ABSTRACT
Iceland has undergone, as has the rest of modern world, a rural-urban transition. The Icelandic case is particularly valuable for comparative sociology, especially in regard to cultural systems, because Iceland has undergone rapid and thorough modernization, but it does not have racial-ethnic diversity, regionalism, or rigid status hierarchies, any of which features complicates analyses of these kinds. Icelandic neo-paganism differs from many neo-pagan groups throughout Western world because of its living cultural heritage. The concepts of social deprivation and cultural wealth encapsulate the Icelandic condition for most of the millennium of its existence. Social deprivation results from both colonial exploitation by the Danes and natural environment of Iceland. The story of Iceland’s conversion to Christianity is unique in the annals of faith. It is also a paradigm for the study of Icelandic religious consciousness. Iceland accepted Christianity by a freely-taken decision that weighed the options in light of international political and economic considerations but also in terms of domestic tranquillity.
