RT Article
T1 Secularization Theory’s Differentiation Problem: Revisiting the Historical Relationship between Differentiation and Religion
JF Religions
VO 14
IS 7
A1 Flatt, Kevin N. 1980-
LA English
PB MDPI
YR 2023
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1850950393
AB Much theorizing about secularization tells a “differentiation story” that puts a historical process of structural differentiation at the center of its understanding of secularization. The heart of the story is the claim that the increasing differentiation of social spheres over time freed the “secular” spheres of life (politics, economics, etc.) from religious control or domination. This conceptual framing has been widely shared by scholars in the field, not only by adherents of the classical secularization paradigm, but also their leading critics in the supply-side and historicist–revisionist schools. While the story sometimes serves a purely descriptive function, at other times it is used to explain secularization (i.e., differentiation causes secularization). A close examination of the differentiation story, however, raises questions about the historical accuracy and theoretical plausibility of some of its core assumptions. Aspects of the differentiation story that require critical reconsideration include the empirical accuracy of its historical generalizations, its underspecified notion of “spheres,” and its explanatory assumption that some spheres are innately or properly nonreligious.
K1 secularization paradigm
K1 secularization debate
K1 secularization theory
K1 functional differentiation
K1 Differentiation
K1 Secularization
DO 10.3390/rel14070828