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Multiple Realities and Religion: A Sociological Approach

  • Symposium: Pluralism in the Mind and in Politics
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Abstract

The essay introduces a number of sociological theories that can be used to explore how individuals combine religious and secular discourses in their consciousness and behavior in pluralistic societies. Two concepts coined by Alfred Schutz seem to be most fruitful for this enterprise: the notion of “multiple realities” (that make up an individual’s life-world) and the notion of “relevance structures” (as co-existing and potentially conflicting perspectives within the reality of everyday life). While the capacity to switch between realities and to juggle relevancies is probably an anthropological constant, the number of available relevancies increases radically in the course of modernization.

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Further Reading

  • Berger, P. 1967. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a sociological theory of religion. New York: Doubleday.

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  • Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. 1966. The Social Construction of Reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New York: Doubleday.

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  • Goffman, E. 1974. Frame Analysis: An essay on the organisation of experience. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

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  • Mead, G. H. 1934. Mind, Self & Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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  • Schutz, A. 1945. On Multiple Realities. Philosophy and Phenonenological Research, 5(4), 533–576.

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  • Schutz, A. 1962. Collected Papers. Vol. 1. The Hague: M. Nijoff (especially Part III).

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  • Schutz, A. 1967. The Phenomenology of the Social World. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

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  • Schutz, A., & Luckmann, T. 1973. The Structures of the Life-World. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

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  • Weber, M. 1968. Economy and Society: An outline of interpretive sociology. Vol. 1. New York: Bedminster Press.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Sociology, Technical University of Darmstadt, Residenzschloss, 64283, Darmstadt, Germany

    Silke Steets

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  1. Silke Steets
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Correspondence to Silke Steets.

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Steets, S. Multiple Realities and Religion: A Sociological Approach. Soc 51, 140–144 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-014-9753-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-014-9753-6

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