Entry
Reader's guide
Entries A-Z
Subject index
Elective Affinity
“The concept of elective affinity” (Wahlverwantschaft) in the social sciences was developed by the sociologist Max Weber and refers to the historical relation, mutual influence, and cultural resonance between two social–cultural phenomena. The term itself is rooted in the natural sciences of the 19th century when it was used in chemistry to describe the mutual attraction between particular substances or particles. It was translated to the domain of social life, particularly, the attraction and repelling forces in romantic relationships, by Goethe in his novel Die Wahlverwantschaften published in 1809. Max Weber picked up on the term and its meaning to develop it into a veritable methodological tool to understand historical–sociological developments and, ultimately, cultural change in Western and non-Western society.
Elective affinity features most prominently in ...
- Classic Researchers and Theorists
- Al-Biruni
- Comte, Auguste
- Du Bois, William E. B.
- Durkheim, Émile
- Evans-Pritchard, E. E.
- Frazer, James G.
- Freud, Sigmund
- Gramsci, Antonio
- Halbwachs, Maurice
- Ibn-Khaldun
- James, William
- Malinowski, Bronislaw
- Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich
- Mauss, Marcel
- Otto, Rudolf
- Saint-Simon, Henri de
- Simmel, Georg
- Spencer, Herbert
- Sturzo, Luigi
- Tocqueville, Alexis de
- Troeltsch, Ernst
- Wach, Joachim
- Weber, Max
- General Sociological Theories and Concepts
- Risk Society and Religion
- Anomie
- Assabiyah
- Attachment Theory and the Study of Religion
- Attribution Theory
- Authority
- Axial Age
- Bricolage
- Charisma
- Class
- Cognitive Dissonance
- Collective Effervescence
- Conflict Perspective
- Counterculture
- Critical Theory
- Culture
- Deprivation Theory
- Deterritorialization and Reterritorialization
- Detraditionalization and Retraditionalization of Religion
- Deviance
- Elective Affinity
- Feminism
- Fertility
- Functionalism
- Habitus
- Ideal Types
- Identity
- Ideology
- Individualism and Individualization
- Interrituality
- Intersectionality
- Late Modernity and Postmodernity
- Material Culture
- McDonaldization
- Modernization and Modernity
- Multiple Modernities
- Ontological Security
- Phenomenology
- Plausibility Structure
- Postcolonialism
- Postmodernism
- Radicalization
- Rational Choice Theory
- Routinization
- Social Cohesion
- Social Constructivism
- Social Control
- Social Darwinism
- Social Fact
- Social Memory
- Social Movements
- Social Theory
- Socialization
- Stratification
- Structuralism
- Supply-Side Theory
- Symbolic Power and Violence
- Syncretism
- Systems Theory
- Universalism
- Values
- Highly Influential Books
- International Professional Associations
- Non-Religious Groups and Movements
- Post–World War II Researchers and Theorists
- Acquaviva, Sabino
- Azevedo, Thales
- Bastide, Roger
- Bataille, Georges
- Baudrillard, Jean
- Bellah, Robert N.
- Berger, Peter
- Bourdieu, Pierre
- Caillois, Roger
- Carrier, Hervé
- Clarke, Peter
- de Certeau, Michel
- Desroche, Henri
- Douglas, Mary
- Dumont, Fernand
- Eisenstadt, Shmuel N.
- Eliade, Mircea
- Fanfani, Amintore
- Fichter, Joseph
- Foucault, Michel
- Geertz, Clifford J.
- Greeley, Andrew
- Gustafsson, Göran
- Hadden, Jeffrey K.
- Hammond, Phillip E.
- Hargrove, Barbara
- Houtart, François
- Lévi-Strauss, Claude
- Lambert, Yves
- Le Bras, Gabriel
- Leclercq, Jacques
- Luckmann, Thomas
- Maduro, Otto
- Martin, David
- Mol, Hans
- Neal, Marie Augusta
- O’Dea, Thomas F.
- Parsons, Talcott
- Séguy, Jean
- Shariati, Ali
- Tomka, Miklós
- Vaillancourt, Jean-Guy
- Wallis, Roy
- Willems, Emilio
- Wilson, Bryan R.
