The development of the sociology of religion is itself rooted in some of the
social processes that have influenced religion’s role in society. Only as beliefs
and social practices lost their taken-for-granted quality could a scientific study
of them proceed. Sociology of religion was central to the focus of classical
sociology—its concern about the emerging forms of societal legitimacy, social
controls, and the place of the individual in modern society. Recent sociologi-
cal thought examines these issues with renewed fervor.