Sacralising the secular: constructing ‘religion’ in social movement scholarship

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article investigates how social movement scholars construct the category of ‘religion’ within the discipline. Using some of the conceptual tools from the critical study of religion – namely, problematising the distinction between the ‘secular’ and the ‘religious’ – it analyzes a sample of articles within the journals Social Movement Studies and Mobilization between 2010 and 2020 that deal with a broad range of religious, spiritual, and ‘religion-like’ or ‘secular sacred’ phenomena. I find three key trends within the data: social movements literature has a narrow construction of what constitutes ‘religion’; those things designated ‘religious’ are often instrumentalized in service to ‘political’ ends; and social movement scholars are more likely to study conservative and extreme politics where it intersects with groups considered ‘religious’ than with those considered ‘secular.’ The article invites scholars of social movements to consider how particular conceptions of both ‘religion’ and ‘politics’ are naturalised within the field.KEYWORDS: Religionsocial movement theorysecular sacredpolitics Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsRosemary HancockRosemary Hancock is Associate Director of the Institute for Ethics and Society at the University of Notre Dame Australia and Convener of the Institute’s Religion, Culture and Society Research Focus Area. Her research interest is primarily the relationship of religion and grassroots politics, and she has particular expertise on religion and environmental politics. She is Co-Host of the sociology podcast Uncommon Sense, and her work has been published widely including in CITY Journal, Journal of Sociology, Social Movement Studies, and Religions.