Reshaping the sociology of religion : globalisation, spirituality and the erosion of the social

Handbooks, Companions and Readers have come to dominate much of the mainstream academic and commercial activity of the major publishing houses. As students depend more and more on the Internet as the preferred tool of study, the academic monograph struggles to survive, whereas it is assumed that handbooks and companions will at least achieve reasonable library sales. The modern publishing market is now if anything over-supplied by the substantial, multi-authored, comprehensive handbook and therefore the Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Religion competes for example with The Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion (2001) which offered full coverage of the classical tradition with wide-ranging chapters by BryanWilson, David Martin, Richard Fenn, and Thomas Luckmann. It also covered much of the important work being done in contemporary sociology by James Beckford, Steve Bruce, Roger O’Toole, Grace Davie and others.