Religious Minorities and Struggle for Recognition

Christophe Monnot,Solange Lefebvre

doi:10.17645/si.v8i3.3542

Abstract

Religious minorities are increasingly present in the public sphere. Often pointed out as a problem, we argue here that the establishment of these minorities in Western societies is happening through struggles for recognition. Communities or individuals belonging to different minorities are seeking recognition from the society in which they are living. In Section 1, we present, briefly, our perspective, which differs from the analyses generally presented in the sociology of religion in that it adopts a bottom-up perspective. In Section 2, we present and discuss articles dealing with case studies in the cities of Barcelona, Geneva, and Montreal. In Section 3, we discuss two articles that present a process of individualization of claims for recognition. Finally, we present an article that discusses the case of an unrecognized minority in the Turkish school system.

Highlights

Issue This editorial is part of the issue “Religious Minorities and Struggle for Recognition” edited by Christophe Monnot (University of Lausanne, Switzerland/University of Strasbourg, France) and Solange Lefebvre (University of Montreal, Canada)
Issues related to religion are increasingly present in the public sphere: For instance, religious or social actors use religious vocabulary instead of political or social vocabulary when putting forward claims for recognition
Instead of understanding diversity from a top-down perspective, namely regulation by political or public authorities, this volume proposes to look at the bottomup perspective, i.e., how and where communities are established, strategies of actors to make a place for themselves in society, and so on. The goal of this volume was to gather contributions about two sets of issues; the first being the struggle for recognition by actors/communities belonging to religious diversity, while the second involves issues about the contexts in which claims are put forward

Summary

A Bottom-Up Perspective

The context of secular society and diversity in the 21st century presents new challenges. Issues related to religion are increasingly present in the public sphere: For instance, religious or social actors use religious vocabulary instead of political or social vocabulary when putting forward claims for recognition. Instead of understanding diversity from a top-down perspective, namely regulation by political or public authorities, this volume proposes to look at the bottomup perspective, i.e., how and where communities are established, strategies of actors to make a place for themselves in society, and so on. The goal of this volume was to gather contributions about two sets of issues; the first being the struggle for recognition by actors/communities belonging to religious diversity, while the second involves issues about the contexts in which claims are put forward. We received three articles explicitly related to urban settings, and three others examine respectively differences between generations, the way marginalized groups are using social networks to affirm themselves, and the struggle of an ethnoreligious minority to be recognized in the public school system

The City Where New Struggles for Recognition Emerge

Claims for Recognition as Individual Beings

What About a Despised Minority?