- Yinger, J. Milton
- Other Disciplines in the Study of Religions
- Religious Activities, Beliefs, and Places
- Adorcism
- Alternation
- Ancestor Worship
- Apostasy
- Asceticism
- Astrology
- Atonement
- Beliefs
- Believing Without Belonging
- Blasphemy
- Brainwashing
- Canon Law
- Celibacy
- Chaplaincy
- Clergy
- Conjure
- Contemplation
- Conversion
- Creationism and Intelligent Design
- Deprogramming
- Ecstasy and Ecstatic Religion
- Engaged Buddhism
- Exorcism
- Fundamentalism
- Ghosts and Spirits
- Halal
- Hijab
- Integrism
- Intentional Communities
- Interfaith Dialogue
- Islamic Finance
- Islamic Jihad
- Islamization
- Magic
- Mana
- Marian Apparitional Movements
- Martyrdom
- Mecca
- Meditation
- Millennialism
- Missionization
- Monasticism
- Monotheism
- Monsters and Horror
- Music
- Mysticism
- Ordination
- Papacy
- Paranormal
- Piety and Pietism
- Pilgrimage and Tourism
- Possession, Spiritual
- Prayer
- Predestination
- Procession
- Prophecy
- Prosperity Gospel
- Religious Entrepreneurship
- Religious Experience
- Religious Healing
- Resacralization
- Revivalism
- Ritual
- Sacred
- Sacrifice
- Sangha
- Shamanism
- Shari’a
- Sound
- Totemism
- Ulama
- Ummah
- Vatican
- Vatican II
- Virtuoso
- Vocation
- Yoga
- Religious Groups and Movements
- African Christianity
- African Diaspora: Religious Practices
- African Religions
- Alevism
- Amish
- Anabaptist
- Anglican Church
- Animism
- Anti-Cult Movement
- Apocalyptic Movements
- Aum Shinrikyo
- Baha’i Faith
- Baptist Church
- Boko Haram
- Brahma Kumaris
- Branch Davidians
- Buddhism
- Calvinism
- Candomblé
- Caodaism
- Cargo Cults
- Catholicism
- Children of God
- Christian Right
- Christian Zionism
- Christianity
- Church of Almighty God
- Confucianism
- Daesoon Jinrihoe
- Daoism, or Taoism
- Eastern Orthodoxy
- Ecospirituality
- El Shaddai Movement
- Erhard Seminars Training (est)
- Esotericism
- Falun Gong
- Gülen Movement
- Hare Krishna (International Society for Krishna Consciousness)
- Hasidism
- Heaven’s Gate
- Hezbollah
- Hindu Nationalism
- Hinduism
- Hizb ut-Tahrir
- Human Potential Movement
- Illuminati
- Indigenous Religions
- ISIS
- Islam
- Jainism
- Jehovah’s Witnesses
- Jesus People
- Judaism
- Kabbalah
- Latter-day Saints
- Liberation Theology
- Lutheranism
- Mahāyāna Buddhism
- Methodism
- Muslim Brotherhood
- Naqshbandiya
- Nation of Islam
- Native American New Religions
- Neo-Pentecostalism
- Neo-Shamanism
- Neo-Sufism
- New Age Movement
- New Religious Movements
- Nuwaubian Nation
- Opus Dei
- Order of the Solar Temple
- Paganism, Contemporary
- Pentecostalism
- Peoples Temple
- Plymouth Brethren Christian Church
- Presbyterianism
- Protestantism
- Puritanism
- Quakers
- Raëlians
- Rajneesh/Osho Movement
- Rastafarianism
- Religion in China
- Rohingya People
- Rosicrucianism
- Sai Baba Movement
- Salafism
- Salvation Army
- San La Muerte
- Santa Muerte
- Satanism
- Scientology
- Shi’ite Islam
- Shinto
- Sikhism
- Social Gospel Movement
- Soka Gakkai International
- Spiritualism
- Spirituality
- Subud
- Sufism
- Sunni Islam
- Syriac Christianity
- Syro-Malabar Churches
- Tablighi Jama’at
- Tenrikyō
- Theosophy
- Theravāda Buddhism
- Tibetan Buddhism
- UFO Cults
- Umbanda
- Unification Church
- Victory Altar
- Voodoo
- Weixin Shengjiao
- Witchcraft
- Yezidis
- Zen Buddhism
- Zionism
- Zoroastrianism
- Research Methods
- Big Data Analysis
- Case Study
- Census
- Comparative–Historical Methods
- Content Analysis
- Demography of Religion
- Discourse Analysis
- Ethnography
- Historical Sociology
- Interviews
- Life Stories
- Longitudinal Study
- Narrative Analysis
- Online Ethnography
- Participant Observation
- Qualitative Data Analysis Software
- Qualitative Research
- Quantitative Data Analysis Software
- Quantitative Research
- Research Methods in the Sociology of Religion
- Spatial Analysis
- Time Series Analysis
- Social Forms of Religion
- Church–Sect Theory
- Church–State Relations
- Cultic Milieu
- Cultural, Religious, and Spiritual Capital
- Definition of Religion
- Denomination
- Diffused Religion
- Digital Religion
- Emerging Church
- Faith-Based Organizations
- Hyper-Real Religion
- Immigrant Religion
- Implicit Religion
- Invisible Religion
- Laïcité
- Lived Religion
- Megachurch
- Multiple Modernities
- Otherworldly and Inner-Worldly
- Pancasila
- Popular Religion
- Post-Islamism
- Postsecular Society
- Privatization of Religion
- Protestant Ethic Thesis
- Protestantization of Religion
- Public Faith
- Reenchantment and Disenchantment
- Secularization
- Seekership
- State Management of Religion
- State Religion/Official Religion
- Televangelism
- Vicarious Religion
- Westernization and Easternization of Religion
- Social Issues and Religion
- Abortion
- Activism
- Aesthetics
- Age
- AI
- Anti-Semitism
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Body, The
- Charity
- Child Sexual Abuse
- Conspiracy Theories
- Consumer Culture
- Death
- Digital Activism
- Economics and Religion
- Education and Religious Diversity
- Elderly, The
- Emotion
- Environment and Religion
- Ethnicity
- Eugenics
- Euthanasia
- Exoticism, Religious
- Freedom of Religion
- Gender
- Globalization
- Higher Education
- Human Rights and Religion
- International Development and Religion
- Islamophobia
- Law and Religion
- LGBTQI* People and Religion
- Marketization and Branding
- Media
- Movies
- Multiculturalism
- Nationalism
- Orientalism
- Pillarization
- Politics and Religion
- Post-Apocalypse
- Prejudice and Racism
- Prison, Religion in
- Public Funding of Religion
- Reasonable Accommodation
- Refugees
- Religion and Health
- Religion and Science
- Religious Accommodation
- Religious Diversity
- Religious Literacy
- Schism
- Sexuality
- Social Justice
- Sport
- Suicide
- Taboo
- Tattoos
- Taxes
- Tradition
- Transnationalism
- Video and Role-Playing Games
- Violence
- Welfare
- Youth
- Loading...