Religious Sensemaking and Social Exclusion in the Western World

• Authors: Bulcsu Bognár
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper contains an analysis of the possible forms and functions of religious sensemaking in modern society. Based on the thesis of desecularisation the author discusses the changes caused in the relationship between individual and religion by the altering system of social relationships, along with a more detailed analysis of the relationship between social exclusion and religious sensemaking. The author argues that owing to the complex nature of modernity people’s uncertainty absorption mechanisms prefer distinction schemes that apply clear sensemaking distinctions which remain stable over a longer period of time. The author finds that the key role of religious communication lies in that it can more effectively shape the identities of people than other social mechanisms, in the sense that it can offer an experience of certainty. The author discusses the situation of social exclusion as a particular area of religious sensemaking when the person’s fundamentally positive self-evaluation that has developed in the existing sensemaking situation reflecting on the individual himself can no longer be or can hardly be maintained any longer.

Keywords

EN

religion; religious sensemaking; desecularisation thesis; identity; social exclusion; system theory; social and communication theory

• Publisher: Polskie Towarzystwo Socjologiczne
• Journal: Polish Sociological Review
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 197
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 21-34

Dates

published

2017-03-23

Contributors

author

Bulcsu Bognár

• Pázmány Péter Catholic University of Budapest