ISSN 3062-262X

Youth Representation of Salafi Religious Discourse: Oran as a Case Study

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Manseur Mostefa, Zaoui Mostapha

Abstract

Although contemporary societies have become secularised, religious discourse still holds authority in reality and enjoys significant attention from religious scholars. They employ it to convey messages aimed at transforming people's reality into what their own representations of religion dictate. However, religious discourse is not monolithic; rather, it consists of multiple discourses, with the Salafi trend representing its radical dimension. This research aims to uncover youth representations of Salafi religious discourse, given that youth is the social group fluctuating between the influence of the family's traditional religious cognitive heritage and the influence of incoming values transmitted through various media and communication channels. This study investigates this issue by addressing the following initial research question: Do young people perceive and conceptualize Salafi religious discourse within a reality characterised by rapid and radical change—which has turned the hierarchy of values upside down—by drawing from the traditional values prevailing in society, from incoming modern values, or through an attempt to reconcile both systems? To achieve the objectives of this study, we adopted an comprehensive sociological approach by conducting interviews with a sample of young people comprising various age groups, genders, educational levels, and social backgrounds.

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