secularization

Definition of Secularization

(noun) The act or process of a society changing from a preponderance of religious institutions, norms, and values toward nonreligious institutions, norms, and values.

Examples of Secularization

• Removing prayer from schools.
  
• Eliminating a national religion, called an ecclesia.

Secularization Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: sec·u·lar·i·za·tion

Audio Pronunciation

Usage Notes

• Plural: secularizations
• Secularization can be understood as the movement from the ecclesiastical to the civil.
• Variant spelling: secularisation
• The sociology of religion studies secularization to understand societal shifts in norms caused by change.
• A (noun) secularist advocates for society to (verb) secularize by (verb) secularizing and to become more (adjective) secularized.

Related Quotation

• “Such a society is small, isolated, non-literate and homogeneous, with a strong sense of group solidarity. The ways of living are conventionalized into the coherent system which we call ‘a culture‘. Behavior is traditional, spontaneous, uncritical and personal: there is no legislation or habit of experiment and reflection for intellectual ends. Kinship, its relations and institutions, are the type categories of experience and the familial group is the unit of action. The sacred prevails over the secular; the economy is one of status rather than the market” (Redfield 1947:293).

Additional Information

• Religion Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
• Word origin of “secularization” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
• Bellah, Robert N. 1967. “Civil Religion in America.” Daedalus 134(4):40–55. doi:10.1162/001152605774431464.
• Bruce, Steve. 2002. God is Dead: Secularization in the West. Oxford: Blackwell.
• Pecora, Vincent P. 2006. Secularization and Cultural Criticism: Religion, Nation, and Modernity. Chicago: University of Chicago.
• Swatos, William H., and Daniel V. A. Olson. 2000. The Secularization Debate. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield/Association for the Sociology of Religion.

Related Terms

• atheism
• belief system
• cosmology
• doctrine
• established sect
• magic
• mythology
• personified supernatural force
• prayer
• religion
• value

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Reference

Redfield, Robert. 1947. “The Folk Society.” American Journal of Sociology 52(4):293–308. doi:10.1086/220015.

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Cite the Definition of Secularization

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “secularization.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 19, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/secularization/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

secularization. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/secularization/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “secularization.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/secularization/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“secularization.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/secularization/>.