The invisible sacredness of the market
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Abstract
This article aims to study the place occupied by religion in contemporary market societies. It calls into question the concept of religion as the expression of faith in transcendent or supernatural beings, because it is well suited to theistic religions like Christianity, but leaves in the background the very foundation of religious phenomena: the sacredness. Recovering Durkheim's theory, this article assumes the hypothesis that sacredness is essential also in market societies. Abandoning the concept of religion derived from faith, it proposes a sociological explanation of religion in contemporary market societies by its sacredness. The argument is organized in five steps: (1) the "twilight of the great gods" in market societies; (2) criticism to the concept of religion related to faith; (3) recovering the contribution of Durkheim for the study of religion as a social fact; (4) the fetishism of merchandise as the base for the sacredness of the market; (5) the place of current religions in market societies.
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