Religion and the Dynamics of Social Change in Contemporary Europe / La Religion et la dynamique du changement social dans l'Europe contemporaine. - article ; n°1 ; vol.81, pg 133-148

Nikos Kokosalakis.

Description

Archives des sciences sociales des religions - Année 1993 - Volume 81 - Numéro 1 - Pages 133-148
16 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Archives-des-sciences-sociales-des-religions
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1993
• Nombre de lectures: 25
• Langue: Français
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Nikos Kokosalakis
Religion and the Dynamics of Social Change in Contemporary
Europe / La Religion et la dynamique du changement social
dans l'Europe contemporaine.
In: Archives des sciences sociales des religions. N. 81, 1993. pp. 133-148.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Kokosalakis Nikos. Religion and the Dynamics of Social Change in Contemporary Europe / La Religion et la dynamique du
changement social dans l'Europe contemporaine. In: Archives des sciences sociales des religions. N. 81, 1993. pp. 133-148.
doi : 10.3406/assr.1993.1639
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/assr_0335-5985_1993_num_81_1_1639Arch de Sc soc des Rel. 1993 81 janvier-mars) 133-148
Nikos KOKOSALAKIS
RELIGION AND THE DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL CHANGE
IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPE
la différence des théories de la sécularisation la thèse centrale de cet
article soutient que la fusion des traditions religieuses dominantes dans la
société civile continue jouer un rôle culturel important dans la dynamique
du changement social de Europe contemporaine Au terme du 20e siècle et
dans le contexte des débats sur la société post-industrielle et post-moderne
nos idées sur le changement religieux doivent être radicalement réévaluées
Compte tenu de abandon de hypothèse longement soutenue du déclin définitif
et irréversible de la religion la question centrale qui se pose dès lors est la
suivante quel est le rôle de la religion et quelle est sa forme dans les sociétés
occidentales contemporaines Dans un monde caractérisé par la privatisation
de la religion et par la globalisation économique et culturelle nous devons
réexaminer la signification sociologique des dynamiques culturelles propres aux
traditions religieuses historiques idée selon laquelle les notions des progrès
et émancipation se seraient libérées des entraves de la tradition ou encore
les diverses formes de salut offertes par le politique ne connaissent plus guère
de succès Au long des années 80 on assisté au contraire la montée de
formes variées de traditions religieuses commencer par islam
suggère ici que dans ce contexte socio-culturel les grandes traditions
chrétiennes représentent de substantielles ressources culturelles de sens au
niveau de la conscience et en tant que vecteurs identités culturelles et
ethniques dans les sociétés européennes Pourtant cela ne serait un proces
sus de transition où le religieux fonctionne comme une ressource culturelle
fluide exprimant la fois unité et la diversité sans être ni devenir une struc
ture figée du système social
diferencia de las theorias de la secularizaci la tesis central de este
art culo sostiene que la fusi de las tradiciones religiosas dominantes en la
sociedad civil contin an desempe ando un rol cultural importante en la odi-
mica del cambio social en Europa contempor nea finale del siglo XX
en el contexto del debate sobre las sociedades post-industriales post
modernas las ideas sobre el cambio religioso deber ser reevaluadas Teniendo
en cuenta que la hip tesis sobre el abandono irrevrsible de la religi ha sido
133 ARCHIVES DE SCIENCES SOCIALES DES RELIGIONS
abandonada la pregunta central que conviene plantear es la siguiente cu
es el rol de la religi cu es su forma en las sociedades occidentales con
tempor neas En un mundo caracterizado por la privatizaci de la religi
por la globalizaci econ mica cultural debemos reexaminar la signifi
caci sociol gica de las din micas culturales propias de las tradiciones re
ligiosas hist ricas Hemos asistido durante los os ochenta al desarrollo de
diversas formas de tradici religiosa sobre todo en el interior des Islam
El autor sugiere en este art culo que en este contexto socio-cultural las
grandes tradiciones cristianas representan fuentes importante de significaci
nivel de la concencia en tanto que vectores de identidades culturales
étnicas en las sociedades europeas Sin embargo ésto no ser sino un proceso
de transici en el que lo religioso funciona como un componente cultural
fluido expresando al mismo tiempo la unidad la diversidad sin ser con
vertirse una estructura inm vil del sistema social
INTRODUCTION
As the twentieth century draws to close there is general awareness that
