Sociology-Beliefs-Secularisation

Question 1

What are the three subtopics of secularisation?

Answer 1

Secularisation in Britain, explanations of secularisation and secularisation in America

Question 2

What does Crockett say religion was like in the past?

Answer 2

Based on evidence from the 1851 Census of Religious Worship, it is estimated that in that year, 40% or more of the adult population in Britain attended church on Sundays, which is much higher than today

Question 3

What major changes have happen in religion in the UK since the 1851 census?

Answer 3

A decline in the proportion of the population going to church or belonging to one, an increase in the average age of churchgoers, fewer baptisms and church weddings, a decline in the numbers holding traditional Christian beliefs, and greater diversity including more non Christian religions

Question 4

What does Wilson argue about secularisation?

Answer 4

Western societies have been undergoing a long-term process of secularisation, which he defined as the process whereby religious beliefs, practices and institutions lose social significance eg church attendance fallen from 40% to 10-15% from mid 19th century to the 1960s. Also church weddings, baptisms and Sunday school attendance has declined

Question 5

What was church attendance like in 2015?

Answer 5

About 5% of the adult population attended church on Sundays, meaning in Britain, attendance has halved since Wilson’s research in the 1960s

Question 6

What did the English Church Census 2006 show?

Answer 6

Attendances at large organisations such as the Church of England and the Catholic church has declined more than small organisations, some of which are remaining stable or have grown. However, the growth of these small organisations has not made up for the decline of the large ones, so the overall trend is a decline

Question 7

What are the statistics on church weddings and baptisms?

Answer 7

Church weddings and baptisms are still more popular than Sunday services but there has still been a decline. In 1971 60% of weddings were in a church but only 30% in 2012. Infant baptisms have fallen steadily and Catholic baptisms today is under half of those in 1964

Question 8

What are ‘bogus baptisms’?

Answer 8

While infant baptisms have declined, those of older children have increased in recent years. Research indicates that this is because many faith schools, which tend to be higher-performing schools, will only take baptised children. Baptism thus becomes an entry ticket to a good school rather than a sign of Christian commitment

Question 9

What is religious affiliation?

Answer 9

A person’s religious affiliation refers to their membership of or identification with a religion. The evidence indicates a continuing decline in the number of people who are affiliated to a religion eg between 1983 and 2014 the percentage of adults with no religion rose from a third to a half, and those identifying as Christian fell by a third (British social attitudes survey 2015)

Question 10

How has immigration affected religious affiliation today?

Answer 10

The number of Catholics rose slightly but due to East European immigration. Those belonging to a non-Christian religion (mainly Islam) also increased due to immigration and higher birth rates

Question 11

What is religious affiliation like today for other Christians?

Answer 11

Other Christians include denominations such as Methodists and Baptists. This category has remained static since 1983 at 17% of the population. But while over four fifths of them identified with a specific denomination in 1983, only a fifth are now attached to a group

Question 12

How has religious belief changed?

Answer 12

Evidence about religious beliefs from 80 years of survey research shows that religious belief is declining as well as church attendance and membership. Eg surveys show s significant decline in belief in a personal God, in Jesus as the son of God and in Christian teachings about the afterlife and the Bible

Question 13

How have religious institutions been affected by secularisation?

Answer 13

The influence of religion as a social institution has declined. The Church has some influence on public life eg in law making, but this has declined significantly since the 19th century. The state has taken over many functions that the church used to provide eg education but now even faith schools are state funded

Question 14

What is a way to measure the institutional weakness of churches?

Answer 14

The number of clergy. During the 20th century this fell from 45,000 to 34,000. If it kept pace with population growth, the clergy would now be over 80,000 (over double what is is). Also the number of catholic priests fell by a third between 1965 and 2011

Question 15

What are other changes in the clergy, apart from decline in numbers?

Answer 15

They are now an ageing workforce. Only 12% of Anglican clergy are under 40

Question 16

What does Woodhead conclude about the clergy?

Answer 16

As a result of the decline, churches have reached a tipping point, with a sharp decline in the number of clergy to be expected in the near future meaning the day-to-day influence of the churches is reduced

Question 17

How does Bruce sum up the overall trend?

