‘Religionʼ in the Sociology of Religion

This article is a critique on the concept ‘religionʼ in sociology. It interrogates specific assumptions which shape this category. In order to put my argument forward in a clear way, the first section of this article historicises the concept ‘religion.ʼ This is followed by the comparison between racial categories and the category of religion in a variety of sociology textbooks. Sociologists generally treat racial categories as a fiction which was historically invented to serve Euro-American colonialism and attempt to study the on-going consequences of racial categorisation. In the same way, this article suggests, sociologists should approach the concept ‘religionʼ as an ideological category, and they should examine the process of collective representation in which the category ‘religionʼ is utilised to serve specific norms and interests. Keywords Sui generis religion the sociology of religion the religious-secular distinction critical religion