Secular justifications of the world. A neo-Weberian typology of cosmodicies

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Secular justifications of the world. A neo-Weberian typology of cosmodicies

JournalArticle (Originalarbeit in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift)

ID	4606772
Author(s)	Schäfer, Robert
Author(s) at UniBasel	Schäfer, Robert
Year	2021
Title	Secular justifications of the world. A neo-Weberian typology of cosmodicies
Journal	Social Compass
Volume	68
Number	1
Pages / Article-Number	81-97
Keywords	cosmodicy, Max Weber, predestination, secularization
Abstract	This article asks how secular societies cope with suffering and fortune perceived as unjust and undeserved. It investigates secular forms of dealing with the originally religious problem of theodicy. According to Weber's work, Western societies have solved this problem with the meritocratic ideal based on the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, which gave rise to the capitalistic work ethics. Current sociological diagnoses observe a crisis of these ethics, which begs the question of whether this also indicates a crisis of meritocratism. The article addresses this question from the perspective of sociology of religion and translates Weber's typology of religious theodicies into a typology of secular cosmodicies. The typology serves as an analytical tool, allowing for systematic comparisons of justifications in different empirical cases.
Publisher	SAGE Publications
ISSN/ISBN	0037-7686 ; 1461-7404
edoc-URL	https://edoc.unibas.ch/79404/
Full Text on edoc	Restricted
Digital Object Identifier DOI	10.1177/0037768620971207
ISI-Number	WOS:000599535300001
Document type (ISI)	Article

20/04/2024

Research Database / FORSCHUNGSDATENBANK