WRITTEN REPORT

Knowing completely globalization and how it affects the world touches different areas of studies.
It is known that the economic, political, agricultural and industrial side of all countries contribute in
shaping globalization. But the significance yet unrecognizable impact of religion doesn’t openly
acknowledge as a contribution to such.

According to Crawford, 2001, the study of religion is an inter- or cross-disciplinary area of inquiry,
from this, it has not always been successfully incorporated into social scientific disciplines. It is being
separated from the study of psychology, history and philosophy in 20th and 21st century. The American
Academy of Religion (AAR), the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) founded in 1948, and the
Association for Sociology of Religion (ASR) established in 1938 are some organizations devoted in
understanding the relationship between society and religion.

The debate over secularization has been a controversial topic of the social sciences during 20 th
century. The scope, nature and extent of secularization has something to do with the modern world.
Initially, secularization theory had a strong following, but over time it was superseded by re-evaluations
favourable to the sceptics of the secularization thesis. Some influential points that mitigate the
secularization tendencies are Grace Davie’s notion of ‘vicarious religion; Rodney Stark’ s rational choice
perspective, as well as a consistent stream of publications focusing on the continuing significance of
popular or folk religion, contemporary spirituality and superstition. Because of the criticism of
secularization, the United States and Western Europe that was once considered as an exceptional case,
viewed as more typical of global patterns of religiosity than previously thought. The radical shifting of
frameworks of understanding made the modern world secular. Secularization is understood as a shift in
the overall frameworks of human condition which gives people a choice between belief and non-belief
until now.

In contemporary scholarship, there are two broad streams of ideas concerning secularization. The
first is the one that originally put forward by Jürgen Habermas, the notion of post-secular Society. Post-
secularity is seen as a contemporary phase in modern societies, whereby religion makes a return to the
public sphere from where it was cast out during the era of modernity. This revitalize forms of public
religiosity such as strengthening ‘religious fundamentalism’ which includes semiotic or public ‘flagging’.
Grace Davie put mark on this part, ‘believing without belonging’ to account for the simultaneous public
‘flagging’ of religious belief that is not matched by religious practice. The second secularism is seen as an
active project that is articulated alongside the Western modernity of the post-1500 world. It implies that
secularism is a multifaceted and an outcome of social action which raises the issue of the role cultural
traditions and, more broadly, culture plays in such processes.

Because of that issue, some limits of the conventional secularization paradigm has been revealed.
The social and cultural power of the religious factor is still unrecognizable. Religion is mainly viewed in
terms of two dimensions, the institutional and the individual. Since collective and public, cultural
dimension of religion has not been the central issue, the result was to take for granted the cultural
elements of the ‘West’. The secularization paradigm has been based on some of the Western nations’
historical experiences which received numerous criticisms and had shortcomings like its extensive reliance
upon the image of the ‘isolated individual’ and its use of culture as a residual category invoked only as a
defence against secularism. It also offers a theoretical model that naturalizes Western cultural specificity.
This Western cultural presence is can be seen hitherto, through the study of religion, social sciences, as
well as in methods, concepts, and research agendas.

Chakrabarty has argued that Europe’s acquisition of the adjective ‘modern’ for itself is a piece of
global history, that offers a foundation for a new research agenda on historical globalization.
Conventional, scholarly perspectives tend to accept as natural or self evident culturally specific notions of
religion, secularity and secularism. Encounters with religious traditions that do not share the same self-
image readily reveal the limits of such notions.

Riesebrodt and Konieczny argue that the sociology of religion ‘must overcome its rampant
parochialism. This parochialism has meant that all too often sociologists have abandoned the study of
religion of non-Western societies to scholars from other disciplines (anthropologists or various regional
experts) which remains alive up to this day.

The ‘West’ and the ‘East’ or the ‘rest’ are all having equal importance on the issue of the
relationship between religion and globalization. The book of Said entitled “Orientalism” has been of
critical importance for shaping the understanding of the field itself. The said book broadened perspectives
and caused to create theories and interpretations that expound ‘world religions’.

FOR PPT

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY CONSIDERATIONS: BEYOND THE SECULARIZATION DEBATE

1st slide*

The study of religion is an inter- or cross-disciplinary area of inquiry (Crawford, 2001)

2nd slide*

(Sama sama nalang lahat ng pics sa isang slide haha)

3rd slide*

Debate over Secularization

 Initially, secularization theory had a strong following, but over time it was superseded by re-
evaluations favourable to the sceptics of the secularization thesis
 Grace Davie’s notion of ‘vicarious religion’ and Rodney Stark’ s rational choice perspective
 The various criticisms eventually forced a scholarly reappraisal
 The terms of the secularization debate have been reframed
  Secularization is understood as a shift in the overall frameworks of human condition

4th slide*

Two Broad Streams of Ideas Concerning Secularization:

1. The Notion of Post-Secular Society

Post-secularity is seen as a contemporary phase in modern societies, whereby religion makes a return to
the public sphere from where it was cast out during the era of modernity

 Religious ‘fundamentalism’
 Semiotic or public ‘flagging’
 ‘Believing without Belonging’

6th slide*

2. Secularism is seen as an active project that is articulated alongside the Western modernity of
the post-1500 world

Secularism is a multifaceted movement that has caused the onset of secularization in Western societies

 Outcome of social actions

 The objective of Casanova

7th slide*

One of conventional secularization debate’s major shortcomings is its extensive reliance upon the image
of the ‘isolated individual’ and its use of culture as a residual category invoked only as a defence against
secularism

This taken for granted invisibility of Western cultural specificity is directly linked to the cultural
surroundings of most of the twentieth century scholarly traditions.

8th slide*

Europe’s acquisition of the adjective ‘modern’ for itself is a piece of global history

Sociology of religion must overcome its rampant parochialism

9th slide

Critique of Orientalism (Said, 1978) has been of critical importance for shaping the understanding of the
field itself