Religion and economic rationality
affinities and ruptures
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25185/1.7Keywords:
Religion, Economic rationality, Sociology, Religious markets, ModernisationAbstract
Taking as a point of reference the current state of the debate on secularisation and the most recent data on the state of religion in the world, this article attempts to develop an argument about the methodological and theoretical complexity involved in understanding the relations between religion and economic rationality. In this regard, it first analyses the interpretative framework represented by the so-called economics of religion and the resurgence of the Weberian paradigm in sociology. Then, some empirical objections are considered, taking the cases of Europe, the United States, Latin America and Argentina. On the other hand, the article also discusses the meaning of the concepts of religion, economic rationality, modernisation and secularisation, which clearly condition the orientation of the different positions analysed. Finally, some conclusions are drawn about how the problem of the relations between religion and economic rationality requires a complex plurality of approaches from the social sciences and also calls for a deep critical analysis from a philosophical perspective.
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