Dos modelos teóricos para estudiar las sociedades islámicas: M. Hodgson y M. Acién

Abstract

One of the problems that arises when studying Islamic societies is precisely that they all are designated with a term that refers to religion, even when the study has little or nothing to do with religion, and the denomination does not allow for an explanation of the enormous variety of histories of the people who fall under it. Inthe 1960s, Marshall Hodgson tried to solve this problem by creating new terms to differentiate the social sphere, the artistic sphere, etc. from the religious sphere. These terms are becoming more widely used today, but without taking into consideration the comments and limitations suggested by Hodgson. In the nineties, Manuel Acién embarked on a similar project, although his work sought to develop the elements comprising the Islamic social formation during the Middle Ages that would make it possible to differentiate it from other historical stages, without religion as a defining element. In this study, we analyze these author’s proposalsto address the problem and open a debate about the extent to which it is possible to use the terms coined by the first author to define the concepts of the second.