Critique of Comte's concept of religion and its place in his thinking on politics, sociology and philosophy of science.

Andrew Wernick is Professor of Cultural Studies and Sociology at Trent University, Ontario, Canada. He is Director of the Center for the Study of Theory, Culture and Politics, and Director of the Graduate Program in Methodologies for the Study of Western History and Culture. His publications include Promotional Culture (1991), Shadow of Spirit: Religion and Postmodernism (with P Berry, 1993) and Images of Ageing (with M Featherstone, 1994).

Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction: rethinking Comte; 2. The system and its logic (1): from positive philosophy to social science; 3. The system and its logic (2): from sociology to the subjective synthesis; 4. Religion and the crisis of industrialism; 5. Love and the social body; 6. The path to perfection; 7. Humanity as 'le vrai grand-être'; 8. Socio-theology after Comte; References; Index.