Module Code: POU44271
Module Name: Religion and Politics 2025-26
- ECTS Weighting: 10
- Semester/Term Taught: Semester 1
- Contact Hours: One two-hour seminar per week
- Module Personnel: Gizem Arikan
- Office hours: TBC
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students will be able to:
- identify and explain the major concepts and theoretical approaches in the study of religion and politics,
- evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different institutional, social, and psychological approaches linking religion to various social and political outcomes.
- discuss the dual and often complex influence of religion on various social and political outcomes.
Module Learning Aims
Critically evaluate the role of religion in public life using concepts and theories from multiple disciplines; assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of different approaches in the study of religion and politics; explain how and why religion often has contradictory effects on social and political outcomes.
Module Content
This module examines the relationship between religion and socio-political outcomes from multiple perspectives. It surveys classical approaches and recent empirical studies in the study of religion, society, and politics from multiple disciplines including sociology, psychology, economics, and political science to understand and explain the enduring effect of religion on political life. Religion is often a double-edged sword: On the one hand, it is associated with pro-social and cooperative outcomes; on the other hand, religion often underlies prejudice, violence, and conflict. The major goal of the module is to explain the social, institutional, and psychological dynamics that explain this dual role of religion in social and political outcomes.
Recommended Reading List
- Inglehart, Ronald. 2021. Religion’s Sudden Decline: What’s Causing It and What Comes Next? Oxford University Press.
- Jenkins, Philip. 2020. Fertility and Faith: The Demographic Revolution and the Transformation of World Religions. Baylor University Press.
- Fox, Jonathan. 2015. Political Secularism, Religion, and the State. Cambridge University Press
Assessment Details :
Short assignments - weighted 10%
Attendance and participation – weighted 5%
Mid-term essay - weighted 35%
Final Essay - weighted 50%
Reassessment(coursework) - 100%