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Apophatic reflexivity, a term coined within sociological theory by the leading Greek sociologist and prolific writer Nicos Mouzelis (1999) , signifies a wholly different, less rational, and more spiritual way of theorizing the complex processes of self-awareness, self-experience, and self-identity in the contemporary context of “late” or “high” modernity. More generally, it refers to ways in which spirituality might substantially contribute to current academic debates regarding the internal conversations of the social subject, as well as the emerging shift toward post-secular and post-materialist values. The innovative concept of apophatic reflexivity (AR) is explicitly opposed to Anthony Giddens's theory of reflexive modernization (see Giddens 1990, 1991, 1992 ) at the level of the individual. In particular, Mouzelis argues that Giddens's notion of reflexivity is both eurocentric (or “western-centric”) and “over-activistic” (or “cataphatic”), inevitably leading to an excessive emphasis on a highly ordering, instrumental, and chronically monitoring approach to the process of self-definition and self-identity (see Mouzelis 1999 : 85–6). Hence, AR can be deemed an elaborate and systematic way to comprehensively challenge and extend “received” or “conventional” conceptions of reflexivity, as well as to perceptively escape from severe limitations on the possible modes of individual ... log in or subscribe to read full text