Abstract
The true complexity of the religious field has been gradually brought to light by research carried out in sociology of religion throughout the course of industrial societies. At present, the limits to the theories linking religious withdrawal to industrial development, have become apparent. And current research and debates on « popular religion » now also bring out the complex nature of this phenomenon. The author of this article has considered the « popular religion» peculiar to industrial society's proletariat. In doing so, he has first of all briefly made a typological account of existing research, and following that, a few remarks on the concept of religion and some of the intellectual dichotomies frequently found in his own work and in the field of social sciences. He then concentrates on the social groups within western capitalist society he is dealing with. Finally, he examines the link between class belonging and religion. And keeping an inter disciplinary outlook, he concludes by trying to relate the synchronous and diachronous aspects of the phenomena and to find out the import of religious phenomena within society as a whole.