Penny Edgell's Books

Religion and Family in a Changing Society

By: Penny Edgell

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Religion and Family in a Changing Society

By: Penny Edgell

The 1950s religious boom was organized around the male-breadwinner lifestyle in the burgeoning postwar suburbs. But since the 1950s, family life has been fundamentally reconfigured in the United States. How do religion and family fit together today? This book examines how religious congregations in America have responded to changes in family structure, and how families participate in local religious life. Based on a study of congregations and community residents in upstate New York, sociologist Penny Edgell argues that while some religious groups may be nostalgic for the Ozzie and Harriet days, others are changing, knowing that fewer and fewer families fit this traditional pattern. In order to keep members with nontraditional family arrangements within the congregation, these innovators have sought to emphasize individual freedom and personal spirituality and actively to welcome single adults and those from nontraditional families. Edgell shows that mothers and fathers seek involvement in congregations for different reasons. Men tend to think of congregations as social support structures, and to get involved as a means of participating in the lives of their children. Women, by contrast, are more often motivated by the quest for religious experience, and can adapt more readily to pluralist ideas about family structure. This, Edgell concludes, may explain the attraction of men to more conservative congregations, and women to nontraditional religious groups.

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Page Count

232

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1400850762

ISBN 13

9781400850761

Contemporary American Religion

An Ethnographic Reader

By: Penny Edgell

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Contemporary American Religion

An Ethnographic Reader

By: Penny Edgell

No single narrative or theory can describe the varieties of religious experience in North America today. The tidy dichotomies of liberal/ conservative, public/private, local/global, and renewal/secularization make little sense once specific congregations are examined closely. To understand the shifting boundaries of contemporary religious expressions, new tools are needed. Contemporary American Religion collects qualitative, on-the-ground studies of local congregations by up-and-coming religious scholars. Ethnography combined with more traditional sociological methods, help make sense of complex religious communities—from Messianic Jews to evangelical feminists, from Gospel Hour at a gay bar to exurban megachurches. This collection covers a wide span of the religious landscape, always trying to uncover new theoretical insights. Essential reading for classes in sociology of religion, contemporary American religion, and anthropology of religion.

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Page Count

273

Publisher

Rowman Altamira

Published Date

ISBN 10

0585189870

ISBN 13

9780585189871

A Tale Of Two Cities

Global Change, Local Feeling and Everday Life in the North of England

By: Karen Evans,Penny Fraser,Ian Taylor

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A Tale Of Two Cities

Global Change, Local Feeling and Everday Life in the North of England

By: Karen Evans,Penny Fraser,Ian Taylor

A Tale of Two Cities is a study of two major cities, Manchester and Sheffield. Drawing on the work of major theorists, the authors explore the everyday life, making contributions to our understanding of the defining activities of life.

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