Bellah, Robert N.

Robert Neelly Bellah (b. 1927) is an American cultural sociologist and sociologist of religion. His contributions have exerted a supreme influence on American postwar cultural studies and the sociology of religion. His widely acclaimed efforts to explore the intellectual roots of contemporary American culture have been repeatedly awarded. He received the U.S. “National Humanities Medal” in 2000.

Bellah grew up in Los Angeles. What proved to be of some significance for his scientific development is the strong Protestant-Presbyterian climate of the family in which he was raised, which likely prepared him for his academic interest. During the course of the Second World War, his studies in sociology, anthropology, and Far Eastern languages at Harvard fostered a shift away from his familiar religious convictions, toward Marxism. Under ...