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'Making things sacred': Re-theorizing the nature and function of sacrifice in modernity

Shilling, Chris, Mellor, Philip A. (2013) 'Making things sacred': Re-theorizing the nature and function of sacrifice in modernity. Journal of Classical Sociology, 13 (3). pp. 319-337. ISSN 1468-795X. (doi:10.1177/1468795X13480643) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:38483)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468795X13480643

Abstract

The sociological importance attributed to 'the sacred' has varied historically as theorists have sought to explain the relationship between religion and early capitalism, the rise of twentieth-century secularization processes, the profusion of nationalism in post-Soviet societies, and the recent global upsurge in religious movements. Paradoxically, however, sociology's concern with the social significance of the sacred has not been accompanied by commensurate interest in those contrasting and varied sacrificial processes implicated in creating the sacred. This paper suggests that this imbalance limits our understanding of the relationship between the sacred, religion and society, and makes it difficult to assess the contemporary relevance of classical writings on the subject. Specifically, it hinders our knowledge of why certain phenomena become sacred, and in so doing limits our appreciation of how societies develop cultural priorities, of how they stimulate individuals to become certain types of social subjects, and of the risks and opportunities that arise in milieux characterized by shrinking or expanding prospects for creating sacred phenomena. This is because sacrifice (sacer facere), 'the making of sacred things', constitutes a crucial mediator of these phenomena; illuminating the nature and consequences of specific modalities of sacred rituals, actions and objects, and revealing much about their location within or dislocation from particular social milieux, identities and religions. Our argument progresses by viewing sacrifice as an example of what Mauss refers to as a 'total social fact', and by engaging with the writings of Bataille, Girard and Simmel; three figures to have made important, sociologically underexplored, contributions to the subject. In so doing, we aim to lay the foundations for a sociology of the contemporary nature and function of sacrifice, suggesting it should be a core issue for twenty-first-century sociology. © The Author(s) 2013.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/1468795X13480643
Uncontrolled keywords: Identity, religion, sacred, sacrifice, sociological theory
Subjects: H Social Sciences
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Mita Mondal
Date Deposited: 26 Feb 2014 13:56 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:14 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/38483 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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