Debates on secularisation theories

This book aimed to provide a systematic analysis of the assumptions of the secularization paradigm and debates on secularization theories and process present in the field of sociology of religion. It was an attempt to reconstruct elements of the process of building, stabilizing and evolution of the secularization paradigm in sociology of religion. It aimed also to analyze the main arguments used by opponents and proponents of the secularization thesis in their discussions on this approach. First secularization theories were build in the 1960s (e.g. Wilson 1969 [1966]; Parsons 1966; Berger, 1997 [1967]; Luckmann 1996 [1967]; Bellah 1970). Putting it in most general terms, they focus on the change of religion’s role in the lives of individuals and in societies. These theories describe the elements which influence the course and consequences of the secularization process. Despite a variety of opinions - to a great extent resulting from accepting different definitions of religion in each theory - on the roots, course and consequences of the process of secularization, comparative analysis of theories allowed a broader model to be built including all these theories. None of the theories is equal with the model, however, each fits into it. this model can be called the paradigm in the field of sociology of religion which has dominated in that discipline for most of the time of its existence. Critical comments were raised from the moment the first secularization theories emerged This initiated ongoing discussion between opponents and proponents of this theoretical approach. The main points oscillated between the questions of the reality of the secularization processes and the theoretical model explaining this process. In other words, the discussions are about the adequacy of existing theoretical models and the reality of the secularization process itself. From the 1980s, intensification in the discussion was evident. There were several reasons for this. Firstly, new observations and data showed the worldwide revitalization of individual religiosity as well as new social involvement of religion. Secondly, the first articles announcing a new, religious market theory, an alternative to the secularization thesis, were published. This new approach was supposed to explain all the anomalies which constituted a challenge to secularization theories. In the 1990s, opponents of secularization theories announced that the ‘old’ paradigm was collapsing. Nonetheless, the emergence of new theories and persistence of the secularization theories suggest that we are in fact witnessing the coexistence of various theoretical approaches, specific to the particular dimension, in the contemporary sociology of religion. The main method used in the research done for the book is analysis of secondary material, particularly using content analysis. The materials used can be divided into three categories: - comparative analysis of secularisation theories - articles and books published in the 1970 and 1960s which discussed the assumptions and claims of the various theories - analysis of the "exploitation" of the paradigm - articles from the main sociology and sociology of religion journals from 1970-79 - reconstruction of debates on secularisation - articles and publications on the issues of the theory and paradigm of secularisation from 1980-2006. The analysis covered publications in English and French, which, while not reflecting the whole academic discourse on the subject, gave access to the most important contributions in North American and European academic circles. The book is divided into six chapters, which can be divided into three general sections. The first part (chapters 1-2) attempts to reconstruct the theoretical and social context of the first secularisation theories. It introduces elements of reflections of the Enlightenment on religion and a more precise reconstruction of the views of the classic writers of sociology on the place and functions of religion in pre-modern and modern societies. It also presents an overview of the theoretical research and discussions on development and transformations in post-war American and European sociology of religion. The second part (chapters 3-5) reconstructs the secularisation paradigm. The first two of these chapters give a comparative analysis of the secularisation theories developed in the 1960s and 1970s, conducted on two levels: - descriptive level of theory - comparison of empirical data to which the various theories refer and reconstruction of the main concepts employed in these theories - hypotetical level of theory - comparison of theoretical concepts employed in the various theories. The main aim, particularly realised in chapter 4, was to reconstruct a more general model, i.e. a secularisation paradigm. Chapter 5 contains the results of analysis designed to test whether the secularisation paradigm was in fact used in research and discussions in Europe and North America from the time of the first theories in the late 1960s to the appearance of the first publications heralding a new theoretical approach in the sociology of religion. The third part (chapter 6) attempts to reconstruct the main threads of the debate on secularisation theories from the 1980s until 2006. This is looked at in terms of both methodological and empirical discussions. The book’s conclusion traces the evolution of the secularisation paradigm and aims to put in context the discussions on the paradigm by comparing it to other theoretical perspectives of the sociology of religion.