Admission requirements
This course is open to all students with an academic interest in the subject matter.
Description
This course gives an overview of the most important themes in the sociology of religion. It is comprised of three parts.
The first part, “Religion and Society”, introduces sociology and sociology of religion as academic disciplines and discusses the structural relationship between religion and society/social life. Central questions in this part include: ‘What is particular about the sociological approach to religion?’ ‘How does religion and society relate to and interact with each other?’ And, ‘Is religion an individual or social phenomenon?’
The second part, “Modernisation and Religion: Secularisation or Transformation?”, substitutes the structural perspective for a more historical one. We explore the secularisation thesis, i.e. the notion that religion (necessarily) looses power, prestige, and plausibility as a result of modernisation, and evaluate alternatives to this master narrative. Drawing on historical and statistical material we assess the validity of the secularisation thesis for the Netherlands, and compare the Dutch situation with that of other Western countries (especially the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, and the United States).
The third part, “Contemporary Religious Pluralism”, tackles three issues of particular importance to the sociology of religion. These are (a) globalisation and its influence on religion, both in the West and elsewhere, (b) rise of new forms of modern religion, such as fundamentalism and spirituality, and © the challenges of multicultural society.
Course objectives
After successfully completing the course, students know and understand the most important theories about religion and processes of religious change in the modern world. Concretely, this entails
(1) that students can reflect on the aims and perspective of the sociology of religion as an academic discipline;
(2) that students can explain the main points of a number of theories about religion by classic and contemporary sociologists of religion:
(3) that students can adopt a well-argued position in the debate about religious change in the (late) modern world – defending, for instance, the secularisation thesis or the transformation thesis, and being able to explicate in detail what these processes of change entail;
(4) that students can explain how the late modern religious field is structured, i.e. where we can find religion today within and outside institutions, and which types of religiosity and religious belonging characterise late modern religion; and
(5) that students can critically test various sociological theories against empirical reality.
Timetable
Timetable Religiewetenschappen
Mode of instruction
Lecture.
Students are given a few questions to go with the literature and expected to be ready to discuss the literature in class.
Course Load
Total work load: 5 × 28 = 140 hours
Time spent attending lectures: 2 × 13 = 26 hours
Time spent studying compulsory readings: c. 462 pages / 7 p/h = 66 hours
Mid-term exam = 18 hours
Take home exam = 30 hours
Assessment method
The final mark is a weighted average of two marks:
Written mid-term take-home exam: 30%.
Written end-term take-home exam: 70%.
To pass the course, students must score a sufficient mark (6,0) as the weighted average of the two tests.
Resit: A re-exam is available for both test units. In either case, students are given a chance to hand in a new version of the take-home exam two weeks after the original deadline.
Blackboard
The course makes use of Blackboard. All communication will take place via Blackboard, additional information about the course will be available via Blackboard, and assignments must be handed in via Blackboard.
Reading list
Students are required to buy Alan Aldridge (2013), Religion in the Contemporary World: A Sociological Introduction, Third edition, Cambridge & Malden, MA: Polity Press.
A reader for the course will be available from the Copy & Print Shop in the Lipsius building. In August, you can order it from “http://www.readeronline.leidenuniv.nl/”
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Registration Studeren à la carte
Registration Contractonderwijs
Contact
For more information about the course, contact Dr. M.A. Davidsen
Remarks
The course is taught in English, but the mid-term and end-term take-home exams may be written in Dutch.