Beliefs In Society Flashcards
(210 cards)
1
Q
What is a belief system?
A
Any set of ideas and beliefs that people use to make sense of the world around them
2
Q
How did people use to understand the world?
A
Traditionally, people made sense of the world through supernatural explanations
3
Q
How do people make sense of the world in more recent years?
A
It is more common to understand the world based on scientific evidence.
However some people do put their faith in both religious and non-religious ideologies
4
Q
What did Karl Popper differentiate?
A
Differentiated science from religion on the basis that religion was a closed belief system while science was an open belief system.
5
Q
What makes religion a closed belief system according to Popper?
A
Religion claimed a monopoly on the truth accepting no criticism or opportunity for development
6
Q
Why did Popper believe science was an open belief system?
A
It constantly opened itself up to criticism and testing and constantly sought to discover new knowledge
7
Q
What is ideology?
A
Ideology doesn’t have a single, clear definition and is used in a variety of ways. It’s most common use is to describe a broad, cohesive set of political ideas and beliefs (e.g liberalism, socialism, conservatism etc)
8
Q
What is the Marxist concept of ideology?
A
Word to describe a set of ideas and beliefs that are dominant in society and are used to justify the power and privilege of the ruling class - negative concept of ideology: ideology is used to obscure the truth, give people a false picture of how the world works in order to control and manipulate them
9
Q
Who is the Marxist view of ideology shared with?
A
Shared by many feminists who argue that it is patriarchal ideology that maintains the dominant role of men in society.
10
Q
According to radical feminists, how does ideology maintain the dominant role of men in society?
A
By convincing women that patriarchy is natural, normal, or even desirable
11
Q
What do Marxists argue about the proletariat?
A
If the proletariat really understood the exploitative nature of capitalist society and their place within it, there would be revolution.
12
Q
What prevents revolution?
A
Ideology - a set of ideas that creates an illusion - it convinced the workers that capitalism is fair, that they are not being exploited by the system and those who are wealthy have worked hard and deserve their success
13
Q
How is ideology reinforced according the Marxists? (Althusser)
A
Marxists argue ideology is reinforced by a wide range of institutions in society (what Althusser called IDEOLOGICAL STATE APPARATUS)
14
Q
Evaluation of the Marxist view of ideology?
A
• Karl Popper argued the Marxist view of ideology is impossible so study scientifically, because it’s effects are impossible to falsify.
• some neo-Marxists suggest the idea that the working class don’t know their own mind and have been indoctrinated by bourgeois ideology is patronising and disempowering. Many feminists take a similar view regarding the idea that women have been brainwashed by patriarchal ideology and therefore don’t know what they want.
• the suggestion in traditional Marxist approaches is that there’s just 1 ideology in society, but some neo-Marxists argue that this is just the dominant one. There are other competing sets of ideas in society.
15
Q
Is religion an ideology?
A
Religion is also a set of ideas and beliefs about the world - Yes
16
Q
How do Marxists view religion?
A
See religion as being one important part of bourgeois ideology
17
Q
How does religion act in theocratic states like Iran or Saudi Arabia?
A
Religion acts precisely like an ideology
18
Q
What are the 3 main approaches to defining religion?
A
- Substantive
- Functional
- Social constructionist
19
Q
What did Max Weber (1905) do?
A
Weber used a substantive definition of religion, seeing it as a belief in a supernatural power that is unable to be scientifically explained - whether a belief can be considered religious or not depends on the substance of what is believed.
20
Q
Functional definition of religion?
A
Defines religion by the social or psychological functions it persons for individuals in society. In this definition, a belief or organisation could provide certain functions e.g to encouraging social cohesion without necessarily including supernatural beliefs.
THIS DEFINITION USED BY FUNCTIONALISTS SUCH AS DURKHEIM OR PARSONS
21
Q
Where does a social constructionist definition of religion come from?
A
Comes from interpretivist sociologists
22
Q
What do interpretivist sociologists argue about religion?
A
There are so many different types of religion that it is impossible to come up with a single, undisputed definition.
23
Q
what is science?
A
There is no universally agreed definition of science. I’m sociology, it is generally understood to be value-free, objective, unbiased and rigorous, based on empirical evidence and facts, tested by experiments, rather than being based on faith - something based on knowledge rather than belief.
24
Q
What are the differences between science and religion?
A
• science is an open belief system, religion is a closed belief system
• science is subject to falsification and testing, religion is accepted on blind faith
• science is independent of state/government, religion is often closely linked to the state
25
What does Thomas Kuhn point out?
Science operates within a paradigm
26
What does it mean if science operates within a paradigm?
There is a set of assumptions about the world which new scientific theories and discoveries have to fit into
27
What happens when scientists propose theories that don’t fit into the existing paradigm?
It’s not accepted unless there’s sufficient evidence for a paradigm shift.
EXAMPLE - any new scientific discoveries need to fit into a paradigm that accepts that theories such as evolution or gravity are true
28
What idea does religion reject?
Rejects the existence of fossils as it undermines the creation story in the Bible
29
What does some theories being rejected as unscientific mean?
Maybe science is not such an open belief system as is suggest
30
Evidence that religion isn’t as closed as it’s presented?