Answer 17

Agrees with Wilson that all evidence on secularisation has been pointing int he same direction for many years. If the current trends continue, the Methodist Church will fold around 2030 and by then the Church of England will be merely a small voluntary organisation with a large amount of heritage property

Question 18

What are the explanations of secularisation?

Answer 18

Rationalism (including disenchantment and a technological worldview), structural differentiation, social and cultural diversity, religious diversity and cultural defence and transition

Question 19

What is rationalisation in relation to secularisation?

Answer 19

It refers to the process by which rational ways of thinking and acting come to replace religious ones. Many sociologists believe Western society has undergone a process of rationalisation in the last few centuries

Question 20

What is the main sociologist when talking about rationalisation?

Answer 20

Weber. He argued that the Protestant Reformation, begun by Martin Luther in the 16th century, started a process of rationalisation of life in the West which undermined the religious worldview of the Middle Ages and replaced it with the rational scientific outlook found in modern society

Question 21

How does Weber view religion in the past?

Answer 21

The medieval Catholic worldview that dominated Europe saw the world as an ‘enchanted garden’. God and other spiritual beings and forces, such as angels, the devil and so on, were believed to be present and active in this world, changing the course of events through their supernatural powers and miraculous interventions in it. Humans could try to influence these beings and forces by magical means such as prayers and spells, fasts and pilgrimages, the wearing of charms etc in order to ensure a good harvest, protect against disease and so on

Question 22

How did the Protestant reformation view differ from the medieval catholic worldview?

Answer 22

Instead of the interventionist God of medieval Catholicism, Protestantism saw God as transcendent God existing above and beyond, or outside, this world. Although God had created the world, he did not intervene in it, but instead left it to run according to its own laws of nature

Question 23

How did the Protestant reformation bring a new worldview?

Answer 23

Their differing explanation of God meant that events were no longer to be explained as the work of unpredictable supernatural beings, but as the predictable workings of natural forces. All that was needed to understand them was rationality-the power of reason. Using reason and science, humans could discover the laws of nature, understand and predict how the world works and control it through technology. There was no longer a ned for religious explanations

Question 24

What did Weber call the process of the Protestant reformation bringing a new worldview, replacing the medieval catholic worldview?

Answer 24

Disenchantment of the world-it pushes out magical and religious ways of thinking and starts off the rationalisation process that leads to the dominance of the new rational mode of thought. This enables science to thrive and provide a basis for technological advances that give humans more and more power to control nature. In turn, this further undermines the religious worldview

Question 25

Following Weber’s explanation of rationalisation and disenchantment, what did Bruce argue?

Answer 25

The growth of a technological worldview has largely replaced religious or supernatural explanations of why things happen. Eg when a plane crashes with the loss of many lives, we are unlikely to regard it as the work of evil spirits or God’s punishment of the wicked. Instead we look for scientific and technological explanations

Question 26

How does a technological worldview reduce religion?

Answer 26

It leaves little room for religious explanations in everyday life, which only survive in areas where technology is least effective, eg praying for someone with an illness that has no scientific medical cure

Question 27

What does Bruce conclude about the technological worldview and religion?

Answer 27

Although scientific explanations do not challenge religion directly, they have greatly reduced the scope for religious explanations. Scientific knowledge does not in itself make people into atheists, but the worldview it encourages results in people taking religion seriously

Question 28

What is structural differentiation?

Answer 28

Parsons defines it as a process of specialisation that occurs with the development of industrial society. Separate, specialised institutions develop to carry out functions that were previously performed by a single institution

Question 29

How does Parsons explain structural differentiation in terms of religion?

Answer 29

Religion dominated pre-industrial society, but with industrialisation it has become a smaller and more specialised institution

Question 30

What does Parsons argue structural differentiation leads to?

Answer 30

Disengagement of religion. Its functions are transferred to other institutions such as the state and it becomes disconnected from wider society. Eg the church loses the influence it once had on education, social welfare and the law

Question 31

What process does Bruce argue has happened to religion, similar to structural differentiation and disengagement?

Answer 31

Privatisation. Religion has become separated from wider society and lost many of its former functions. It is confined now to the private sphere of the home and family. Religious beliefs are now largely a matter of personal choice and religious institutions have lost much of their influence on wider society. As a result, traditional rituals and symbols have lost meaning

Question 32

How is religion affected by social and cultural diversity?

