Nuove forme del sacro? Presenti (e futuri?) scenari sociali

Abstract

The aim of this short essay is to analyze the transformations of the social relationship with the sacred – as it is considered by Émile Durkheim and the neo-durkheimian tradition – and some of its forms emerged in the postmodern society. The way this theoretical sociological perspective underlines the central role played by the symbolic and cultural dimension of the society (the deep and the non-rational one) helps to reflect on the meanings the new forms of spiritualities give to the experience of the “sacred things”. These last are particularly referred to the Self. In this paper, I briefly discuss the “immanent” relationship with the domain of the sacred even experienced in “traumatic situations” and its effects on the social bonds (that is to say on the “moral” and “symbolic order”), trying to define possible future scenarios.