The Secular Revolution: Power, Interests, and Conflict in the Secularization of American Public Life

by Christian Smith

Sociologists, historians, and other social observers have long considered the secularization of American public life over the past hundred and thirty years to be an inevitable and natural outcome of modernization. This groundbreaking work rejects this view and fundamentally rethinks the historical and theoretical causes of the secularization of American public life between 1870 and 1930. Christian Smith and his team of contributors boldly argue that the declining authority of religion was not the by-product of modernization, but rather the intentional achievement of cultural and intellectual elites, including scientists, academics, and literary intellectuals, seeking to gain control of social institutions and increase their own cultural authority.

Writing with vigor and a broad intellectual grasp, the contributors examine power struggles and ideological shifts in various social sectors where the public authority of religion has diminished, in particular education, science, law, and journalism. Together the essays depict a cultural and institutional revolution that is best understood in terms of individual agency, conflicts of interest, resource mobilization, and struggles for authority. Engaging both sociological and historical literature, The Secular Revolution offers a new theoretical framework and original empirical research that will inform our understanding of American society from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. The ramifications of its provocative and cogent thesis will be felt throughout sociology, religious studies, and our general thinking about society for years to come.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Sociology

484 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Christian Smith is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. Smith's research focuses primarily on religion in modernity, adolescents, American evangelicalism, and culture.

Reviews

[Harold Koenig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a remarkable compilation of observations covering the past 140 years. The essay on "The Christian Century" and the decline of some liberal churches away from theism and prayer and toward good works and psychotherapy is especially interesting.

If you're the kind of person who wants to know Materialism, Empiricism, and Utilitarianism came to dominate almost all thinking, I expect you'll find this collection of essays informative and gloomily fascinating.

[Elizabeth]

Required reading for class:
* Christian Smith, "Preface" and "Introduction" (vii-96)
* David Sikkink, "From Christian Civilization to Individual Civil Liberties: Framing Religion in the Legal Field, 1880-1949" (310-354)
* George M. Thomas, Lisa R. Peck and Channin G. De Haan, "Reforming Education, Transforming Religion, 1876-1931" (355-394)
* John H. Evans, "After the Fall: Attempts to Establish an Explicitly Theological Voice in Debates over Science and Medicine after 1960" (434-462)
* one other article in this volume (student choice) -- I chose: Keith G. Meador, " 'My Own Salvation': The Christian Century and Psychology's Secularizing of American Protestantism" (269-309)