Religion Without Sacrality: Practice, Power, And Negotiation of Meaning in Contemporary Social Life

Abstract

Contemporary religious life increasingly demonstrates practices that are not exclusively grounded in metaphysical sacrality. Religious symbols, rituals, and identities are frequently mobilized as social resources, moral references, and instruments of legitimacy, even when sacred claims are contested or selectively suspended. This article aims to analyze religion as a social practice without positioning sacrality as its primary analytical assumption. The study employs a qualitative approach with an interpretive-critical orientation, drawing on Émile Durkheim’s conception of the sacred as a socially constructed source of collective solidarity, Max Weber’s perspectives on rationalization and religious authority, Michel Foucault’s analysis of power relations and discourse, and Talal Asad’s understanding of religion as a discursive tradition shaped by historical and social conditions. Data were collected through participatory observation, semi-structured in-depth interviews, and document analysis, and examined through iterative thematic-critical analysis. The findings reveal that contemporary religious practices may function as pragmatic social actions oriented toward social cohesion, moral legitimation, and access to symbolic resources, even when metaphysical sacrality is not the primary motivation of participants. Sacrality emerges not as an inherently fixed essence but as a contingent outcome of social production, negotiation, and contestation among actors, institutions, and power structures. Claims of sacredness are strategically employed to authorize meanings, regulate behavior, and constrain criticism, although their effectiveness increasingly depends on fragmented social recognition. Religious authority is consequently no longer monopolized by formal institutions but is dispersed across everyday practices, public discourse, charismatic figures, and digital platforms. By integrating the analysis of religious practice, symbolic power, and the negotiation of meaning, this study proposes an analytical framework that repositions sacrality as a variable social outcome rather than an ontological prerequisite for understanding religion. The framework contributes to critical sociology and anthropology of religion by explaining how religious practices, authority, and legitimacy are continuously reconstructed within contemporary social life.