Secularisation

noun

/ˌsek.jʊ.lə.raɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/

The historical process by which religion loses its authority over social institutions, public life, and individual belief; in sociological discourse on India, the debate centres on whether modernity produces secularisation in the Western sense or a distinctly Indian form of accommodation of religious diversity in the public sphere

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

The constitutional model of Indian secularism — equal respect for all religions rather than strict separation of church and state — represents a contextualised response to Indian social reality rather than a wholesale adoption of European secularisation.

Synonyms

laicisationdisenchantment (Weberian)de-sacralisationreligious decline

Antonyms

sacralisationreligious revivalismtheocracycommunalisation

🌱 Word Family

secularisation (n), secularise (v), secular (adj), secularism (n), secularity (n)

🔡 Root

Latin saecularis = worldly/of an age (saeculum = generation/century/world) + -isation = process suffix

📜 Etymology

From Latin saecularis; Max Weber theorised secularisation as the disenchantment of the modern world; M.N. Srinivas distinguished secularisation from Westernisation in Indian context; the Indian Constitution embodies a secularism that is not the privatisation of religion but its equal treatment by the state

🧠 Memory Hook

SECULAR + -ISATION: SECULAR = of this world, not the heavens; SECULARISATION = the world becoming more focused on THIS world than the next

👥 Society 📖 Seen in: Salient Features of Indian Society — D...

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