[3.1] Explanations of secularisation

Question 1

What is a common theme used to explain secularisation?

Answer 1

Modernisation, where religion is being replaced by rational and scientific theory.

Question 2

What led to the break-up of small communities that used to be held together by strong religious beliefs?

Answer 2

Industrialisation.

Question 3

The growth of what is mentioned in explanations of secularisation?

Answer 3

Social diversity and religious diversity.

Question 4

What has the growth of diversity done?

Answer 4

Undermined authority of religious institutions.

Question 5

How did Wilson (1966) define secularisation?

Answer 5

The process whereby religious beliefs, practices and institutions lose social significance.

Question 6

Who developed the concept of rationalisation and what is it?

Answer 6

Weber (1905) developed rationalisation, and it is the process by which religious ways of thinking and acting are replaced by rational ones.

Question 7

What does Weber (1905) say started the process of rationalisation?

Answer 7

The Protest Reformation in the 16th century.

Question 8

How did the medieval Catholic worldview see the world?

Answer 8

It saw the world as an enchanted garden, where God and other spiritual beings could change the course of events through their supernatural powers.

Question 9

What kind of worldview did the Protestant Reformation bring?

Answer 9

It saw God as a transcendent being rather than an interventionist God, he exists now above and beyond this world.

Question 10

What does the idea of a transcendent God mean?

Answer 10

Events could no longer be explained ass the workings of supernatural beings but as the predictable workings of natural and understandable forces.

Question 11

Is there any need for a religious explanation of the world now and why?

Answer 11

No, because the world is no longer seen as an enchanted garden.

Question 12

What does Bruce (1990) argue has replaced religious and supernatural explanations of the world?

Answer 12

A technological worldview.

Question 13

Give an example of the technological worldview in action.

Answer 13

When a plane crashes, we do not blame evil spirits but instead examine the machinery to discover the cause of the misfortune.

Question 14

Where are religious explanations useful nowadays?

Answer 14

Where science is ineffective, such as where one is ill and there is no cure.

Question 15

How does Parsons (1951) define structural differentiation?

Answer 15

A process of specialisation which occurs with the development of industrial society.

Question 16

What happens in structural differentiation?

Answer 16

Separate institutions carry out the functions that a single institution used to do.

Question 17

How did religion dominate pre-industrial society?

Answer 17

By performing lots of functions.

Question 18

What does structural differentiation lead to?

Answer 18

Disengagement and isolation of religion.

Question 19

What is the status of religious beliefs now?

Answer 19

They are a matter of personal choice, and are kept within the sphere of the home and family.

Question 20

Even if religion does continue to perform some of it’s functions, what must it conform to?

Answer 20

Regulations set by the state.

Question 21

How were shared values expressed in pre-industrial society?

Answer 21

Through collective religious worship that integrated individuals and regulated their behaviour.

Question 22

How does Bruce (1993) see industrialisation?

Answer 22

As undermining the consensus of religious beliefs that held small communities together.

Question 23

What else undermines religion?

Answer 23

Diversity of occupations, lifestyles and cultures.

Question 24

What is the plausibility of beliefs undermined by?

Answer 24

The availability and knowledge of alternatives.

Question 25

How does Aldridge criticise secularisation?

Answer 25

Religion can be a source of identity on a worldwide scale, some groups interact through the media, and some groups flourish in impersonal urban areas.

Question 26

What does Berger (1969) suggest is another cause of secularisation?

Answer 26

Religious diversity, where there is more than one interpretation of the faith.

Question 27

In the Middle Ages, what did the Catholic church have and what did believers live under?

Answer 27

An absolute monopoly of the truth, believers lived under a ‘sacred canopy’.

Question 28

What can no religion claim now?

Answer 28

A monopoly of the truth.

Question 29

What does Berger (1969) argue creates a crisis of credibility for religion?

Answer 29

A plurality of life worlds, where people’s perceptions of the world vary and there are different interpretations of the truth.

Question 30

What have religious beliefs become?

Answer 30

Relative rather than absolute.

Question 31

Which counter-trends does Bruce (1993) identify that go against secularisation theory?

Answer 31

Cultural defence and cultural transition.

Question 32

What is cultural defence?

Answer 32

Religion provides a focal point for the defence of national, ethnic, local or group identity in a struggle against an external force.

Question 33

What is cultural transition?

Answer 33

Religion provides support and a sense of community for those who believe in it, helping them to adapt to the new standards and morals expected when they move country.

Question 34

Criticise secularisation theories in three points.

Answer 34

1. Berger (1969) now argues that diversity and choice actually stimulate interest in religion.
2. The growth of religion such as evangelicalism points to growth, not decline.
3. Beckford (2003) argues that opposing views can strengthen beliefs rather than weaken them.

Question 35

What do some sociologists argue is taking place?

Answer 35

A spiritual revolution.

Question 36

Where can increased interest in spirituality be seen?

Answer 36

In the growth of the spiritual marketplace.

Question 37

What did Heelas and Woodhead (2008) study?

Answer 37

Kendal, where they found that 7.9% of the population attended church and 1.6% of the population took part in activities of the holistic milieu.

Question 38

What do Heelas and Woodhead (2008) suggest as reasons for the trends they saw in Kendal?

Answer 38

• There has been a subjective turn in today’s society, so people are free to choose their own path rather than following a single religion.
• Traditional religion is declining because it demands duty and obedience, which people are opposed to nowadays.
• Evangelical churches are more successful than traditional ones as they emphasise spiritual healing and other such activities.

Question 39

What do Heelas and Woodhead (2008) argue with regards to the spiritual revolution?

Answer 39

A spiritual revolution has not taken place.