Some religious organisations have changed their position in certain issues (e.g allowing women to become priests, changing attitudes towards sexual orientation etc)
31
How may science be argued as not being objective?
Not only is science conducted within a paradigm that is very resistant to challenge, it’s also dependent on funding from various sources meaning research is often conducted with a view to reach a particular outcome that will assist the sale of a particular product
EXAMPLE - scientists funded by oil companies have often been those to reach a conclusion questioning the extent of man-made climate change
32
Evidence that religion isn’t as closely linked to the state as presented to be?
Although in the UK there’s still an official state role for the Church of England, for the most part religion in western liberal democracies is no longer as closely linked with the government
33
Evidence that science is less independent on the government than presented?
There are often government scientists and scientific advice e.g on health issues, which is often pushed quite forcefully by the state and through the law
34
What are belief systems essentially the product of?
The product of socialisation - a set of norms and values that are widely shared.
This is particularly the case with the Marxist concept of ideology. Various institutions, including religious organisations, transmit the bourgeoisie ideology, and this then becomes an accepted common sense among people.
Functionalists describe a similar process only seeing the outcome as a widely beneficial shared set of norms and values.
35
What are functionalist views on the role of religion?
Functionalists argue that religion is a conservative force and that this is a positive function for society and for individuals. They believe religion helps to create social order and maintains the value consensus.
36
What do Durkheim, Parsons and Bellah argue?
Argue that religion performs important functions for society
37
What does Malinowski argue?
Argues that it performs an important function for the individual
38
What do all functionalists agree about?
All agree that religion promotes stability and helps to preserve the status quo and prevent the upheaval and rapid social change
39
What did Durkheim conduct a study of?
Conducted a study of the Arunta, an Australian Aboriginal tribe’s religious beliefs in order to establish the function of the beliefs and ceremonies and what is really signified. He argued that society divided into objects and activities into the sacred and the profane.
The programs were everyday experiences with a clear function, while the sacred had a greater, collective significance.
From his detailed study of ‘primitive religion’ he identified 4 key fictions of religion in society
40
What were the 4 key functions of religion in society that Durkheim identified?
1. Discipline
2. Cohesion
3. Vitalising
4. Euphoric
41
Discipline meaning?
Religious rituals impose self-discipline, which encourages individual to behave sociably and not simply pursue their own selfish course of action, which would be anti-social and destabilising
42
Cohesion meaning?
The key function is social cohesion: worship brought the community together. Through worship people reaffirm and reinforce the bonds that keep them together
43
Vitalising meaning?
Durkheim also argued that religious belief maintained traditions, ensuring that the values that are passed down from generation to generation are kept vital and at the heart of the society
44
Euphoric definition?
If members of society were ever to become frustrated or lose their faith, the religion serves to remind them of their place in something much bigger. Again, it prevents individuals from becoming anti-social
45
What did Durkheim conclude?
Concluded that when society came together to worship collectively, what they were really worshipping was society itself. Durkheim recognised that society was becoming less religious and more secular, but he argued that there was still secular function for religious belief
46
What did Bellah (1967) argue about some modern secular states?
Argued that in some modern secular states, people worshipped society in a clear way without supernatural element of traditional religions.
47
What was Bellahs example of people worshipping society in a clear way in secular modern states?
His example is Americanism
America’s religious symbols are the flag, national anthem, famous historical figures etc
While this might not fit everyone’s definition of religion, it performs the same functions that Durkheim identified and promotes social cohesion, order, stability, and prevents radical change, again acting as a conservative force.
People can all unite around ideas of the death of royal family members (e.g Princess Diana) or the idea of ‘god bless America’ without necessarily all worshipping the same god, or practising the same religion.
48
What did Parsons argue about religion and socialisation?
Argued that religions quite directly socialised people into shared values, which were often stated quite directly by the religion, such as the 10 Commandments in Judaism and Christianity.
He further argued that religion answers the ultimate questions e.g why do good people suffer or die young - religions can offer answers in terms of tests of faith and rewards in the afterlife - gives meaning to what might otherwise seem a meaningless existence
49
What did Malinowski (1954) study?
Studied the religious practice of the Trobriand islanders. He noted that when the islanders were wishing on inshore, safe waters they did not practice religious ceremonies but they did when finishing on more dangerous waters. He concluded that religion had a psychological function: it helped individuals to deal with an anxious and stressful situation. These sort of unpredictable events can cause instability and disruption in society, so by performing this psychological function, religion also helped preserve the stability of society.
In this way religion performs psychological functions for the individual
50
Evaluation of functionalist views on the role of religion?
• Worsley (1956) has criticised Durkheim’ saying of the Arunta suggesting that he misunderstood certain aspects of the religion, particularly the idea of the separation between the sacred and profane and the significance of totems
• Functionalist theories are outdated and arguably tell us little about religion today. They envisage a society with a single unifying religion that brought people together? Whereas in most developed, western societies today there is no consensus about religion. Even in countries where there is a state religion and significant levels of religiosity, religion is often a major factor in conflict, such as in serval Middle Eastern countries.
• Malinowski’s study was unusual for a functionalist in that it was a participant observation. This was high in validity and very detailed, conducted over 4 years. However, from positivist perspective, it was unreliable and the conclusions couldn’t be generalised to other tribes or societies.
