In a secular age: Weber, Taylor, Jung

Sociologists engaging with depth psychology have rarely drawn on the work of C. G. Jung. Part of the reason for this, I suggest, is Jung’s seeming tendency to credit, and be informed by, religious and non-rational perspectives. In this article I first highlight what sociologists might find problematic in Jung by comparing his views on the desacralisation of the modern world with Max Weber’s views on disenchantment. I then argue that Charles Taylor’s recent alternative account of disenchantment and secularity provides a framework within which Jung’s thought becomes more sociologically creditable despite, and even because of, its approach to matters of religion.