British Sociological Association

Sociology of Religion Study Group


Welcome to our website

Since its foundation in 1975, the Sociology of Religion Study Group has become the second largest discipline study group within the British Sociological Association (BSA).

The Study Group's annual conferences attract a wide range of specialists and and non-specialists in contemporary religious issues and the sociology of religion. Conferences provide a forum not only for internationally renowned scholars in the field, but also increasingly for young academics and post-graduate students. A particular concern of the Study Group is to encourage younger members of the Group and to increase the profile of the Sociology of Religion within Sociology.

Click here to download a membership application form in MS Word format


Reports from Past Events

2008: Religion and Youth
Woodbrooke, Birmingham

2008: Eleventh Study Group Postgraduate Conference, Bristol

Religion, Spirituality and Gay Sexuality,
BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group Study Day, University of the West of England, Bristol,
17 November 2007

2007: Religion, Media and Culture
St Catherine's College, Oxford.

2007: Tenth Study Group Postgraduate Conference, Bristol

2006 Study Day
God Talk in Sociology and Theology
Heythrop College, London.

2006: Religion and the Individual, Manchester

2006: Ninth Post-graduate Conference

2005: Religion and Film Study Day

2005 Study Group Conference: Religion and Gender

2005: Post-graduate Conference

2004: Study Group Conference: "A Sociology of Spirituality 29 March to 1 April.

2003: Religion+Marginalisation Study Day

 

What's New

Study Day

Belief and Identity in Late Modernity:
Transcending Disciplinary Boundaries

Saturday 8 November 2008 10-4 pm
University of Sussex

A Study Day organised by ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr Abby Day, and Prof. Simon Coleman, Department of Anthropology, University of Sussex,
in conjunction with the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group.

Details and Call for Papers



Annual Conference 2009
Religion and Knowledge
30 March - 1 April 2009
St Chad's College, Durham

Details soon


Now Available

A Sociology of Spirituality

Kieran Flanagan and Peter C. Jupp
Series: Theology and Religion in Interdisciplinary Perspective Series in Association with the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group

£50.00

The emergence of spirituality in contemporary culture in holistic forms suggests that organised religions have failed. This thesis is explored and disputed in this book in ways that mark important critical divisions. This is the first collection of essays to assess the significance of spirituality in the sociology of religion. The authors explore the relationship of spirituality to the visual, individualism, gender, identity politics, education and cultural capital. The relationship between secularisation and spirituality is examined and consideration is given to the significance of Simmel in relation to a sociology of spirituality. Problems of defining spirituality are debated with reference to its expression in the UK, the USA., France and Holland. This timely, original and well structured volume provides undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers with a scholarly appraisal of a phenomenon that can only increase in sociological significance.

Ashgate

 

The British Sociological Association is a Company Limited by Guarantee (Company Number 3890729)
Registered in England and Wales. Registered Charity Number 1080235