• some would argue describing ‘Americanism’ as a religion stretches the definition of religion too far. It is clear that patriotism or nationalism does functions as a form of belief system or ideology and that it may well carry out some of the functions that Durkheim, Parsons or Malinowski ascribe to religion. However, is that enough for something to be considered religious, or does it not require some sort of supernatural element to it?
51
How to Marxists describe the role of religions?
Marx described religion as the opiate of the masses.
52
What did Marx mean by the saying ‘opiate of masses’?
Religion acted like a drug, cushioning the workers from the true misery of being exploited in capitalist society.
53
What did Marx believe about proletariat?
Proletariat should rise up against the bourgeoisie in a revolution. Religion was one of the ways in which the bourgeoisie maintained control: part of the ideology.
54
What did Lenin refer to religion as?
Spiritual gin
55
What did Lenin argue?
He argued that the ruling class used religion cynically to create a mystical fog which obscured reality for the working class - very similar to the idea of it being an opiate.
56
What does Louie Althusser argue that religion is a part of?
Argues religion is a part of the ideological state apparatus. Along with education and the media, it transmits the dominant ideology and maintains false class consciousness
57
Not all Marxists have the same perspective. What does Engels suggest?
Suggested that religion had a dual character, performing this conservative function but also having the potential to drive social change.
58
Evaluation of Marxists views on the role of religion?
• Marxist and functionalist views are in one resort very similar. They observe religion as preforming a similar function, but one sees it as a positive thing and the other as a negative thing - means some of the criticisms of functionalist view are equally applicable to Marxist view: where religious practice is a minority pursuit (western democracies) religion doesn’t have the power to act as an opium of the masses or as a spiritual gin. Sports or celebrity gossip is more likely to preform that role today.
• many of the teachings of various religions appear to contradict the values of capitalism - they can contradict the idea that wealth is admirable and earned and the rich are people to feel deference towards. Other religions have similar teachings, criticising the greedy and praising the lowly. Whole a rejection of materialism might have the impact that traditional Marxists suggest it could also encourage people to see the ruling class and capitalists as ungodly. This is why neo-Marxists consider the possibility that religion could have a dual character and could act as a conservative force or catalyst for change
59
Feminist views on the role of religion?
Most feminists argue along similar lines to functionalists and Marxists that religion acts as a conservative force, maintaining the status quo. For feminists, the status quo is a patriarchal society.
60
How did Simone De Beauvoir view religion?
Saw it as exploiting and oppressing women. She argued that religious faiths encouraged women to be meek, put up with inequality, exploitation and suffering and doing so will bring rewards in the afterlife
61
In what ways can religion promote patriarchy?
• through religious scripture/teachings
• through religious ceremonies and practices
• through the structure and power-relations of religious organisations
62
Examples of patriarchy in scripture and teachings?
• in several religions, women are presented as temptresses who distract men from the serious business of worship. In the bible, it is the first woman, Eve, who disobeys god and then goes in to tempt Adam and bring about his downfall too
• in many religious teachings across a wide range of religions, women are given the role of nurturing, caring and giving birth. While these roles are presented positively and as essential, they reinforce the gender norms in society and the patriarchal power structures. If women choose not to conform to gender stereotypes, they are not only deviating from gender norms but deviation from God’s will too.
• religious texts are full of male gods
63
Example of patriarchy in ceremonies and practices?
• in several religious organisations men and women worship separately
• in many religions both menstruation and pregnancy are treated as impure or ungodly e.g in Islam, women who are menstruating aren’t allowed to tough the Koran
64
Example of patriarchy in religious organisations?
• there is a traditional gender division of Labour in many religious organisations with an expectation that women will serve tea and cakes after the service
• although some religious organisations do have women in senior positions, they are certainly the exception rather than the rule, and in most cases this is the result of relatively recent reforms.
65
Evaluation of feminist views on the role of religion?
• not all feminists agree that religion is essentially patriarchal, arguing that many early religions featured prominent goddesses and other female figures. Instead they argue that patriarchal societies have changed religions in order to ensure they reflect and reinforce patriarchal values.
Armstrong (1993) argued it was the development on monotheistic religions which imbued religion with a patriarchal and sexiest core - various goddesses were replaced with male prophets.
• Linda Woodhead argues that religion is not necessarily sexiest or patriarchal and writes of a ‘religious feminism’. She argues that many Muslim women choose to wear a veil and see it is a positive and liberating choice.
• others have suggested that religion is becoming increasingly female-dominated, particularly in western democracies. Attendance at religious services is much more common among women.
66
Evaluation of the view that religion acts a conservative force?
• overall, religion can only act as a conservative force if most people in society believe in it, and indeed if most people in society believe the same things. Secularisation and diversity in contemporary society significantly undermines this role for religion, whether you see it in a positive light (functionalists) or negative force (Marxists & Feminists). Religion can only engender a collective conscience or a false consciousness through widespread faith. As such, many argue that the idea that religion acts as a conservative force is an outdated one.
• religious beliefs are not always in step with the dominant ideas prevalent in society. As such, if people are persuaded to share those religious beliefs, they come to hold an alternative view and therefore might be at the forefront of demanding social change.
