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2026 - Volume 10 - Number 1

Religion as a Catalyst: A Sociological Reappraisal of Social Change in Africa

Olusola Ayomide Asaju * ORCID: 0009-0000-5887-5617
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, NIGERIA

Elizabeth Oluwatosin Alagbe * ORCID: 0009-0004-8997-473X
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, NIGERIA

Open Journal for Sociological Studies, 2026, 10(1), 1-12 * https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojss.1001.01001a
Received: 4 January 2026 ▪ Revised: 22 March 2026 ▪ Accepted: 22 April 2026

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

ABSTRACT:
This sociological reconsideration of religion as a transformational social force in Africa challenges classical paradigms that view religion as a tool for social conservation or ideological dominance. While analytically valid, Functionalist and Marxist approaches fail to explain the dynamic, contentious, and contextually rooted roles religious institutions play in continental social development. The paper shows how Christian, Islamic, and Indigenous religious traditions have catalyzed social change by supporting anti-colonial resistance, democratic governance, critical social welfare services, and peacebuilding in ethnically plural societies through a critical synthesis of historical analysis and contemporary case studies. Religion in Africa provides moral frameworks, social capital, and organizational networks for collective action and ethical languages to solve socio-political issues, according to the report.  Thus, the study proposes a complex theoretical framework that respects religion’s power to reinforce stability and promote transition depending on historical context, interpretive agency, and institutional practice. This rethinking contributes to scholarly debates on modernity, development, and social change by encouraging a more empirically grounded and context-sensitive understanding of the complex relationship between religion and societal systems in the Global South.

KEY WORDS: sociology of religion, social change, Africa, Functionalism, Marxist critique, religious agency, democratization, social welfare, peacebuilding.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:

Olusola Ayomide Asaju, Obafemi Awolowo University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Philosophy, Ile-Ife, NIGERIA.

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