Title: Religious Diversity: Sociological Issues and Perspectives
Abstract: In this chapter, Beckford continues earlier work from the book Social Theory & Religion and elsewhere, doing what he tongue-in-cheek calls conceptual hygiene, that is probing into the meanings and uses of terms like religious diversity and religious pluralism. One important point is that diversity is not primarily about relations between entities: it is more about the extent to which any unit of analysis displays patterned variations. Then the author reflects on why religious diversity has become so important in sociology as well as in society. Key factors here are deregulation of religion, migration and globalization, subjectivization, consumerism and multiculturalism. Increasing religious diversity has made religion more visible in liberal democracies than at any time since possibly the seventeenth century, the author claims, and points to several dilemmas inherent in this development, such as balancing minority rights and a concern for equality.
Publication Year: 2019
Publication Date: 2019-04-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 2
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