In the first part of the paper, we will consider Durkehim’s analysis of the sacred,
and the way this has been applied within the social sciences, and extended to
secular society. The second part addresses Durkheim’s idea that the sacred and
profane are necessary, and opposite, categories and the normative content of
the concept. Anthropologists have criticised Durkheim’s analysis on the basis
that the binary does not seem to operate in every society. Different metaphysical
conceptions, as well as different understandings of the relationship between
religion, spirituality and secular institutions and ‘the sacred’ have different
implications for what might be considered taboo. Moreover, the duality
sacred/profane does not seem to fully explain the normative content of the
relationship in its common usages. In the third part, we will suggest a third way
of understanding the normative content of the claim that something is
sacred—and argue that the mobilization of the term sacred may involve different,
and heterogeneous norms.