Les Nouvelles Formes de Religion dans la Société Globalisée: Un Défi à L'interprétation Sociologique

Abstract

The author analyses certain forms of religion which can be characterized as “neo-magic-religion”. In the course of the shift towards post-industrial society magic has been updated and religion has been transformed. It is not a question of the “return” of magic but rather of a mutation of institutionalized religion largely in response to the scientific and technological revolution that has occurred within the context of globalization. New forms of religious belonging and of believing “in my own fashion” or “without the Church” are evidence of new types of syncretisms in which Christianity is combined with New Age and indigenous shamanism. Judging by its characteristics, the spirit of “neo-magic-religion” springs from an elective affinity with the ethos of science and post-industrial techniques. The concept of “neo-magic(s)” (in the singular or plural) should be considered as a sociological type based on empirical foundations and a large number of appearances.