Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Culture

Of Malls and Mosques

by theoryforthemasses Classical sociologists, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim, all suggested that as societies modernized, religion would begin to lose its influence on individuals and become more of a personal choice than a public mode of cohesion and control.  This secularization thesis is exemplified by Dubai, a place where Islam has converged with contemporary material luxuries, consumerism, and new notions of religious identity.  The secularization of Islam here is obvious as young and middle-aged Muslims, many of whom...