Wilson was the author of several influential books on new religious movements, including Sects and Society: A Sociological Study of the Elim Tabernacle, Christian Science, and Christadelphians (1961), Magic and the Millennium (1973), and The Social Dimensions of Sectarianism (1990).
[1] He continued his studies under the supervision of Donald MacRae at the London School of Economics, where he was awarded his PhD in 1955 for a thesis entitled Social aspects of religious sects: A study of some contemporary groups in Great Britain with special reference to a Midland city.
A year later he became a Fellow of All Souls, and returned there after each of his many sojourns in Europe, America, Africa, Asia, or Australia as a researcher or visiting professor.
In 1992 the Catholic University of Leuven, Louvain, Belgium, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the sociology of religion.
He was also a pioneer of studies of millennialism, many years before this field achieved its present visibility, in Magic and the Millennium (1973).