The orthodox view is that the democracies of the western world have become increasingly secular over the twentieth century. Fewer and fewer people have chosen to believe, and the church has declined markedly as religion has changed from being part of an identity ascribed at birth to being a matter of personal choice. Choice and Religion provides a detailed critique of the 'rational choice' approach to religion to demonstrate that industrialisation has secularised the western world and that diversity, far from making religion more popular by allowing individuals to maximize their returns, undermines it. The claim that diversity and competition promote religion is refuted with evidence from a wide variety of western societies. Bruce examine the Nordic countries and the ex-communist states of eastern Europe to explore the consequences of different sorts of state regulation, and to show that ethnicity is a more powerful determinate of religious change than market structures. Where religion matters, it is not because individuals are maximising their returns, it is because it defines group identity and is heavily implicated in social conflict.

About the Author
Steve Bruce is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Aberdeen

Reviews
The notes ot the text and the bibliography will be useful to post-graduate researchers. * Douglas J. Davies, Religion Vol 31, No 1,January 2001 *
open and direct style of analysis without untoward reductionism gives this book an intellectual appeal * Douglas J. Davies, Religion Vol 31, No 1,January 2001 *
his account of relativism as a democratic theory of knowledge is as informative as it is expressly succint ... some theologians will also find this a useful book when considering the relationship between doctrine and changing social worlds * Douglas J. Davies, Religion Vol 31, No 1, January 2001 *
this volume will be of use for courses in the sociology of religion. It advances and does not simply rehearse arguments over secularisation and over what he calls the two master trends of modernisation, viz., cultural diversity and individual autonomy. * Douglas J. Davies, Religion Vol 31, No 1, January 2001 *
I much enjoyed this book as both a critical and a creative essay in the sociology of religion * Douglas J. Davies, Religion Vol 31, No 1, January 2001 *
Bruce expertly hammers in the nails with respect to secularization in Western Europe. * David Martin, TLS *
Bruce is notorious for inserting his skewer at the point of maximum leverage * David Martin, TLS *
The force of Bruce's arguments is impressive. * James A Beckford, Journal of Contemporary Religion,Vol 15. *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198295846
Author Steve Bruce
Format Hardback
Page Count 260
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 514g
Dimensions(mm) 242mm * 161mm * 19mm