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Inspired by the Enlightenment’s principles of rationality, positivistic ideologies as well as the nascent modern-industrial state, sociology since its inception in Europe was conceived as a fundamentally secular enterprise. Whereas positivistic streams have been rather left aside, secularism in sociology still remains as a cornerstone of the discipline’s identity. However, is sociology in the 21st-century really ‘secular’? In this dissertation I present to the reader an empirical research about the epistemological influences of Catholicism upon sociology in Mexico, a constitutionally secular state since the 19th century. Theoretically, I draw from authors who have put forward the epistemological influences of Christianity upon western social science. I argue that these authors have unintentionally re-stated, with interesting additions, Durkheim’s rather neglected theses about the socio-religious origin of our ‘categories of thought’ –‘classification’ and ‘causality’ in particular. Although I will not attempt to trace the origins of sociological classifications and causalities back to Catholicism in Mexico, I will argue that it is possible to find salient similarities between both knowledge fields in terms of these categories and other discursive characteristics. By analysing these resemblances in a (neo)Durkheimian-Weberian frame, I will explain how Catholic discourses in Mexico, combined with the Mexican state’s teleological discourses on democracy, modernisation and progress, influence sociological discourses not through Durkheim’s ‘imitative rites’ and a priori ‘necessary connections’, but through a series of ‘bridge’ institutions and particular cultural-ideological structures. Individuals’ own religious beliefs and their deliberate and unintended interactions with these elements and their emergent properties turn apparently parochial Catholic discourses into a series of ‘discursive offensives’ which subtly yet pervasively shape common sense in society at large and also predispose sociology practitioners to adopt and develop i) ‘mono-causal’ and ‘power-over’ interpretations of social phenomena, ii) implicit and explicit dichotomistic logics as well as iii) normative-prescriptive sociological stances. In arguing this, I account for how Weberian authority models and Weberian-Mertonian religious values are not only key ‘background factors’, but also constitute actual cognitive devices in the production of sociological knowledge. I also offer empirical evidence about the role that individuals’ religious beliefs play in the conception of sociological models of power and causality and, by extension, in the construction of scientific reason or scientific beliefs. These accounts support the view of contemporary religions as plastic discourses whose ideological powers permeate, under certain historical conditions, the knowledge produced in scientific domains whose secularity has been mistakenly taken for granted. And this, I conclude, strongly suggests the need to revise the secularist foundations of sociologies of science and scientific knowledge, of sociology in general as well as current monolithic theories and paradigms of secularism and science-religion dualistic debates.

The number of Latinx in the U.S. is expected to grow to about 28 percent of the population by the year 2060. As the number of Latinx increases in the U.S. it is important to understand how cultural beliefs influence dietary behaviors as Latinx are disproportionately affected by diet related disease such as diabetes mellitus, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. The aim of this secondary data analysis is to examine the relationship between family values, gender roles, and religious values on diet patterns in adult Mexican and Cuban immigrants in Kentucky utilizing the Mexican American Cultural Values Scale. The study findings show there are no direct relationships between cultural values, and diet patterns. Implications for future research include utilizing measures of health beliefs related to diet which may provide clarity to the role cultural values play in influencing diet.

