Believing in Belonging Belief and Social Identity in the Modern World.

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Experience (Religion).

Belonging (Social psychology).

Physical Description:

230 pages ; 18 cm

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : Oxford Univ Pr, 2011.

Summary:

Believing in Belonging draws on empirical research exploring mainstream religious belief and identity in Euro-American countries. Starting from a qualitative study based in northern England, and then broadening the data to include other parts of Europe and North America, Abby Day explores how people 'believe in belonging', choosing religious identifications to complement other social and emotional experiences of 'belongings'. The concept of performative belief helps explain how otherwise non-religious people can bring into being a Christian identity related to social belongings.

What is often dismissed as 'nominal' religious affiliation is far from an empty category, but one loaded with cultural 'stuff' and meaning. Day introduces an original typology of natal, ethnic, and aspirational nominalism that challenges established disciplinary theory in both the European and North American schools of the sociology of religion that assert that most people are 'unchurched' or 'believe without belonging' while privately maintaining beliefs in God and other 'spiritual' phenomena. Book jacket.

Contents:

Section 1 Methods and Theoretical Frameworks

1 Genealogies of Belief in Sociology and Anthropology: Transcending Disciplinary Boundaries 3

2 A Research Journey Begins 28

Section 2 Cosmologies of the Mainstream

3 Believing in Belonging: The Cultural Act of Claiming Identity 47

4 Youth and Belief: Belonging to Connected Selves 74

5 The Sensuous Social Supernatural 98

6 Believing in Fate: Covering the Cracks in Belonging 115

7 Boundaries of Belonging: Doing Unto Ourselves 129

Section 3 Relocating Belief and Belonging

8 Theorizing Belief: A Holistic, Organic, Seven-Dimensional Model 155

9 Understanding Christian Nominalism: Rethinking Christian Identity 174

10 Conclusion: Relocating Belief to the Social 191.

ISBN:

9780199577873

0199577870

OCLC:

713182545