Epilogue: Sociology and Belief Beyond Positivism

I begin concluding this book with an epilogue, in which I briefly turn towards the history of social sciences in the twentieth century. Specifically, I look at how Durkheim’s sociological mode of existence was furthered by such students as Marcel Mauss in France and Talcott Parsons in the US through their own creative navigations of the sociological belief-language. Through Mauss and Parsons, I aim to sketch out a conceptual-historical bridge, further connecting the early sociological tradition with its contemporary post-secular iteration. What these brief explorations of the work of Mauss and Parsons aim to make clear is how the Durkheimian tradition, and its particular engagement with the category of belief, did not act in any sort of (necessarily) restrictive manner towards new sociological readings of non-rational practices, such as religion and gift-giving. What it offered instead was a rich landscape for further exploration, with Mauss investigating the sociological ability to reflexively overcome some of the limitations of sociological positivism and Parsons seeking, in contrasting fashion, to push the potential of such a classificatory positivism to its fullest extent.