Unit information: Religion and Politics in the West in 2018/19

Unit name	Religion and Politics in the West
Unit code	SOCIM0006
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Sealy
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

What is and ought to be the relationship between religion and politics? In the late twentieth century most political theorists and most West European and North American publics thought these were uncontentious subjects. Yet these topics have emerged as important across the social sciences with some challenging ‘secularism’ as discriminatory and unjust to religious citizens. In Western Europe, Muslim political assertiveness, following a logic of minority rights seem to have unsettled status quo institutional arrangements and provoked counter-assertions on the part of those who want to ‘privatise’ religion, or alternatively to ‘nationalise’ it or ‘Europeanise’ it. This course will identify the various Church-State compromises or antagonisms to be found in the West and assess the claims that today we are witnessing a ‘crisis of secularism’ and are transitioning into a ‘post-secularism’.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Upon completing the unit, students will:

1. demonstrate a critical understanding of the arguments for and against varied forms of political secularisms and why political secularism is becoming contested in a number of countries
2. critically engage with and evaluate what secularism means in specific political terms in a number of policy areas in different countries
3. make detailed and appropriate use of these insights in developing an informed perspective on multiculturalism that contributes meaningfully to contemporary debates.

Teaching Information

10x weekly two-hour seminars

Assessment Information

• Over the course of the unit, students will: prepare and deliver a group seminar presentation (formative assessment); (learning outcomes 2, 3 and 5)
• plan and draft a 4,000-word assessed essay (100% summative assessment) (learning 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5).

Reading and References

Core readings are likely to include the following:

Berger, P., G. Davie, et al. (2008). Religious America, secular Europe?: a theme and variation. Aldershot, Ashgate. Dinham, A. et al (eds) Faith in the Public Realm, Bristol: Policy Press.

Habermas, J. (2006). "Religion in the public sphere." European Journal of Philosophy 14(1): 1-25. Laborde, C. Critical Republicanism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Levey, G. and T. Modood (eds) Secularism, Religion and Multicultural Citizenship, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Scott, J. The Politics of the Veil: Princeton: Princeton University Press