67
What happens through religion?
Through religion, people learn the norms and values of society. This can be viewed as positively (functionalists) as ensuring a value consensus in maintained. Alternatively, it can be viewed negatively, as transmitting the values of a powerful group in society in order for them to maintain power and control.
68
What does religion need to be for it to act as a conservative force?
Religion must be powerful. Sociologists argue that in modern western democracies religion has largely lost that power. Marxists and feminists see it as a role that maintains the power of powerful groups and helps to subjugate those who are not powerful. They would argue that society remains stratified, that social differentiation is secured, through religion acting as in ideological weapon.
69
What was Webers focus of his study ‘The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism?
Focus of this study was that religion was an engine of social change. He identified features of the Calvinist Protestant religion which he argued had the unintended consequence of playing a major role in kick-starting capitalism.
70
What was Calvinism?
A Protestant religious movement from the 16th Century
71
What are the 2 features of Calvinism that Weber considered to be especially influential in the development of capitalism?
Ascetism
Predestination
72
What is Ascetism?
A philosophy of self-denial: the idea that Christians should lead an austere life, without luxuries.
73
What is predestination?
The idea that it has already been decided who will go to heaven and who will go to hell and there’s nothing you can do about this during your time on earth.
Good deeds, repentance etc won’t save you
74
What is the problem with the belief in predestination?
It fails to perform many functions that sociologists like Parsons or Malinowski suggested religion should perform, because it offers little comfort. It contributed to a sense of anxiety, sometimes described as salvation panic
75
What would Calvinists look for from god?
Would look for signs from God that they were among those who were going to heaven. They increasingly came to see success as a sign, and therefore threw themselves into their work.
76
How did Calvinism help capitalism?
Because of Ascetism and the idea that people should make themselves useful, it was business at which Calvinists might be successful, and when they were successful, instead of spending the money on luxury items, they reinvested the money into their businesses. Making money and reinvesting it in order to make money was the origin of the values and spirit of capitalism
77
Evaluation of Weber?
• even Weber himself acknowledged that Calvinism was not the only factor responsible for the development of capitalism. He believed it to be a significant factor, but acknowledged that there would have been others
• Weber has been accused of holding a ‘debate with the ghost of Marx’. While Marx saw capitalism as the product of material relationships and religion as something which reflected those material interests, Weber sought to turn it on its head, by suggesting that economic change could be driven by religious beliefs and values.
• Weber’s conclusions have received some criticism. Eisenstadt (1968) argues that capitalism did occur in places where there was no Calvinism.
• others have pointed out that there were places were Calvinism was very strong where there was very little development of capitalism and indeed hostility to commerce.
• some have questioned Weber’s understanding of Calvinism and other religions and therefore his explanation is incorrect on a theological level
Weber was an interactionist
78
Neo-Marxist views on religion and social change?
Religion had a dual character and could act as a conservative force but it was also possible for it to challenge the status quo and encourage social change
79
Which religion is an example of dual character?
Hinduism - kept the maintenance of the caste system (social classes) but also inspired huge social change in the Indian nationalist movement & particularly the principles of non-violence and self-renunciation
80
What did Bloch (1954) write about and argue?
Wrote about The Principle of Hope and argued that religion did offer people the idea of a better sort of society. Although he thought that religious faith was misplaced, he did see in it a hope for a better sort of society and a belief that people should be able to have dignity and live a good life
81
What did Gramsci write about?
Wrote about the way in which bourgeoisie maintained power in capitalist society’s. He argued that through culture, the bourgeoisie was able to maintain hegemony: a dominant set of ideas that come to be seen as common sense.
He agreed that religion played a part in that and contributed to the hegemonic control of the ruling class however didn’t think this was the only role religion could play. Religion could be useful for building a counter-hegemony, led by organic intellectuals & popularise ideas that ran counter to those of the ruling class and helping build rebellion and protest
82
Examples of religious leaders acting like Gramsci’s organic intellectuals and using ideas in religion to campaign for significant change?
• the role of Martin Luther king in the US civil right movement
• Liberation theology in Latin America
83
How did Otto Maduro view liberation theology?
As an example of how religious organisations could provide guidance to the working class and the oppressed as they struggle with the ruling class
84
Rather than being a conservative force, what did the Catholic Church locally perform?
Locally performed a revolutionary role in countries like El Salvador in the fight against their military dictatorships.
A key example is Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador. Initially Romero was concerned about priests in his diocese working alongside the poor, helping them to organise groups and participating in political campaigns. However, he became increasingly angered by the oppressive nature in El Salvador and the brutal repression of the poor. As archbishop, Romero used his platform to speak out against the government, denouncing state killings. He also set up various schemes to assist the victims and their families
85
What is Romero a clear example of?
Religious figures and religious organisations not working hand-in-hand with the state and ruling class as a conservative force
86
Evaluation of neo-Marxist views on religion & social change?
• some question how central religion was to the Civil Rights Movement. Although king was a clergyman, the movement was multi-faith and broadly secular
• even though neo-Marxist views are arguably outdated in that they see religion as being socially very significant, whether it be a conservative force or an engine of social change. Those sociologists that argue there has been a rapid process of secularisation would question whether religion today plays an especially significant role in either way, conservative or reformist.
