Age Flashcards
What are the three factors for age differences in religiousity
Old people
Disengagement
Religious socialisation
Ill health and death
Name four reasons why the younger people are less religious
Religion is unattractive to the young
Expanding spiritual marketplace
Declining religious education
Pragmatic reasons
Ao1
Disengagement
Dis Engagement means that as people get older, they become more detached from the mechanisms of society such as work
Old people may face a growing privatisation of their lives with increasing social isolation as partners and friends die
Participation in religious groups provides a form of social support
Ao3
Disengagement
People may be turning to religion for the social aspect, rather than being religious
Ao1
Religious socialisation
This is the view that society becomes more secular and each generation is less religious than the one before
More people than young people in the church, because they’re more attached to religion, and because the grew up at a time where religion was more popular
Older people are more likely to have a greater emphasis on religion through the education system and socialisation in the family from when they were younger
Ao3 religious socialisation
During midlife people lose religiousity then turn to it when they are older
Ao1 ill health and death
Old people tend to be facing declining health These are the very things religion concerns itself with
The aging process and disengagement from society may mean that people tend to religion for comfort and meaning
As we approach death, we naturally become more concerned about the afterlife and spiritual matters
Ao3 ill health and death
Marxists agree with this, and they state that people turn to religion when they need comfort
Ao1 religion is unattractive to the young
Religious organisations are unattractive to most young people
In many cases, defined services to be boring, all fashion and full of old people
And there are many controversies in religion of issues like abortion, gay rights, sex before marriage etc and these seem bizarre to many young people and alien to the values they hold
Ao3
Religion is unattractive to the young
Christocentric as it does not reflect the experiences of ethnic minority young people in Britain who tend to be more religious
This means it cannot be generalised to Christianity globally
An example of this is Nick Jonas, what a Purity Ring, as a symbol of his Christian faith and commitment to no sex before marriage
Ao1
The expanding of spiritual marketplace
Lynch suggest that young people may be turning away from conventional ideas of religion, as there is now an expanded spiritual marketplace
This involves the exposure and accessibility to a wide diversity of religious and spiritual ideas
Lynch that there are more sources for young people to draw on to build religious and spiritual beliefs
Ao3
The expanding spiritual marketplace
Bruce Spirituality is seen as a weak religion and a watered down faith
Which doesn’t require much commitment and young people who dip in and out of it
Ao1
Declining religious education
Bruce points out that C of E its increasingly unable to recruit young people by socialising them into religious, thinking through such things as church schools or religious education
Sunday schools are instead of terminal decline
Due to the rate of decline by 2016, there was hardly any Sunday schools
Ao3
Decline religious education
Faith school still remain, and these schools emphasise religiousity
Religious socialisation is still taking place for some young people
Ao1 pragmatic reasons
There’s also a range of possible more practical explanations for the decline of religious beliefs
Leisure has become a much bigger part of our life, along with shopping, clubs and pubs and these are all open for very long hours, including Sundays
Young people have more demands on their time, and they may simply have more interesting and enjoyable things to do
