@article {Menchik:2017:0010-4159:561,
title = "The Constructivist Approach to Religion and World Politics",
journal = "Comparative Politics",
parent_itemid = "infobike://cuny/cp",
publishercode ="cuny",
year = "2017",
volume = "49",
number = "4",
publication date ="2017-07-01T00:00:00",
pages = "561-581",
itemtype = "ARTICLE",
issn = "0010-4159",
eissn = "2151-6227",
url = "https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cuny/cp/2017/00000049/00000004/art00008",
doi = "doi:10.5129/001041517821273035",
author = "Menchik, Jeremy",
abstract = "The new generation of scholarship on religion and world politics is moving beyond the flawed paradigms of the past. The author explains why classic secularization theory is widely doubted before evaluating books that represent the three approaches of the most recent research. The newest
entry, the "constructivist" approach, is examined in depth; it draws on social theory and cultural anthropology to better theorize secularism as an analytical category and to explain how (religious) ideas and actors shape major political outcomes. The "revising secularization" approach modifies
classic secularization theory. The "religious economies" approach marries rational choice with the economic sociology of religion. The author discusses the strengths and weaknesses of all three approaches while arguing against the search for a grand theory of religion.",
}