87
What’s an example of religion being a force for social change?
Islamic revolution 1979 in Iran
88
What happened during the Islamic revolution 1979?
Iran became very westernised and a largely secular, liberal society. However, it was run by a very wealthy elite which got rich on oil profits while most lived in poverty. Much of the resentment against the Shahs regime was expressed in terms of anti-western sentiment and fuelled and increase in religion fundamentalism. It was this movement that led to the revolution of 1979 and while it was removing a regime that was widely resented across Iran, many would see the social change as being regressive rather than progressive. The revolutionary change was seen as conservative.
89
What does Bruce write about religion?
Religion is able to be an engine of both progressive and regressive social change. US civil rights = progressive change but New Christian Right in the US = regressive change
90
What’s another example of regressive social change?
The role of terrorist groups such as ISIS
91
Evaluation of the view that religion leads to social change?
• issues with the extent to which religion was really the engine or the catalyst of the change. In societies, where religion is central to social life it is always likely to play some part in social change, but does it CAUSE it? Some argue it was political activism and legal and constitutional developments that brought civil rights reform to the USA rather than the religious beliefs of the campaigners.
• for religion to be effective as a conservative force or an engine of social change, it must be a significant force in society. Secularisation theory suggests that this is not the case in contemporary society.
92
How does religion link to power?
Whether religion is engaged in conserving the status quo or driving social change has much to do with who holds the power in society.
93
Traditionally, most people with a religious belief belonged to…?
Some manner of religious organisation
94
What are denominations?
The different branches of the Christian church
95
The first sociological typology of churches came from who?
Max Weber
96
What did Max Weber differentiate between?
Churches and sects
Identified churches as large organisations and sects as small ones and noting various social differences between the 2
97
What are churches according to Troeltsch (1912)?
• they claim a monopoly over the truth - claim that their position is true and that the views of religious groups are false
• they are closely connected to the state.
• they have a developed, hierarchical structure. There will be clear lines of seniority in the clergy and hold a number of rules and regulations. Churches tend to make relatively few demands on their members. In this way active membership can generally fit around a normal, working life, making it accessible to people from a range of social backgrounds
• churches are mainstream, conservative organisations that seek to defend the status quo. They seek to be open and universal but are attractive to those on high incomes (ruling class) who have interest in preserving society as it is and resisting social change
• people are often born into a church, rather than choosing it. Indeed, they are likely to be included in the church before they are old enough to understand it’s teachings.
98
What are sects according to Troeltsch (1912)?
Troeltsch characterised sects as organisations that broke away from a church because they were dissatisfied with its teachings or practices. This would be a small-scale schism with the sect formed by dissatisfied members of a congregation rather than a split towards the top of the hierarchy
SECTS:
•. Claim a monopoly over the truth and are often hostile to other religious organisations
• don’t have a complex hierarchy, instead usually being led by a charismatic leader
• they are small
• they demand total commitment from members, and therefore aren’t accessible without significant sacrifices
• they are usually hostile to the state and to mainstream society (Wallis called this world-rejecting)
• often made up of marginalised, deprived groups such as those on low incomes or from minority-ethnic groups
• tend to grow quickly but can also decline very quickly & death if charismatic leader can lead to end of sect
99
What are dominations according to Niebuhr (1929)?
The halfway house between sect and church is described as a domination.
• they aren’t closely connected to the state and will comment and campaign on social issues
• their membership is larger than a sect but smaller than an established church
• they have some hierarchy but less than an established church
• they often do not claim a monopoly of the truth, being quite accepting of other denominations, churches and religions
100
Example of a sect?
Shincheonji (New Heaven New Earth)
101
Evaluation of sociological definitions and explanations on religious organisations?
• it’s often the case with typologies that reality never quite fits with the theory. Many religious organisations have some elements of more than one type. Also, organisations change over time or between different places. I’m countries where the Roman Catholic Church is the dominant or established religion it fits the church typology quite neatly, whereas in somewhere like the UK it might have more of the characteristics of a denomination. In some countries, like iraq or Sweden, the Catholic Church is very small
• Steve Bruce (1995) questions whether Troeltsch’s typology did church still applies to contemporary society. He points out that in modern societies we now have religious pluralism meaning it’s much harder for churches to claim a monopoly over the truth. He points to how the Church of England is not always a conservative force anymore, often taking critical positions about government policies and campaigning for change. Others have pointed out that religion pluralism has led to a decline in churches but a growth in other forms of religious organisation
• Roland Robertson pointed out increasing disagreements between established churches and governments, partly as a result of secularisation in society and governments being less concerned about the attitudes of churches and also as a consequence of globalisation
• in modern western societies, it is less usual for most people in a society to belong to a church. For example, in the UK, the Church of England has fewer than 1 mil active members
102
What did Brian Wilson argue?
Argued that many religious and spiritual organisations operating in contemporary society don’t fit into any of the categories. This has led to the development of typologies of cults and other New Religious Movements
103
What does Roy Wallis say about sects and cults?
Cults differ from sects in that they are individualised, loosely-organised, tolerant and make very few demands on their adherents. For Wallis, cults don’t claim to have found the truth, nor do they condemn those who are not part of their group
104
What are new religious movements according to Wallis?
