View Specification Documentnew name: Religion, Ritual and Society: Anthropological and Sociological Perspectives SOCIO4003
- Academic Session: 2026-27
- School: School of Social and Political Sciences
- Credits: 20
- Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
- Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2
- Available to Visiting Students: Yes
- Collaborative Online International Learning: No
- Curriculum For Life: No
Short Description
This course introduces students to key anthropological and sociological theories and debates concerning religion. Drawing on a wide range of global ethnographic case studies, students will explore the diverse cosmologies, beliefs, and rituals through which religion is lived and understood across cultures. Through this broad comparative perspective, the course encourages students to reflect critically on their own culturally situated assumptions about what religion is and how it operates within social life. At a time when mainstream understandings of religion are increasingly essentialised and dehistoricised, the course foregrounds the historically contingent ways in the category of religion has been socially constructed, and invites students to critically examine contemporary debates over its role in society, culture, and politics.
Timetable
20 contact hours over the course of a single semester. This will normally consist of 2 hours per week and may be a combination of lectures and seminars/workshops.
Requirements of Entry
Recommended
Entry to Honours Sociology requires a grade point average of 12 (Grade C) over Sociology 2A and Sociology 2B as a first attempt.
Excluded Courses
None
Co-requisites
None.
Assessment
One 4000 words book review (summative)
Course Aims
The course aims to provide students with a thorough grounding in the key principles and theoretical frameworks of the anthropology and sociology of religion. It offers opportunities to develop advanced skills in the critical discussion and analysis of core anthropological and sociological texts. In addition, the course seeks to foster reflexive engagement with students' own cultural and social contexts, while enabling them to address the complexities and challenges inherent in cross-cultural comparison. This engagement and skills will be used to analyse the intricacies of the how religious identities and practices are reimagined, represented and contested today.
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
By the end of this course students will be able to:
■ recognise and critically assess key concepts and theories in the anthropology and sociology of religion;
■ demonstrate knowledge of the religious beliefs, cosmologies and rituals of different cultures;
■ competently employ anthropological and sociological perspectives in the analysis of contemporary and historical religious phenomena and issues;
■ formulate, investigate, and discuss relevant anthropological and sociological questions on religious debates through the analysis of scholarly monographs;
■ apply a critical appreciation of the dangers that ethnocentric representations and approaches pose to the cross-cultural study of religion.