Is Durkheim’s “Sociologism” Outdated? Debating “Individualism” in Contemporary French Sociology of Religion

Abstract

This paper critically examines and rejects arguments made by contemporary sociologists in France about the appropriateness of Durkheim’s sociology in general, and his sociology of religion in particular. A century after the publication of The Elementary Forms, social scientists, especially in Europe, contend that “individualized” spiritualities are the definitive feature of contemporary forms of modern, globalised religion and infer from this empirical evidence that Durkheim’s “sociologism” is outdated. However, contemporary evidence indicates that collective religious expressions are colonizing the public spaces from whence they ostensibly had been withdrawn. Individualization, per se, is not only a contested concept but also a normative discursive technique of rationalization by which the great religions and new religious movements adjust to the “individualistic” values of modernity in global settings. This paper addresses the question of whether Durkheim really was wrong about the collective, yet complex nature and future of religion.