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Framework: Religion, Secularism, and Democracy

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Islam and Democracy in South Asia

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Abstract

This chapter covers the theoretical and conceptual framework. This study draws on several sociological theories such as secularization theory and its paradigms, modalities of secularism, and Weberian sociology of religion. Secularization theory and modalities (multiple types) of secularism are significant in grasping the sociopolitical and cultural dynamics of Bangladesh. Bangladesh as an independent country started out by practicing secularism. However, within a short space of time, secularism was eroded and Islamization gradually took its place. Both state and non-state actors contributed to the erosion of secularism and the preponderance of Islamization in the country. Secularization theory is relevant to explain this phenomenon. Modalities of secularism have helped us understand the type of secularism Bangladesh has been practicing over the years. To understand the practice of Islamism alongside secularism in Bangladesh’s democracy, the theory of secularism has been deemed pertinent. Weberian sociology of religion is also deemed important in the case of explaining the role of Islamic traditions in promoting democracy and pluralism in Bangladesh. Apart from the theoretical frameworks, this study also employs several conceptual threads such as democracy. In order to garner a deeper understanding of the concept of democracy, this study has employed the conceptual threads that include “polyarchy” and “hybridity of democracy.”

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This argument has challenged the proponents of the secularization theory (McCloskey 1980; Shils 1966; Moore 1984; Luckmann 1967, 1990) who predicted that modernity would essentially result in the privatization of religion.

  2. 2.

    It is important to note that early Peter Berger (in the 1960s) was one of the most well-known proponents of the thesis that religion will have very little, if any, role in public life (Riaz 2011). But later Peter Berger has been found markedly changed about his earlier opinions. He (1986:226–227) himself has acknowledged that his early work erred in supposing that modernity must lead to an erosion of religion. But it is his earlier work that is still influential in the field (Warner 1993).

  3. 3.

    However, it should be noted that the “old paradigm” of secularization theory goes far back to the works of the classical sociologists, such as Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. In the recent past, sociologists among others Parsons (1937, 1960, 1971a, b), Bellah (1957, 1970, 1975), Luhmann (1985, 1995, 2013), Berger (2011a, b), Luckmann (1967, 1979, 1990), Wilson (1969, 1976a, b, 1982, 1990), Martin (1969, 1978, 1991, 1995, 2005), and Fenn (1970, 1972, 1978, 2001) defended, buttressed, and revised the old paradigm.

  4. 4.

    For understanding the intra-paradigm debate within the old paradigm, see in detail, Goldstein (2009), and within the new paradigm, see Warner (1993).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Studies, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh

    Md Nazrul Islam

  2. Division of Sociology, Nanyang Technological University, Jurong, Singapore

    Md Saidul Islam

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  1. Md Nazrul Islam
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Islam, M.N., Islam, M.S. (2020). Framework: Religion, Secularism, and Democracy. In: Islam and Democracy in South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42909-6_2

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