The challenge of modernity/post modernity in the sociology of religion

Type :

Presentation

Pages :

9 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

12/04/2008

Category :

Social studies

Sub category :

Sociology

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Summary :

Introduction.
Transformations and challenges.
Why post-modernity?
1. Post-modernity - sense or is just a passing fad.
2. The instrumental (purposive) rationality.
3. The fragmented group identity.
4. The realization of crisis.
5. Globalization.
Religion in post-modernity.
Fundamentalisms.
Globalization and religion.
The dilemma of secularization.
New religious movements and new age.
The rational choice theory in sociology of religion.
Popular religions.
Conclusion.

Abstract

The rapid changes that took place in the last decades of the 20th century had a deep impact on the religious landscape as well. The new phenomena present a double challenge to the sociology of religion: on the one hand, it has to review, refine and reinterpret the classical statements in order to assess their validity in contemporary society. On the other hand, it has to relate the changes in the religious situation to the overall transformations of society.It was developed the fundamental categorical system for the sociological study of religion, and the system of categories elaborated by them constitutes the basic discourse in sociology of religion. However, these are increasingly becoming the subject of critical considerations. The main thrust of the critique is that the classical discourse represents a Western, Eurocentric bias, therefore cannot take into consideration the social, cultural and religious dynamics of non-Western societies. The secularization theory (and amongst the contemporary theories the rational choice theory of religion) are in the crossfire of critics. Even the critics operate with the same concepts as the classic theorists, at best there are efforts to reinterpret their content or demonstrate their restricted validity.