Roberto Cipriani is professor of sociology at Roma Tre University in Rome, Italy. He served as president of the European Council of National Associations of Sociology and the Italian Association of Sociology, and editor-in-chief of International Sociology. Howard G. Schneiderman is professor in the department of anthropology and sociology at Lafayette College, USA. He is the editor of The Protestant Establishment Revisited and The Hindrances to Good Citizenship.

• List of Tables About the Author Introduction to the Transaction Edition: Ideology, Social Constructionism, and the Sociology of Religion by Howard Schneiderman Preface to the English Edition The Sociological Definition of Religion Part I The Origins 1. The Historical-Philosophical Background 2. August Comte (1798 1857): The Universal Religion 3. Tocqueville (1805 1859): Religion and Democracy 4. Bergson (1859 1941): Religion and elan Vital 5. The Contribution of Anthropology Part II The Classics 1. Durkheim (1858 1917): Religious Forms 2. Weber (1864 1920): Universal Religions 3. Simmel (1858 1918): Religiosity and Religion 4. Freud (1856 1939): The Psychic Dimension of Religion 5. William James (1842 1910): Psychosocial Perspective Part III The Contemporaries 1. Religion as Universal 2. The Macrosociological Approach 3. The Historical-Cultural Dynamics 4. The Frankfurt School and Religion 5. The New European Perspectives 6. The Socioanthropological Perspectives Part IV The Recent Developments 1. Secularization 2. Religious Pluralism 3. Robert Bellah (1927 2013): Civil Religion 4. North American Trends 5. The European Trends 6. Niklas Luhmann (1927 1998): Religion as Function 7. The New Religious Movements Afterword Bibliography Author Index General Index