Secularism: from Solidity to Liquidity

Abstract

In contemporary Western and Arab cultural critique, secularism as a worldview is believed to have experienced inherent transformations from solid rational materialism (the emphasis on reason, science, progress, emancipation, industrialization, and nation building) to liquid non-rational materialism (the celebration of the body, sex, global markets and consumption). This paper explores the arguments of both Zygmunt Bauman and Abdelwahab Elmessiri who advocate this thesis in the light of the major manifestations of these transformations.