of comprehension and methodological apparatus of the study of "religious pluralism" in the last decade attracted the attention of such sociologists of religion as J. Beckford (1985Beckford ( , 1989, R. Wutnow (2005), P. Berger (Berger, 2007, Berger, Davie, Fokas 2009,M. Chaves, P. Gorsky (2001), O.…”

Section: Religious Pluralismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious Pluralism and Decolonization of Indian Mind

Shmelev¹,

Pavenkov²,

Starovoytenko³

2019

Preprint

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This article presents the study of religious pluralism and decolonization of Indian mind in Russia. The paper analyzes the investigation results concerning psychological features of modern Indian students from universities in Russia and India. For measuring of connection between religious pluralism and decolonization of Indian mind we made socio-psychological investigation of Indian students. We made 254 semi-structured interview with Indian students who are studying in Russia and India. According to the result of investigation that decolonization of Indian mind is connected with the level of religious pluralism. Among the values principles of religious pluralism get more significance and importance in decolonizing mind of Indian students.

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“…Social theorists' conceptual separation of society and religion led to the idea of religion as a contingent, rather than fundamental matter in human social life. Even though religion played a central role in the writings of early social theorists, such as, for example, Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, and Karl Marx, their works construed religion as a perishable phenomenon, and thus its presence needed explanation (Vasquez 2013;Beckford 1989). As a consequence of the concomitant rise of the secularization paradigm, religion was cleared from the public sphere to the domain of the inessential (Vasquez 2013, pp.…”

Section: Reaching Outside the Belief Boxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Living and Dealing with Food in an Affluent Society—A Case for the Study of Lived (Non)Religion

Salonen

2018

Religions

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Significant changes have been taking place in the field of the sociology of religion in the last few decades, which challenge researchers to rethink this scholarly field. This article suggests that a great deal could be learned about the current dilemmas within this field through research that explores the moral underpinnings of everyday food consumption within contemporary society that is characterized by abundance. More specifically, the article proposes that everyday food consumption and everyday ethics provide unique opportunities to transcend and surpass crucial distinctions within social sciences in a way that can feed the sociological imagination in relation to research on lived (non)religion. Drawing on examples from research on food consumption in the nonreligious context and at the individual, discursive and institutional levels, this study shows how the everyday ethics of food consumption can serve as a point of departure for sociological research, which could help researchers to understand the currents of lived religion and nonreligion in a way that evades the idea of religion as a certain set of practices or beliefs, or as a specific religious affiliation. This research would enable the study of issues such as practices, beliefs, meanings and belonging, as well as distancing, withdrawal, and indifference.

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Religion and Advanced Industrial Society

Cited by 31 publications

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From ‘Islamism’ to ‘Spiritualism’? The Individualization of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Iran

From ‘Islamism’ to ‘Spiritualism’? The Individualization of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Iran

Religious Pluralism and Decolonization of Indian Mind

Living and Dealing with Food in an Affluent Society—A Case for the Study of Lived (Non)Religion

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Religion and Advanced Industrial Society

Cited by 31 publications

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From ‘Islamism’ to ‘Spiritualism’? The Individualization of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Iran

From ‘Islamism’ to ‘Spiritualism’? The Individualization of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Iran

Religious Pluralism and Decolonization&nbsp;of Indian Mind

Living and Dealing with Food in an Affluent Society—A Case for the Study of Lived (Non)Religion

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Religious Pluralism and Decolonization of Indian Mind