Propositions and performativity: Relocating belief to the social

Abstract

Divergent disciplinary approaches are traced to effect an inter-disciplinary understanding of how scholars in both sociology and anthropology frame their discussions about belief. A preliminary ‘genealogy of belief’ is proposed, tracing epistemological and methodological approaches over the last 200 years showing how some debates presume individual and intellectualist orientations to belief while others favour the collective and emotional. Presenting recent empirical evidence from fieldwork in the UK, the author suggests a ‘performative’ understanding of belief arising from and shaped by social relations.