• world affirming new religious movements
• world accommodating new religious movements
• world rejecting new religious movements
105
What are world affirming NRM?
World affirming NRM - or cults- seek to offer their members spiritual enrichment. They often don’t include belief in a god and generally make few demands on their members. Instead they offer personal fulfilment, meditation and ways to turn individuals into better people. However, some world-affirming cults are more organised and have greater demands on their members, such as Scientology
106
What are World Accommodating NRM?
World-accommodating NRM separate life into spiritual and worldly spheres, focusing on the spiritual. They neither affirm nor reject the world, but they do adapt in order to ensure they can peacefully live within it.
107
What are World rejecting NRM?
A world rejecting NRM is one that sees the world as inherently evil or corrupt. They think that the way society is currently organised is against the will of god and needs to radically change. E.g millenarianism is a belief system whereby adherents are waiting for a moment of radical change
108
What are new religious movements according to Stark and Bainbridge?
• Audience cult
• Client cult
• Cult movement
109
What Is audience cult?
Stark and Bainbridge look at religions and spiritual movements as if they were business organisations, referring to participants/adherents/congregants as customers or clients.
An audience cult is one where the participant is a passive consumer. People might attend lectures, read books or buy DVDs to hear a particular message or consume a particular set of ideas. There’s no necessary ongoing relationship or expectations.
110
What is a Client Cult?
A client cult is one where the cult has a relationship with its adherents akin to a doctor/patient relationship. The cult is a service provider and the clients enter into a prolonged relationship as they might do with a therapist. It’s not like a sect or church however, as they will choose when, how often and for how long they wish to receive these services
111
What is a cult movement?
A cult movement is one which doesn’t simply provide one service, but looks to fulfil all the spiritual needs of their costumers. This relationship then becomes more like a traditional church, demonstration or sect, with the clients being more like members of a congregation. They are more likely to identify themselves as a member of the group and as a believer. Within this typology there is still a wide range of organisations with some expecting more commitment than others.
112
Who conducted the Kendall Project?
Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead
113
What was the name of the book Heelas and Woodhead published to explain their findings?
The Spiritual Revolution: why religion is giving way to spirituality (2005)
114
What did Heelas and Woodhead meaning by ‘the congregational domain’?
The church and chapel type religiosity in the town: who attended religious ceremonies, how often and where?
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What did church census show about Kendall and religion?
7.9% of the towns population attended one of its 22 churches on one Sunday in November
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What did Heelas and Woodhead do in their study?
Interviewed members who attended the church about the meaning of church to them, and the researcher attended the church services. They also gave out distributed questionnaires in the churches (not a representative sample)
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What was the ‘holistic milieu’ in the Kendal project?
Mapping all non-congregational activity in the town that might reasonably said to have a spiritual dimension.
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What was the street survey in the Kendal project?
Survey to try and capture data about the majority of Kendal’s residents who were neither members of the congregational domain nor the holistic milieu. Only a small minority of people surveyed expressed having no religious or spiritual belief at all
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What did Heelas and Woodhead conclude?
Concluded that non-congregational spiritual activities were increasing rapidly while traditional congregational activity was declining. They found that the holistic milieu was particularly popular with middle-aged women.
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Evaluation of the Kendal project?
• there were reasons given for choosing Kendal, but it is arguably not typical of religiosity in the UK. Particularly, it is a predominantly white British population and so the greater religiosity of minority-ethnic groups isn’t reflected. Nor is the growth in non-Christian religions in the UK, such as Islam.
• Kendal is quite a middle class town. Whether the trends recorded in Kendal would be present in less prosperous, multicultural small towns let alone in city centres is highly questionable.
• defining the holistic milieu was highly problematic
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What did John Drane 1999) suggest? (Postmodernist)
Suggests that new age movements have grown as a result of an apparent failure of science as a belief system. He argues that while the enlightenment and rationalisation led to people dismissing traditional religions, they increasingly found that science didn’t prove the answers they needed either. There was a sense that science, reason and development would solve the worlds problems, but in fact create more problems. Drane then argues that people are turning away from science and looking within themselves and turning to spirituality
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Evaluation of sociological definitions and explanations of religious organisations? - NRM
• as with the typologies for churches, denominations and sects, real organisations tend to be harder to pin down in reality than in theory. Most organisations have features of several of the types, or move between them
• some question to what extent some of these organisations should be considered religious at all. Some of the holistic, spiritual and new age movements are ideas that people dip into or try out without any real organised belief or commitment. People might read their horoscopes every week but more for entertainment than through faith that they contain any truth
• Bruce (1995) dismisses the idea that new age belief is a feature of postmodernism, instead characterising is a product of modernism: an extreme individualism that is not really religion at all.
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How can data about religion be collected?
Through:
• the census
• church census
• surveys
• data held by religious organisations themselves
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What is the problem with census measuring religiosity?
While the census asks people to note their religion, it is likely the ‘head of the house’ might note the religion of all members (this may be inaccurate)
People might not take the census remotely seriously e.g 2001, 390,000 Britons declared themselves as Jedi Knights, making it the 4th largest ‘religion’ in the UK
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What is the problem with Church Census?
