Religion in Functionally Differentiated Societies

Abstract

The aim of the study is to explore how the religious system interacts with other social systems. Premodern and modern forms of religion will be distinguished. The structural relationships between social systems are illustrated by the functioning of the political and mass media. We show the social marginality of the religious system, which can also be interpreted as the structural independence of religion from other social systems. We highlight how the political system shapes its sensitivity towards the religious system. We also provide insights into the ways in which religion influences politics in societies where functional differentiation has not yet become a general form of social differentiation. The paper examines how the current social isolation of religion in Western societies affects the observability, evaluation and critique of society from a religious perspective. In this study, the sociological concept of religion is applied, so that any belief system that takes into account transcendent/immanent d istinctions in the construction of reality is considered a form of religion.