Abstract

The historical process of modernisation of western European countries culminates in a specific form of relationship between collective identity and political legitimacy. This article is an attempt to analyse the particularities of the Spanish case. The author uses the analytical instruments provided by the social differentiation theory and historical sociology, which allows removing any teleological pretence from the secularisation theory. In relation to the Spanish case, the author shows: the late but swift character of the population’s subjective secularisation; the unfinished character of the separation between Church and State; and finally, the contemporary coincidence of the last process with the loss of the cultural religious roots of the autochthonous population and with the arrival of population whose religion is not so differentiated from their culture.