Management of water resources is a major challenge throughout the world and in many long-established societies people still use traditional water harvesting and management techniques. Despite often being seen as efficient and cost effective, traditional methods are in decline or have been abandoned in many countries. Nevertheless, traditional approaches continue to be useful in some countries, such as Nepal. The extent to which such traditional processes, in this case supply via stone spouts, may survive modernization, while fulfilling socio-cultural and other needs, is the focus of the research. The research develops an understanding of the socio-cultural and other values of stone spouts for the people of the urban and peri-urban heritage and non-heritage areas of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, in order to foster ongoing sustainable management of the remaining spouts. In order to compare the traditional stone spout management systems in both the urban and peri-urban heritage and non-heritage areas of the Kathmandu Valley, three evaluation criteria were identified from the literature to apply to the selected study areas, they are: area must have stone spouts, they needed to have a diverse range of possible users and governance systems and they needed to be logistically acceptable. Likewise, three research questions are addressed in this research: a) what are the impacts of changes in social, cultural, institutional norms and values and how do they influence the stone spout management system? b) How do modern pipe-line systems and other development activities affect traditional stone spout management systems in heritage and non-heritage areas? c) What are the implications for local communities of the incremental and ongoing loss of traditional stone spout infrastructure in terms of sustainable management of remaining spouts and water supplies? A meta-theory framework was established which synthesizes Institutional, Attachment, Central Place and Common Property theories, thus forming analytical lenses fundamental to the mixed-method research approach used in research. Field data were collected mainly using face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions, and biophysical data collected and linked to Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates. To improve the validity and consistency of the data, other data sources (such as on-site observations and document analysis) were used for triangulation purposes. The results suggest that management of spouts could both be more effective and efficient if their ownership was somehow vested in the local community as was the case with the earlier guthi system. Ongoing population growth, power cut-offs and irregular water supplies to pipe-lines have in recent times increased the “utility value” of spouts. Besides this, the religious, cultural and unique engineering values of spouts provide an incentive for people to think about the preservation and management of spouts in a sustainable way. Beginning at the early analytical assessment of the meta-theory approach, this research returned the somewhat surprising outcome that spout condition is better in non-heritage areas than in heritage areas as the latter are less affected by changing socio-cultural contexts, institutional norms and values and by dissemination of modern pipe-line technology and other development activities. Authorities could clearly be better coordinated and provide both financial and technical support aimed at solving the management issues of spouts. From this study, it is clear that it is unlikely that stone spouts will ever be the complete solution to the problem of water scarcity, but nevertheless, if well-managed this ancient system could continue to play an important role in reducing water stresses in the Kathmandu Valley while concurrently contributing to a range of other social, cultural and economic outcomes.

This thesis examines the social history of Methodists in Selwyn County between 1860 and 1913. It seeks to place these Methodists in their wider social, economic, and political context. The main aim is to explore evidence for the metamorphosis of New Zealand society, which developed from the pioneering phase to become a modern class-based society centred on the nuclear family. In this transformation, the role of Methodism in building rural community, providing social cohesion, enhancing social mobility, and making middle class rural society, along with a missed opportunity to seek social justice, early in the twentieth century, will be detailed. The intersection of Methodist religious values and colonial ideology and the Methodist contribution to rural conservatism will also be covered. What did Methodism contain that contributed both to the development of a modern New Zealand society and reduced its role in the life of this nation?

The research problems of this dissertation were: 1) A description of the perceived value of music in light of political undercurrents in Boston prior to and during the years under investigation, and 2) the profile of the constituency of the Boston School Committee and Committee on Music in 1837 and 1845. Questions addressed the effect of religious and moral concerns of the day on the decision by the School Committee in 1837 to try music in the curriculum, and the possible effect of religious politics on Lowell Mason's dismissal from the schools in 1845. In the minds of mid-nineteenth century Bostonians, religious and moral values were intrinsic to the very nature of music. Key members on the School Committee portrayed music as being spiritual yet nonsectarian in its influence. Therefore, the findings suggest that music was believed to provide common ground between opposing and diverse religious sects. Reasons given for Mason's dismissal by John Sargent, a member of the Committee on Music, showed parallels to H. W. Day's accusations in the press a year earlier that Mason had managed his position in a sectarian manner. Sargent's background supports the theory that religious politics were at work in Mason's dismissal. Although members of the School Committee of 1845 were religious, only isolated cases support the proposition that any of them would have opposed Mason strictly on the basis of religious issues. Evidence suggests that their passivity to the action by the Committee on Music was probably due to concurrent public criticism of attempts at school reform within the Committee. While under such scrutiny, Committee members' inaction regarding Mason's dismissal may have reflected a desire not to jeopardize their own positions as a political body.