In a market economy, however, the individual has some possibility of escaping from the power of the state.
Even if one is interested only in one's own society, which is one's prerogative, one can understand that society much better by comparing it with others.
I think what I and most other sociologists of religion wrote in the 1960s about secularization was a mistake. Our underlying argument was that secularization and modernity go hand in hand. With more m...
But we don't have an example of a democratic society existing in a socialist economy - which is the only real alternative to capitalism in the modern world.
Let me say again that the relationship is asymmetrical: there's no democracy without a market economy, but you can have a market economy without democracy.
Our institute's agenda is relatively simple. We study the relationship between social-economic change and culture. By culture we mean beliefs, values and lifestyles. We cover a broad range of issues,...