A church census looks at who is attending church (or other religious institutions) on a given date. This doesn’t necessarily give a complete picture as the census date might artificially inflate attendance; not all religious organisations are likely to be included; people may have religious faith but not attended or attend for reasons other than religious faith
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What is the problem with religiosity and religious belief?
They aren’t the same thing and therefore involve different measure
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Religious belief definition?
Whether people believe in a religion; hold a religious faith
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Religiosity definition?
The extent to which they participate in religious activities
You can hold religious belief while displaying little or no religiosity
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What happens in many western democracies regarding the % of people that claim to belong to a particular religion?
In many western democracies, including the UK, the % of people claiming to belong to a particular religion is much higher than the number who regularly practice their faith
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What are religious organisations likely to do with statistics?
Likely to inflate their memberships in order to retain the impression that they are significant social institutions
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What was the traditional view about social class and belief?
Religiosity was strong among the working class, tying into Weber’s idea of a theodicy of disprivileged and also the traditional Marxist view that the purpose of religion was to act as an opiate or spiritual gin for the masses.
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What do Marxists argue about social class and belief?
Argue that religion performs different functions for different classes, for the ruling class it legitimates their position and their success, and for the working class it offers hope for reward in the afterlife.
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What is there evidence to suggest about social class and belief in contemporary society?
Religiosity is higher in middle class.
A survey from 2015 suggested that 62% of church goers are middle class
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What’s an explanation for religiosity being higher in middle class?
Religion offers opportunities for social networking which the middle class make use of, rather than that there is necessarily a greater amount of religious faith among the middle class
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What religion is associated with middle class?
The Anglican Church - seen as the religion for the ruling class
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What religion is more associated with the working class?
Roman Catholic Church and Methodist church - mostly due to geographical areas where the faith is well established
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What social class do new age movements and cults appeal to?
Appeal to the middle class - might be due to sense of spiritual deprivation.
Bruce (1995) argued that spiritual needs seem more important to those who have few material needs (working class) however others have pointed out that middle class individuals can still feel relatively deprived and therefore seek answers for why they are not as successful as some of their peers
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Working class reasons for religiosity? Most likely religious activity?
Reasons:
• theodicy of disprivilege - religion offers compensators such as rewards in the afterlife
• financial/social support and welfare
• sense of belonging and community
Activity:
• denominations
• sects
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Middle class reasons for religiosity? Most likely religious activity?
Reasons:
• spiritual deprivation/relative deprivation
• social networking
• tradition and social desirability
Activity:
• cults and new age movements
• traditional churches
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What gender are more likely to attend church?
Women are significantly more likely to attend church than men and are also more likely to self-report being religious - church census 2005 showed 57% women and 43% men
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What are the reasons for more women attending church?
Traditional view is that women’s expressive role is a good match with religious faith. Raising a child in their religion and taking them to church was seen as part of that role. Also women’s proximity to childbirth, child rearing, caring for the sick and caring for the elderly gives them reason to pray and seek spiritual support and guidance. Furthermore, women having been marginalised in domestic roles have them more time to devote to religion whereas men had little time away from work and therefore were more likely to spend it on leisure persuits rather than going to church
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Further reasons why more women attend church than men?
• women live longer than men - older people are significantly more religious than young adults and there are simply more older women
• men and women are socialised differently and women are socialised to be more compliant and passive. Religion expects compliance, conformity etc. men are socialised to be more dominant and therefore, while they take leadership positions in church, they are less happy to simply accept what they are told from the pulpit
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What does feminist Simone De Beauvoir argue about women and religion?
Argue women are sold a false ideology by religious teachings which encourages them to believe that they will get their reward in heaven and should therefore be committed and devoted to their faith
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What are women more likely to get involved in compared to men? What did Glock and Stark say about this?
More likely to get involved in religious sects.
Glock and Stark (1965) put this down to women experiencing more deprivation than men, because of patriarchy. As such, this is a similar explanation for why working class and minority-ethnic groups are more likely to join sects as well
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What does Linda Woodhead note about women?
More recently, women are more likely to get involved in cults and new age movements than men are. Men have drifted away from the main established religions at a faster rate than women, but they tend not to have replaced this with alternative spiritual beliefs, whereas women are attracted to what Woodhead and Heelas called the holistic milieu. This is particularly so for middle class women. It might be that women who have lost faith in traditional religions turn to such belief systems for the same reasons women have traditionally been more religious. May also be because women do not see such practices as religious at all, but instead in terms of therapy, weight loss and exercise and are more attracted to such activities than men are
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What do Miller and Hoffman suggest?
Suggest that attitudes to risk between genders is a key factor. Their research suggests that men are more willing to take risks than women and higher levels of religiosity are evident among the risk averse. They argue this is because lack of religion is Risky- risks not going to heaven
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What did Woodhead (2005) suggest?
Suggested that churches have become feminised. She argues that secularisation has had a bigger impact on men than women. This is echoed by Bruce - he suggests that as religion becomes more a private matter than a public one, it appeals more to women, particularly women who preform a domestic role and look after children
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Evaluation of the view that women are more religious than men?
