Ranking Faiths: Religious Stratification in America

“Ranking Faiths is good teaching. It would be a useful primary or secondary textbook for courses in the sociology of religion, and the study of social stratification.”

“Ranking Faiths: Religious Stratification in America covers all the bases. Davidson and Pyle present a work that is, first, a solid piece of scholarship on the sociology of religion and social stratification. Second, it is a comprehensive teaching tool on religion, social class and the theory and methods used to study their interplay. Third, it calls forth continued research by setting up an agenda that advances scholarship linking the sociology of religion and social stratification. This book is innovative scholarship”

Their work examines religion in ways that go far beyond how it has been used to exploit women and other minorities. They argue persuasively that religion has shaped American society and culture from its origins; religion continues to carry resources for those who already have them; religion has been, and remains, a force for social change.

Ranking Faiths is good teaching. It would be a useful primary or secondary textbook for courses in the sociology of religion, and the study of social stratification. Davidson and Pyle use religion to teach stratification; they use stratification to teach the study of religion. And their triangulation of methods is a useful primer on the practice of research.

Ranking Faiths is a gift to scholars and teachers. It is also a primer for politicians, business leaders and their constituents and customers. The book offers a greater understanding of how religion in society has shaped, and continues to shape, our values and serves our interests.

As someone who takes seriously the relationship between religion and social inequality, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It contains a wealth of information that has continued relevance for our own day. These authors are to be commended for providing this excellent analysis of religious stratification.