ABSTRACT
This chapter gives an introduction to some perspectives on religion found in contemporary sociology and cultural analysis. It has been common to distinguish between classical and contemporary sociology, although this distinction is often vague and fluid. The period we are discussing here begins around 1960. All the theorists included were born before the Second World War, although their theories became signi¿cant in the 1960s and have remained so until the present. We have tried to present the most important theorists who are frequently debated within contemporary sociology and cultural analysis, and we have included the notion of cultural analysis because some of these theorists are important in fields outside sociology. For example, Habermas, Bauman, and Foucault have made significant contributions within philosophy, ethics, and cultural critique.
