In Modernity: Religious and Ethical Perspectives, Nicos Mouzelis examines the three unique structural features of modern societies: inclusion of the whole population into the nation-state, top-down differentiation of institutional spheres, and the expansion of individualization from the top to the base of the social pyramid. The author shows how the above features relate to present-day religious phenomena such as secularisation/desecularization, the new religious movements, and the forms of present-day spiritualities. He examines the extent to which secularisation and rationalization led to the "disenchantment of the world." Later, however, one observes a reaction to the established, hierarchically organized churches and to the adherence, mainly of young people, to less structured religious groups, to religious syncretism, and to individual seekers who tried to find "their own God." From this perspective, one can argue that we have a partial "re-enchantment of the world."

Nicos Mouzelis is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics. He has published in the fields of sociology of organisations, sociology of development, social theory, and sociology of religion. His last book is Modern and Postmodern Social Theorising: Bridging the Divide. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

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