This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Riis, O. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Role of Religion in Legitimating the Modern Structuration of Society 1

Institute for Religious Studies, Aarhus

Religion is generally regarded as an issue of minor importance in the sociological study of the modern Nordic countries. But this position is based on a narrow, church-oriented concept of religion. An anthropologist could find many religious aspects in modern Nordic countnes, which run parallel to religious phenomena in other societies. If religion is understood in a wider sense, it emerges as an important clue to the sociological understanding of the modern. Nordic societies. A new type of privatized religion, which might be labelled Protestant Humanism, has emerged. This has a vital role in the legitimation of the modern structuration of societies, such as the Nordic ones. The cues to Protestant Humanism are the universalistic norms of human rights, the individual-oriented values of self-fulfilment, and the continuation of the networks of kinship and friendship marked by common rites. Religion is one basis for the legitimation of a social structuration, which splits up social life between formal institutions on the one hand and a private sphere on the other, where the problems of identity and value- determination are affiliated with the intimate sphere.

Acta Sociologica, Vol. 32, No. 2, 137-153 (1989)
DOI: 10.1177/000169938903200202


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?