(Un)Believing in Modern Society

"If you read just one book on the sociology of religion published in the last ten years, this is the one to choose. It provides both a synthesis of earlier research and a fresh analysis of religious change in modern society. It combines the general reach of quantitative studies with the rich detail of qualitative work. Best of all, it offers convincing explanations." - David Voas, University of Essex, UK

"This is a very important book. The theory of religious-secular competition proposed by the authors is a challenging alternative to former theories of secularization, individualization, and rational choice." - Karel Dobbelaere, University of Leuven, Belgium and Honorary President of the ISSR

"Creatively using both quantitative evidence and in-depth interviews, this book will stand as the authoritative account of religion in Switzerland at the beginning of the twenty-first century. But it is more than that. The authors' conceptual map of the Swiss religious landscape helps us think more clearly about religion elsewhere, and their explanation of recent religious trends in Switzerland rings true for other places as well." - Mark Chaves, Duke University, USA

"I really liked this book. It is well-written, clear, concise, comprehensive, and based on excellent methodology. (...) This book can serve as a model for how to conduct a comprehensive study of (non)religion in many locations around the world." - Ryan T. Cragun, The University of Tampa

"While many sociologists of religion use the ideas of competition and a spiritual marketplace to explain the growth of religion, Stolz and colleagues use "market theory" to explain what they see as the growing secularization of society." – ReligionWatch, December 2016