Religiösa marknadsstrukturer, religiös pluralism och sekulariseringsprocesser

Compared to most other countries in the world, many of the European countries are highly secularized in the sense that only low shares of the population now adhere to the traditional church-oriented religion. In particular, Sweden is often described as one of the most secularized countries in the world.
Sociologists of religion differ in their assumptions about the causes of the secularization processes that have led to the contemporary European situation, and several competing theories have been advanced. This article discusses the impact of religious market structures as factors behind secularization processes. In particular, the impact of religious pluralism is discussed, and it is argued that a low degree of religious pluralism may be an important factor in this context.
The article concludes with a brief discussion of an example of the social consequences of secularization in Sweden, namely the particular problems that immigrants and refugees sometimes face as a result of the low importance ascribed to religion in Swedish society.