Sociology Lunchtime Seminar: The Sociology of Religion without ‘Religion’?

Sociology Lunchtime Seminar: The Sociology of Religion without ‘Religion’? Prospects for the New Sociologies of Existentiality, Worldview and Sacrality
Speaker: Dr Lois Lee, Senior Lecturer, University of Kent
Chair: Dr Robert Dorschel, Assistant Professor in Digital Sociology, University of Cambridge
Abstract:
In the context of renewed mainstream sociological interest in religion, this talk reflects on the relationship between the social sciences and religion - what this relationship has been, what it is today, and what it could be.
Some scholars have argued that a new phase in this relationship has come into being, but others doubt whether effective, creative and long-lasting ways of framing new sociological research have yet been found. Dr Lee argues that the concept of ‘religion’ may be the major problem. This talk will show how the success of projects excavated from the study of religion - the study of the sacred, and the special - pave the way for further ‘projects of extraction’, and identifies new multi-disciplinary explorations of ‘existentiality’ and ‘worldview’ as offering significant opportunities for future sociological work. It highlights the potential for collaboration with work within philosophy and political theory that have not so far benefited from sociological perspectives.
Lois Lee is Senior Lecturer in Secular Studies at the University of Kent. She is a sociologist and social theorist, specialising in the formation and transformation of existential values and culture. She led the Understanding Unbelief research programme between 2017 and 2021, and co-leads the Explaining Atheism research programme. Her books include Recognizing the Non-religious: Reimagining the Secular (OUP, 2015), the Oxford Dictionary of Atheism (OUP, 2016), and Negotiating Religion: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives (Routledge, 2017). She has written and talked about her research for wide audiences, including the BBC, LBC, Guardian, New Scientist, Der Spiegel, and Southbank Centre.
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