Age And Religiosity Flashcards
What is disengagement and how can this lead to older people being more religious?
How older people become detached from society (retire and leave work etc), leading to the growing privatisation of their lives.
Increased social isolation as partners and friends die
Turn to religion for social support
What is meant by the generational effect?
Society is becoming more secular, each new generation is becoming less religious than the one before. Older people more religious as religion was more popular when they were growing up (education: greater emphasis on religion, socialisation in the family etc)
This could lay seeds where they discover religion as they grow older
How might the fact that people rediscover religion as they get older prove that religion is weaker now?
People lose religiosity in mid life then rediscover it when they are older rather that maintain religiosity throughout their lives.
What is meant by the aging effect?
Older people > declining health and closer to death > turn to religion for coping, meaning and comfort
How might Marxists support this ‘aging effect’ explanation?
people turn to religion for comfort (see theories)
Why is religion unattractive to the young?
Church services boring repetitive and old fashioned.
Controversies such as abortion, female bishops, gay marriage etc are alien to the liberal values young people hold
How is the argument that religion is unattractive to the young christocentric and too generalised?
Doesn’t reflect experiences of EM youth in Britain who are more religious, can’t be generalised to christianity globally as Pentecostal churches still attract younger members (e.g. Nick Jonas purity ring)
What did Lynch say about what Roof coined, ‘the expanding spiritual marketplace’?
Growing exposure and accessibility to wide diversity of religious and spiritual ideas give young more sources to build their own religious/ spiritual beliefs that might even be outside traditional religion
How does Bruce describe spirituality and the way young people treat it?
Weak and watered down faith, young people dip in and out of it
What statistics support Bruce’s argument declining religious education has led to young people being less religious?
Christian Research: century ago over 1/2 children went to Sunday school compared to 1/25 in 2000
In 2016 there were hardly any
The existence of what since 1997 counters Bruce’s argument?
Faith schools
What pragmatic reasons are there for a decline of religious belief and commitment in the young?
Increase of leisure (long opening hours for shops, pubs and clubs), more demands on time, might have more interesting and enjoyable things to do than go to church
How does Davies believing without belonging criticise the pragmatic reasons explanation?
Young people believe in religion but don’t feel like their interests are valued or they wouldn’t fit in with the congregation