Europe and indeed the entire world is undergoing substantial socio-cultural
transformation Although the patterns and the cultural forms of this develop
ment are rather unclear at present it is worth enquiring what role religion
might be playing in the framework of social change in contemporary Europe
In modern times Europe has always been unity and diversity Its cultural
unity derives by large from specific rationality emanating from classical
Greece and common Judéo-Christian heritage Its diversity has been ex
pressed by the variable social embodiment of that heritage and its dialectic
with the things that are believe that we cannot assess present
sociocultural trends without looking at that cultural and political
which has shaped modern Europe Inevitably this involves looking at religious
change in the general framework of secularisation both as theory and as
social process
Looking at religious change in this broad historical context implies of
course locating religion as cultural force within the transformations of the
social system at large More specifically this implies locating the transfor
mations of religion within the transformations of advanced industrial society
and the framework of modernity at large Conveniently all this has been done
in the extensive literature on secularisation and the sociological analysis of
religion from the classics to the present Yet in the context of debates about
post-industrial and post-modern society and on the basis of social
developments during the 1980s and substantial evidence of religious revival
our ideas about religious change both in the Weberian sense of rationalization
and disenchantment and as process of structural functional differentiation
have to be radically reassessed This then should be read as central theoreti
cal claim of this paper
Given that the long standing assumption about the definite decline of re
ligion in general looks now untenable the central question arising is What
role does religion play and what cultural forms does it take in contemporary
western societies In short how do we assess contemporary religious change
sociologically In the modern world religion has become increasingly priva-
134 RELIGION AND SOCIAL CHANGE
tised yet globalization is salient cultural and economic process turning the
global society into what Robertson 1985 called single space At the same
time democratization and ethnic autonomy are universal pursuits at the base
of society What is the role and the sociological significance of major his
torical religious traditions in this process Or are there entirely new religious
forms emerging Whatever the answer to these questions the crucial point
for this discussion is that religion in modern society operates primarily outside
the social system Perhaps one of the reasons why sociologists as whole
have given little attention to it.
Now analyses of religious change which concentrated on the social system
and its functional differentiation failed to address the importance of the above
questions Moreover they can shed no light into the ethnic significance of
religion and seem singularly unhelpful to providing an insight into the spring
boards and the cultural importance of popular religiosity Within that theoreti
cal perspective religion has been primarily analysed in societal framework
where religious institutions came to occupy marginal place amongst other
dominant secular The uneven spatio-temporal secularisation of
European societies was then attributed to their uneven processes of industrial
ization Yet this was never satisfactory explanation of the large discrepancies
in the process of religious change between various European societies Clearly
for instance the persistence of very high religiosity in Ireland and the corres
ponding very low observance in England cannot be accounted for by reference
to the processes of industrialization alone
Concentrating on rationalism and rationalization as central and specific
features of modernity has also been unhelpful especially when called to ac
count for recent and present religious change Modernity has been assumed
as one-dimensional cultural orientation involving an inexorable secularisa
tion process which Archer 1990 117 has recently criticized as cultural
monism It seems now that we have to rethink deeply our assumptions about
the of rationalization of western culture especially in its connection
with religion Is modern rationalization totally irreligious social force or
does it generate its own religio-cultural dialectic Does the rationality of mod
ern economic and political institutions separate them totally from religious
culture In other words what does the alleged autonomy of modern economic
and political institutions really mean in terms of the dynamics