Uncovering the rational choice elements in Karl Marx's theory of religion: Implications for the sociology of religion's agenda for progress

Rodney Stark and his associates have been advocating Rational Choice Theory as a new theoretical paradigm for the sociology of religion. Karl Marx's theory of religion has been dismissed by these rational choice advocates as constitutive of the outmoded "old paradigm." Yet they have overlooked that Marx's theory upholds the basic premises of contemporary Rational Choice Theory. A close analysis of Marx's theory of religion uncovers rational choice elements that anticipate the more formalized method of Stark and his associates. Marx's theory is still relevant for contemporary sociology of religion insofar as it reveals that Stark's paradigm can be modified by: (1) focusing on how materialistic and idealistic dimensions of religion work in tandem in creating and sustaining a religious worldview; (2) accounting for why economic terminology is descriptively useful; (3) understanding that a single paradigmatic general theory can distort the historical, geographical, and social contexts of religious data.