SociologyIndian Society: Challenges of Cultural Diversity

In the social history of the west, the progressive retreat of religio…

In the social history of the west, the progressive retreat of religion from public life, as it became a voluntary personal practice, is called

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Secularisation

Option (1) Secularisation — Correct. Secularisation is the progressive retreat of religion from public life in western history. Religion turned from a mandatory obligation into a voluntary personal practice, linked to the rise of science and rationality.

Option (2) Westernisation — Incorrect. Westernisation is the term of M.N. Srinivas for the changes in Indian society and culture brought by British rule. It describes Indian contact with the west and has no link with religion leaving public life in the west.

Option (3) Privatisation — Incorrect. Privatisation means moving firms and services from state ownership to private ownership. It is an economic policy with no bearing on religion.

Option (4) Liberalisation — Incorrect. Liberalisation means removing state controls on trade, industry and markets, as India did from 1991. It is an economic reform with no bearing on the place of religion.

NCERT (2026-27): “Communalism, Secularism and the Nation-state …
Secularism is among the most complex terms in social and political theory. In the western context the main sense of these terms has to do with the separation of church and state. The separation of religious and political authority marked a major turning point in the social history of the west. This separation was related to the process of “secularisation”, or the progressive retreat of religion from public life, as it was converted from a mandatory obligation to a voluntary personal practice. Secularisation in turn was related to the arrival of modernity and the rise of science and rationality as alternatives to religious ways of understanding the world.”

In the social history of the west, the progressive retreat of religion from public life, as it became a voluntary personal practice, is called

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Secularisation

Option (3) Privatisation — Incorrect. Privatisation means moving firms and services from state ownership to private ownership. It is an economic policy with no bearing on religion.