desacralization

Desacralization is the process by which something that has been regarded as sacred loses or has its sacred status diminished. It can affect objects, spaces, practices, or entire social spheres and may occur within religious traditions as well as in secular or cross-cultural contexts. The concept is used across anthropology, religious studies, sociology, and cultural theory.

It is not identical to secularization, though the terms are related. Secularization refers to broader social changes that reduce the dominance of religious institutions in public life. Desacralization, by contrast, focuses on the removal or reinterpretation of sacred meanings, symbols, or functions within specific contexts—such as a sacred site becoming profane, a ritual being secularized, or a relic losing its aura.

Desacralization can arise through modernization, rationalization, critique of authority, legal reforms, globalization, or commodification. It may involve reinterpretation of meanings, relocation or profanation of spaces, or the recontextualization of objects and symbols. The process can be partial or selective, affecting some aspects while leaving others intact, and it can occur gradually or abruptly, sometimes in conflict with traditional authorities or communities.

Examples include the removal of religious symbols from public spaces, reinterpretations of rituals in contemporary settings, revaluation of sacred texts in secular scholarship, or the repurposing of sacred buildings for secular uses. In scholarly discourse, desacralization is often discussed in relation to disenchantment, secularization theory, and debates about the persistence or erosion of sacred authority in modern societies.

Desacralization remains a contested and ambivalent concept, used descriptively to analyze changes in meaning and symbol while acknowledging that sacred status can be reconstituted, negotiated, or re-imbued in new forms.