Factoring religion in the time of symbolic liberalism: Some reflections on secularism and sexuality

Abstract

In my recent work, I argued that a bulk of the responses of the social sciences and/or sociology to the pathologies of late modernity have been defined as being classically liberal but politically illiberal—I call this peculiar combination ‘Symbolic Liberalism’. Empowered by emotional and neoliberal capitalism, this kind of liberalism seeks to impose a hegemonic and deculturised conception of the good. In this article, I will focus on the consequences of such an imposition in two sites related to religion: secularism and sexuality. In the context of a terribly polarised debate on these issues, I will defend a dialogical sociology that emphasises soft secularism and culturised sexuality—a sociology that strikes a balance between the collective and individual political liberal projects. This project is supposed to act seriously against social inequality and in favour of a conception of justice which allows for the plurality of the conception of the good.