Modern societies are usually defined as relatively unreligious, dominated by money and power rather than religious beliefs. But why are we so sure that secularisation and the dominance of politics and economy are in the DNA of modern societies? We turned these and similar assumptions into big data research questions and found that, despite all contradicting ideologies or habits of mind, the economy is of only moderate importance to modern societies. Our results therefore suggest that we think twice before we continue to label our societies as money-driven, economy-biased, or simply capitalist.

Read the full short article in The Conversation or the research article published in Technological Forecasting and Social Change.