This book explores the inter-relationship between religious groups and wider society and examines the way religious groups change in relation to societal norms, potentially to the point of undergoing processes of ‘internal secularisation’ within secular and secularist cultures. Received sociological wisdom suggests that over time religious groups moderate their claims. This comes with the potential loss of new adherents, for theorists of secularisation suggest unique or universal, rather than moderate, truth claims appear attractive to would-be recruits. At the same time, religious groups need to appear equivalent, in terms of harmlessness, to state-sanctioned religious expression in order to secure rights. Thus, religious organisations face a perpetual conundrum. Using British Quakers as a case study as they moved from a counter-cultural group to an accepted and accepting part of twentieth- and twenty-first-century society, the author builds on models of religion and non-religion in terms of flows and explores the consequences of religious assimilation when the process of constructing both distinctive appeal and ‘harmlessness’ in pursuit of rights is played out in a secular culture. A major contribution to the sociology of religion, The Cultivation of Conformity presents a new theory of internal secularisation as the ultimate stage of the cultivation of conformity, and a model of the way sects and society inter-relate.

Non-conformity in American public life -- Countering conformity through intellectual freedom in Tocqueville's Democracy in America -- Contesting conformity through individuality in Mill's On liberty -- Refusing conformity through creativity in Nietzsche.

World renowned psychologist Robert Sternberg presents a fresh and compelling picture of the creative process from the inception of an idea to its ultimate success. With illuminating examples, Sternberg reveals the paths we all can take to become more creative and shows how institutions can learn to foster creativity. “What is creative is new and often brings about positive change. But what is new is also strange, and what is strange can be scary, even threatening—which is why ‘they’ don’t want to hear it. But they are unwise not to listen, for the creative person with original ideas is the one who, with support, will advance and improve the milieu to the benefit of all.” —from Defying the Crowd

Fairfield (philosophy, Queens U., Canada) summarizes major Western thought on life and death for the general reader. He presents excerpts from the writings of authors such as Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Freud, and Nietzsche which address the fear of death and the search for a meaningful life. Coverage ext