Answer 32

Decline of community, industrialisation and diversity of occupations, cultures and lifestyles undermines religion

Question 33

How does decline of community lead to secularisation?

Answer 33

The move from pre-industrial to industrial society brings about the decline of community and this contributes to the decline of religion. Wilson argues that in pre-industrial communities, shared values were expressed through collective religious rituals that integrated individuals and regulated their behaviour. However, when religion lost its basis in stable communities, it lost its vitality and hold over individuals

Question 34

How does industrialisation lead to secularisation?

Answer 34

Bruce sees industrialisation as undermining the consensus of religious beliefs that hold small rural communities together. Small close-knit rural communities give way to large loose-knit urban communities with diverse beliefs and values. Social and geographical mobility not only breaks up communities but brings people together from many different backgrounds, creating even more diversity

Question 35

How does diversity of occupations, cultures and lifestyles undermines religion lead to secularisation?

Answer 35

Even when people continue to hold religious beliefs, they cannot avoid knowing that many of those around them hold very different views. Bruce argues that the plausibility of beliefs in undermined by alternatives. It is also undermined by individualism because the plausibility of religion depends on the existence of a practicing community of believers. In the absence of a practising religious community that functions on a day to day basis, both religious belief and practice tends to decline

Question 36

How has the view that the decline of community causes the decline of religion been criticised?

Answer 36

Aldridge points out that a community does not have to be in a particular area: religion can be a source of identity on a worldwide scale (true of Jewish, Hindu and Muslim communities eg.), some religious communities are imagined communities that interact through the use of global media, and pentecostal and other religious groups often flourish in ‘impersonal’ urban areas

Question 37

What does Berger argue?

Answer 37

Another cause of secularisation is the trend towards religious diversity where instead of there being only one religious organisation and only one interpretation of the faith, there are many

Question 38

What is the sacred canopy?

Answer 38

In the middle ages, the catholic church held an absolute monopoly-it had no competition. As a result, everyone lived under a single sacred canopy (a set of beliefs shared by all). This have these beliefs greater plausibility because they had no challengers and the Church’s version of the truth was unquestioned

Question 39

How did the Protestant Reformation change the single sacred canopy?

Answer 39

Protestant churches and sects broke away from the catholic church in the 16th century, and since then the number and variety of religious organisations has continued to grow, each with a different version of the truth-there is no longer an unchallenged monopoly. Society is no longer unified under the single sacred canopy provided by one church. Instead religious diversity creates a plurality of life worlds, where people’s perceptions of the world vary and where there are different interpretations of the truth

Question 40

What is plausibility structure?

Answer 40

Berger argues that the lack of a single sacred canopy creates a crisis of credibility for religion. Diversity undermines religion’s plausibility structure-the reasons why people find it believable. When there are alternative versions of religion to choose between, people are likely to question all of them and this erodes the absolute certainties of traditional religion. Religious beliefs become relative rather than absolute

Question 41

What does Bruce say about the trend towards religious diversity?

Answer 41

He sees it as the most important cause of secularisation

Question 42

What two counter trends does Bruce identify that see to go against secularisation theory?

Answer 42

Cultural defence and cultural transition. Both are associated with higher than average levels of religious participation

Question 43

What is cultural defence?

Answer 43

Where religion provides a focal point for the defence of national, ethnic, local or group identity in a struggle against an external force such as a hostile foreign power. Examples include the popularity of catholicism in Poland before the fall of communism and the resurgence of Islam before the revolution in Iran in 1979

Question 44

What is cultural transition?

Answer 44

Where religion provides support and a sense of community for ethnic groups such as migrants to a different country and culture. Herberg describes this in his study of religion and immigration to the USA. Religion has performed similar functions for Irish, African Caribbean, Muslim, Hindu and other migrants to the UK

Question 45

What does Bruce say about cultural defence and cultural transition?

Answer 45

Religion survives in such situation only because it is a focus for group identity so these examples do not disprove secularisation, but show that religion is most likely to survive where it performs functions other than relating individuals to the supernatural

Question 46

What evidence supports Bruce’s conclusion?

Answer 46

For example, churchgoing declined in Poland after the fall of communism and there is evidence that religion loses importance for migrants once they are integrated into society

Question 47

How does Berger criticise secularisation explanations?

