Abstract

DOCKENDORFF, Cecilia. Normative Claims of Religion as a Problem. An Approach from the Secularization and Social Differentiation Theories of Habermas and Luhmann. rev.estud.soc. [online]. 2015, n.51, pp.36-49. ISSN 0123-885X.  https://doi.org/10.7440/res51.2015.03.

This article discusses the challenges posed by the current modus operandi of today's society with respect to understanding emergent religious phenomena, associated to major changes in the structure of complex modern society affecting the social function of religion. The debate builds on Habermas and Luhmann´s sociological theses regarding the current normative claims of religion and its corollary in the public sphere. Based on a case study of such emergent phenomena, it is argued that they are better understood by observing the consequences of the type of social differentiation that increasingly expands in today´s society, as they question and redefine the viability of current normative claims of religion.

Keywords : Religion; normativity; social differentiation; secularization; theory of social systems; Luhmann.

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