Rethinking Privatization Theory : From the Individualism Model to the Context-dependence Model

Abstract

This paper tries to reconstruct the theory of privatization in order to argue more generally the relationship between religion and the individual in the modern world, which is one of the most important themes in contemporary religion. According to Luckmann or the advocates of the orthodox model of secularization, the process of privatization causes the diffusion and withdrawal to the private sphere of religion. This can be called the "Individualism model" of privatization. The revisionists of the secularization theory connect the process with the socio-cultural context of religion. Privatization is the process where individuals negotiate with the dominate context in order to acquire meaning. This paper calls it the "Context-dependence model" of privatization. The fundamental difference between both models is whether it regards the matter of meaning or not. The Individualism model omits the importance of the process of meaning in the modern world, and comes to the conclusion that privatization causes the fragmentation of religion. On the contrary, from the perspective of the Context-dependence model, privatized religion also can be grasped with a more macro dimension, and then the question about the relationship between religion and the individual can be located within a greater problematique.