A secularização contextual: novas perspetivas sobre o estudo sociológico da religião

This paper looks at the origins and the developments of the sociological understanding of the modernity-religion relation. Given the theoretical fragility of classical conceptions of the modernization process and its refutation throughout the twentieth century, social sciences have produced a new paradigm – the theory of multiple modernities. Their greater sensitivity to context and different historical paths, but also their accommodation of and compatibility with the religious phenomenon, aroused a new interest in secularization studies. Hypotheses on multiple secularizations have been unveiled. However, its support was weak and inconsequential both at the theoretical level and at the empirical one. Our research thus proposes a new approach that captures with greater flexibility and precision the modern dynamics between modernity and religion. We suggest the use of medium-range analytical categories, seeking to balance extension (of case studies) and intention (of each cases’ proprieties), but emphasizing the latter. Hence we propose a contextual analysis of secularization.