Max Weber borrowed the term disenchantment from Friedrich Schiller to describe a modernized Western society. He observed that scientific understanding held higher value than belief in this new era.
Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss defined ritual sacrifice involving two distinct processes: sacralization and desacralization. Sacralization endows profane offerings with sacred properties through consecration.
Ernest Gellner argued many people could not stand disenchanted worlds because they opted for various re-enchantment creeds like psychoanalysis or Marxism. These creeds tried making themselves compatible with naturalism without referring to supernatural forces.
Jason Josephson-Storm challenged mainstream sociological interpretations labeling disenchantment as myth by arguing belief in magic had not declined in Western Europe or United States. Adjustments for religious belief, education, and class did not change this finding.
Max Weber described the world in traditional societies as a great enchanted garden where processes oriented toward rational goals replaced traditional ways of life. This shift marked a fundamental change in how people understood their existence and social order.