Bryan Stanley Turner (born 1945) is a British and Australian sociologist. He was born in January 1945 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England. Turner has held university appointments in England, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Holland, Singapore and the United States. He was a Professor of Sociology at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

(1998–2005) and Research Team Leader for the Religion Cluster at the Asian Research Institute,

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

(2005–2008). Turner is currently Professor of the Sociology of Religion at the Institute for Religion, Politics and Society at the

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamation ...

. He is also faculty Associate of the Center for Cultural Sociology at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, Research Associate, GEMASS at the

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

, Fellow of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Aus ...

and Member of the American Sociological Research Association.

Early life

Turner attended Harborne Collegiate School for Boys and George Dixon Grammar School. He went on to the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

, where he completed a first class

honours Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself as a code of conduct, and has various elements such as valo ...

degree in Sociology in 1966. He received his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leeds in 1970 with a thesis titled "The Decline of Methodism: an analysis of religious commitment and organisation". He has received several honorary degrees recognising his contributions to Sociology:

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

in 1987,

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

at the

in 2002 and Doctor of Letters at the University of Cambridge in 2009.

Career

Professor Turner's research interests include

sociological theory A sociological theory is a that intends to consider, analyze, and/or explain objects of social reality from a sociological perspective,Macionis, John and Linda M. Gerber. 2010. ''Sociology'' (7th Canadian ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson ...

, sociology of

globalisation Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

and

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

, concentrating on such issues as religious conflict and the

modern state A state is a political entity that regulates society and the population within a definite territory. Government is considered to form the fundamental apparatus of contemporary states. A country often has a single state, with various administrat ...

, religious authority and electronic information, religious

consumerism Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...

and youth cultures, human rights and religion, the human body, medical change, and religious cosmologies. Turner wrote his first book ''Weber and Islam'' in 1974 and has since established an international reputation for his work on religion,

Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...

and

comparative sociology Comparative sociology involves comparison of the social processes between nation states, or across different types of society (for example capitalism, capitalist and socialist). There are two main approaches to comparative sociology: some seek si ...

. He is the founding editor of the journals: ''Body & Society'' (with Mike Featherstone), ''

Citizenship Studies ''Citizenship Studies'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed interdisciplinary academic journal covering the study of citizenship and related concepts. It was established in 1997 with Bryan Turner (City University of New York and Australian Catholic Univ ...

'', and ''Journal of Classical Sociology'' (with John O'Neill). He is also an editorial member of numerous journals including: ''British Journal of Sociology'', ''European Journal of Social Theory'', ''Contemporary Islam'' and ''Journal of Human Rights''.CSCMS Profile – http://uws.edu.au/cscms/centre_for_the_study_of_contemporary_muslim_societies/key_people/professor_bryan_turner He is the editor of two book series for Anthem Press: ''Key Issues in Modern Sociology'' and ''Tracts for Our Times''; and also of ''Religion in Contemporary Asia'' for Routledge.

Professional recognition

Selected bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Bryan Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of Leeds CUNY Graduate Center faculty Fellows of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Living people Academics of the London School of Economics British sociologists Sociologists of religion Medical sociologists 1945 births Academic staff of Western Sydney University Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Members of the Sociological Research Association Max Weber scholars