Local Churches in New Urban Britain, 1890-1975

This book contributes to the ongoing academic debates on secularisation--or the marginalisation of mainstream religious beliefs and practices--in twentieth-century British society. It addresses three areas in which the current literature is weak: the 'agency of organised religion in the outcomes described as secularisation, rather than explanations based on external challenges (such as the 'modernisation of society and thought, increased affluence, and more leisure choices); a focus on urban areas transformed by twentieth-century industrialisation and suburbanisation; and an extended time period to the end of the third quarter of the twentieth century, allowing proper consideration of long-term trends alongside short-term upheavals such as the World Wars, the Great Depression, and the social changes of the 1960s. Further, the book employs a distinctly different, highly data-driven approach, considers all religious movements, and sets its conclusions within the wider social and cultural context of a representative community.