Professor Linda Woodhead, professor of sociology of religion at Lancaster University and co-host of the Westminster Faith Debates, said modern medicine advances had seen a change in people's attitudes about death.

BBC: Assisted suicide 'supported' by religious Britons

Still, it would be naive to try to understand the spread of a 500m-strong religion without reference to sociology.

ECONOMIST: Pentecostals

The methodologies of examining hip hop are borrowed from sociology, politics, religion, economics, urban studies, journalism, communications theory, American studies, transatlantic studies, black studies, history, musicology, comparative literature, English, linguistics, and other disciplines.

NPR: Author Comes to Hip-Hop Music's Defense