Immanent Sacrality: A Rereading of Durkheim's Sociology of Religion

Considers how religion can be defined as a social fact, that is, a reality which stands outside individual consciousnesses, which is collective and obligatory. Observers are all agreed that religion is becoming more subjective, limited to particular groups and linked to personal decision. Considers whether religion has ceased to be a social fact in the Durkheimian sense, and if so, what institution could possibly replace religion in the production and maintenance of a social consensus. Concludes that the Durkheimian hypothesis of the sacrality of institutions that exercise the organizing function in society is still applicable to modern societies in which the ethos of the market, endowed with a sacral character, enjoys all the prerogatives of a social fact. (Quotes from original text)