ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on broad definitions of fundamentalism, often elaborated within the disciplines of religious studies and sociology of religion. It shows that the richness and the complexity of the literature on religious fundamentalism, which has approached the subject from several methodological points of view and disciplinary perspectives, from theology, to social sciences and philosophy. A number of works dealing with fundamentalism share the common idea – despite the differences in perspective and approach – that the rise of the phenomenon is intimately connected to globalisation processes. Fundamentalism is connected to globalisation and modernisation processes also in the work of Olivier Roy. In his view, the cancellation of local cultures engendered by globalisation implies the loss of religions’ roots. A very different framing of the fundamentalist phenomenon has been proposed by the ‘religious economy’ school, which analyses religion according to a rational choice model, in terms of supply and demand.
