Religion and the State: A Comparative Sociology (Key Issues in Modern Sociology)

With a clear statement of the theoretical issues in the debates about secularization and post-secularism, ‘Religion and the State: A Comparative Sociology’ considers a number of major case studies – from China, Europe, Singapore and South Asia – in order to understand the rise of public religions in the modern state. By distinguishing between political secularization – the separation of state and religion – and social secularization – the transformation of the everyday practice of religion – this volume offers an integrating framework within which to analyze these different societies.

Jack Barbalet is Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of Sociology at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Adam Possamai is Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Western Sydney and President of the Research Committee on Religion at the International Sociological Association.

Bryan S. Turner is the Presidential Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and Director of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies, University of Western Sydney.