Abstract

This article explores the relationship between secularization and fundamentalism in ‘Western’ liberal society and the manner it impacts socio-political “exclusionary” narratives, which is a theme both timely and important. Now, more than ever, a scholarly analysis of the socio-political environment that is aggravating such violence is important. To accomplish that, this study investigates how “secular values,” at Casanova’s civil society ideal-typical level, transformed the meaning of “society.” That contributed to a social malaise characterized by deteriorating social bonds, loss of meaning and moral ambivalence, described by Durkheim as “anomie.” However, there are variant intensities of the anomic condition. And, a high condition of ‘anomie,’ with moral ambivalence across social spheres and low-levels of social cohesion ripens the conditions for virulent “fundamentalisms” to emerge.