Fundamentalism - Steve Bruce

The new edition of Steve Bruce's Fundamentalism grapples with thecombination of social strains and religious ideas that haveproduced an explosion of fundamentalist activity in the wake of9/11.

In a direct and punchy style, the new edition of his bookinvestigates what lies behind the actions of Al-Qaeda, suicidebombings and the 'war against terror', and also gets to grips withthe continuing rise of the Christian Right in the USA. It offersnew insights into the Protestant fundamentalism of the Americanpolitical right-wing, looking at the influence issues such asabortion, gay rights and 'intelligent design' have had on USforeign policy and domestic politics.

Bruce's broad sociological analysis rejects the narrowly-conceivednotion that fundamentalists are suffering from some kind ofabnormal psychology, persuasively demonstrating fundamentalism'simportance as a symptom of rapid social change.

Social science has generally focused on the social circumstancesthat produce extremist movements and regarded their religiousideologies as window-dressing. This study takes the religiouselements of fundamentalism seriously.

Topics tackled in the book include:

* Why are some religions more likely than others to producefundamentalism?

* Why do they differ in their willingness to use violence to pursuetheir goals?

* Does fundamentalism pose a serious challenge or sustainablealternative to the secular, liberal democracy of Westernsociety?

This thought-provoking and highly topical book will be essentialreading for students of any discipline drawing on the sociology ofreligion. It will also appeal to those beyond the academiccommunity who want to know what fundamentalism really means today.