Formulation of the Claim
Arkoun argues that the expansion of the traditional social sector, together with population growth, exerts stronger pressure on thought and narrows its scope.
Explanation
Arkoun does not present this expansion as merely numerical growth, but as an enlargement of social weight that limits the presence of modern culture. The more this sector expands, the more influence it has in weakening new intellectual initiatives and keeping the public sphere closer to inherited patterns of thought.
The claim appears here within a reading that links social structure to the possibilities of cultural transformation. The issue is not the existence of tradition itself, but its becoming an inflated sector that imposes its pressure on thought and reduces the conditions for renewal.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom belongs to Arkoun’s thesis, which explains the stagnation of contemporary Islamic thought through the social and historical factors that constrain the formation of a modern critical space. It supports his view that the traditional structure is not merely a neutral backdrop, but an active element in reproducing constraints on thinking.
Limits of the Claim
This claim does not mean that Arkoun restricts the causes of intellectual stagnation to the demographic factor alone, nor that he ignores the complexity of broader political and cultural transformations.