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Sociology vocabulary · Social Change and Globalisation

Secularisation

Meaning in sociology, with examples

/ˌsekjələraɪˈzeɪʃən/nounCommon term

In sociology, secularisation means: The process by which religion loses social influence, so that religious institutions, beliefs and practices play a smaller role in public life and in individual lives.

In Turkish: sekülerleşme, dünyevileşme

How it is used

The secularisation thesis, linked to Weber and later writers, predicted that religion would decline as societies modernised. It is now widely debated, since religion remains strong in many parts of the world. Sociologists separate secularisation, a social process, from secularism, a political principle.

Example sentences

  1. Falling church attendance is often used as evidence of secularisation in Western Europe.

  2. Peter Berger, once a supporter of the secularisation thesis, later changed his view.

Common collocations

  • secularisation thesis
  • process of secularisation
  • religion and secularisation
  • measure secularisation
  • modernityThe type of society that emerged in Europe from around the eighteenth century, marked by industrialisation, urbanisation, the nation-state, science and a belief in progress.
  • rationalisationThe historical process, described by Weber, in which tradition, emotion and magic give way to calculation, efficiency, rules and scientific reasoning in more and more areas of life.
  • social institutionAn established and lasting set of rules, roles and practices that organises an important area of social life, such as family, education, religion, the economy or politics.
  • industrialisationThe shift from an economy based mainly on farming and handcraft to one based on factories, machines and mass production, with deep effects on work, family and where people live.

More terms: Social Change and Globalisation

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