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Roy Wallis

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(1945-1990) Sociologist of religion. Wallis's career took him from a junior lectureship in 1977 at the University of Stirling, Scotland, to the established chair of sociology at the Queen's University of Belfast, where he became Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and then Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 1989. Despite this move into university management and his untimely death, he made significant contributions to the sociology of religion and social movements.

Wallis was one of an impressive generation of students of Bryan Wilson at Oxford. In his doctoral thesis on Scientology, subsequently published as The Road to Total Freedom (Heinemann 1976), he first displayed characteristic skill in assimilating and simplifying a large amount of diverse ma (1945-1990) Sociologist of religion. Wallis's career took him from a junior lectureship in 1977 at the University of Stirling, Scotland, to the established chair of sociology at the Queen's University of Belfast, where he became Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and then Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 1989. Despite this move into university management and his untimely death, he made significant contributions to the sociology of religion and social movements.

Wallis was one of an impressive generation of students of Bryan Wilson at Oxford. In his doctoral thesis on Scientology, subsequently published as The Road to Total Freedom (Heinemann 1976), he first displayed characteristic skill in assimilating and simplifying a large amount of diverse material into a parsimonious reworking of the classic church-sect typology that also included a denomination-cult dimension. He argued that the bulk of what interested us in such differentiation could be traced to two simple principles: the extent to which the ideology saw itself as uniquely (rather than pluralistically) legitimate, and the extent to which the ideology was viewed as respectable (rather than deviant) by the surrounding society.

His interest in new religious movements led to a general study, The Elementary Forms of the New Religious Life (Routledge 1984), which again showed his skill at going to the heart of the matter in categorizing new religious movements as world-affirming, world-rejecting, and world-accommodating.

Wallis also produced a theory of factionalism and schism in Salvation and Protest (Pinter 1979), a theory of charisma in his edited collection Millennialism and Charisma (Queen's University of Belfast 1982), and a series of robust defenses of the secularization thesis, usually presented as criticisms of the Stark and Bainbridge theory of religion. Less well known is his interest in the dividing lines between science, religion, and medicine. He edited or coedited three collections of essays in this area, to which he made important original contributions: Marginal Medicine (with Peter Morley, Owen 1976), Culture and Curing (with Peter Morley, Owen 1978), and On the Margins of Science (Sociological Review Monographs 1979). ...more

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Roy Wallis’s books

Average rating: 4.0 · 17 ratings · 1 review · 15 distinct works

	The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology 4.22 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 1976 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	On the Margins of Science: The Social Construction of Rejected Knowledge (Sociological Review Monograph #27) liked it 3.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1979	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Marginal Medicine by Roy Wallis (Editor), Peter Morley (Editor) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1976 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The elementary forms of the new religious life really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1984 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	" No Surrender! " : Paisleyism and the politics of ethnic identity in Northern Ireland 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sectarianism: Analyses of religious and non-religious sects (Contemporary issues series ; 10) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1975 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Salvation and Protest: Studies of Social and Religious Movements 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1979 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rebirth of the Gods? Reflections on the New Religions in the West 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Legs Eleven: A Pawnography 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Man Who Could Not Love 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2004	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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