Answer 47

Berger changed his views and now argues that diversity and choice actually stimulate interest and participation in religion eg the growth of evangelicalism in latin America and the new christian right in the USA point to the continuing vitality of religion, not its decline

Question 48

How does Beckford criticise secularisation explanation?

Answer 48

Agrees with the idea that religious diversity will lead some to question or even abandon their religious beliefs, but this is not inevitable. Opposing views can have the effect of strengthening a religious group’s commitment to its existing beliefs rather than undermining them

Question 49

What does Wilson say about religion in America?

Answer 49

In 1962 45% of Americans attended church on Sundays, however he argued that churchgoing in America was more an expression of the ‘American way of life’ than of deeply held religious beliefs. He claimed that America was a secular society, not because people had abandoned the churches, but because religion there had become superficial

Question 50

What does Bruce say about secularisation in America?

Answer 50

Shares Wilsons view and uses three sources of evidence to support his claim that America is becoming increasingly more secular: declining church attendance, secularisation from within and a trend towards religious religious diversity and relativism

Question 51

What is church attendance like in America?

Answer 51

Opinion poll research asking people about their church attendance suggests that it has been stable at about 40% of the population since 1940. However Hadaway (working with researches employed by major churches) found that this figure did not match the churches’ own attendance statistics. If 40% of Americans were going to church then the churches would be full, but they were not

Question 52

How did Hadaway et al investigate their suspicion that opinion polls exaggerate attendance rates?

Answer 52

They studied church attendance in Ohio. To estimate attendance they carried out head counts at services. Then at interviews they asked people if they attended church. They found that the level of attendance claimed by the interviewees was 83% higher than the researchers’ estimates of church attendance in the county

Question 53

What is the evidence to suggest the tendency to exaggerate churchgoing is a recent development?

Answer 53

Until the 1970s the findings of opinion polls matched the churches’ own estimates but since then the ‘attendance gap’ has widened. Eg a study of attendance at Catholic mass in San Francisco found that in 1972 opinion polls exaggerated attendance by 47% but by 1996 the exaggeration had double to 101%

Question 54

What does Bruce conclude about declining church attendance?

Answer 54

A stable rate of self-reported attendance of about 40% has masked a decline in actual attendance in the USA. The widening gap may be due to the fact that it is still seen as socially desirable or normative to go to church so people who have stopped going will still say they attend if asked in a survey

Question 55

What does Bruce argue about the way that American religion has adjusted to the modern world?

Answer 55

It amounts to secularisation from within. The emphasis on traditional christian beliefs and glorifying God has declined and religion in America has become ‘psychologised’ or turned into a form of therapy. This change has enabled it to fit in with a secular society. American religion has remained popular by becoming less religious

Question 56

How has the purpose of religion changed in America?

Answer 56

Changed from seeking salvation in heaven to seeking personal improvement in this world. This decline in commitment to traditional beliefs can be seen in people’s attitudes and lifestyles. Churchgoers are now much less strict than previously in their adherence to traditional religious mortality

Question 57

How has religious diversity contributed to secularisation from within?

Answer 57

Churchgoers are becoming less dogmatic in their views. Bruce identifies a trend towards practical relativism among American Christians, involving acceptance of the view that others are entitled to hold beliefs that are different to one’s own

Question 58

How does Lynd and Lynd’s study show practical relativism?

Answer 58

Found in 1924 that 94% of churchgoing young people agreed that ‘christianity is the one true religion and all people should be converted to it’ but by 1977 only 41% agreed

Question 59

What is the counterpart to practical relativism?

Answer 59

The erosion of absolutism-that is, we now live in a society where many people hold views that are completely different to ours, which undermines our assumption that our own views are absolutely true

Question 60

What are the criticisms of secularisation theory?

Answer 60

Religion is not declining but simply changing its form, secularisation theory is one sided focusing on decline and ignoring revival and new religions forming, evidence of falling church attendance ignores people who believe but don’t go to church, religion may have declined in Europe but not globally, so secularisation is not universal, the past was not a ‘golden age’ of faith from which we have declined, and the future will not be an age of atheism, and finally, far from causing decline, religious diversity increases participation because it offers choice-there is no overall downward trend, it is just spreading out