• the data that these conclusions are based on can be questioned. Women would appear to attend church more than men, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are more likely to believe in their chosen faith. Women may attend church for other reasons (friendship etc) and men who don’t attend church may still have a religious faith
• there might be other reasons why women are more likely to respond to surveys that they have a religious belief. Perhaps because of the historic association between faith and women, they see it as a socially desirable and therefore answer surveys accordingly. Young men may have the oooo sue response and worry that religious faith is not socially desirable or might be seen as ‘uncool’
• some sects are very male dominated and can have quite extreme and conservative views about the role of women in society. As such, one might expect fewer women to be attracted to such sects.
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What did the 2011 UK census show about age and religion?
• 22% of those who identify as Christian were over 65, compared to only 3.9 Muslims
• 88% of Muslims were under 50
• those who said they had no religious belief tended to be young with over 1/3 being under 25
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What did Brierley (2005) find?
The average age of church goers increased from 37 to 49 between 1979 and 2005
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Why are older people more religious?
• more aware of their own mortality, wanting to book a place in the afterlife
• religious practice was more common when they were young and they were socialised to be religious in a way younger people aren’t
• religious organisations offer a social life and support network for people who have become more isolated and disengaged from wider society
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Why are younger people often less religious?
• religious institutions are unattractive and boring
• greater competition - both in terms of a spiritual supermarket and in terms of other pursuits and other secular sources of inspiration e.g sport, celebrities - Lynch (2008)
• Bruce points to the decline in religious education. There’s been a huge decline in Sunday schools from a situation when over half the children in the UK attended one.
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What did Brierley (2005) find about age groups in church?
Found that the age group with the lowest church attendance was 15-19.
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Why is the peak in attendance of churches not the very oldest age group?
The oldest believers struggle to attend ceremonies because of health or mobility issues or lack of transport
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What are the age groups outside traditional churches?
Very mixed
Sects often appeal to young adults as they offer companionship and community, a sense of belonging
New age movements and cults often Middle Aged, middle class women
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Evaluation of patterns in age and belief?
• the census data on ‘no religion’ and Christianity is likely to understate the scale of this issue. A small but significant group of young people completing the census opted for various ‘comedy’ religions rather than state that they had no religion. Furthermore, a number of people identified as Christian without really having much, if any, religious belief and without practising the faith
• the data for Muslims is questionable, religious faith and observance tends to be seen as very important in Muslim families and there may be assumptions about the religious belief of family members that would be entered into the census form without necessarily reflecting people’s private beliefs.
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What’s the connection between ethnicity and belief?
Almost all minority ethnic groups in the UK are more religious and show higher levels on religious our then the white British majority - found by Tariq Modood at al (1997) in the results of a social survey confided in mind 1990s
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What’s the relation between Muslims and age?
Evidence to suggest that young Muslims in the UK had a greater knowledge of their religion than their parents did
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What did Modood find about declining religiosity?
Did find some evidence Of declining religiosity among some Asian men
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What are the reasons for the greater religiosity among minority-ethnic groups?
• Bruce writes about cultural transition. This is the idea that minority-ethnic groups could use religion and religious institutions to assist the process of immigration. When people came to a new country, with very different belief systems and unfamiliar traditions, building religious communities helped to support them and to reduce the shock of the transition from one way of life to another.
• Bruce suggest an alternative - cultural defence. This is where immigrant communities or other minorities use religion to defend themselves from the hostility of the majority population. It’s not a case of bringing something from a country or origin in order to ease transition, but instead building a safe community away from racism.
• Johal (1998) has suggested that religious identity is increasingly important in a multi-cultural and multi-faith society. This ties in with Modood’s findings about British Muslims and is supported by Grace Davie (1994) who suggests that religious identity provides a sense of belonging and cultural identity.
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John bird suggested 5 reasons for religious identity being increasingly important in a multi-cultural and multi-faith society. What are they?
1. greater levels of religiosity Ik countries of origin. New immigrants to the UK often come from countries which are less secular than the UK and bring their religious faith with them. Similarly, with more established minority-ethnic communities, people often maintain connections with their country of origin, perhaps through family, and keeping hold of their religious faith can be a key part of that connection and association
2. Membership of a religious group providing a sense of community and identity
3. Maintaining cultural identity and tradition
4. Religious socialisation: children come under pressure to maintain the religious traditions of their parents
5. A way to deal with oppression (cultural defence)
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George Chryssides suggests that new immigrants can choose:
• Apostasy - abandoning their beliefs in order to try and fit into a hostile environment
• accommodation - adapting their beliefs to make them more in tune with the values of the new environment
• renewed vigour - increased religiosity and observance in response to a hostile environment
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Evaluation of the view that minority ethnic groups are more religious than the white majority in the UK
• statistical data on this is convincing, but all such data must be questioned. They represent a social construction rather than a social fact. Religiosity is seen as very important in some minority-ethnic groups and therefore lack of religious faith would be a highly deviant viewpoint to admit to. This might disguise levels of atheism. Similarly, religious organisations carry a greater social significance in some minority-ethnic communities, as a community hub and service provide, rather than purely as a place to pray
• Bruce’s explanations - cultural transition and cultural defence - suggest high levels of religiosity are not down to high levels of religious belief, but other social factors.
• areas which have seen high levels of polish immigration have seen an increase in the congregations in their Catholic Churches
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How did Brian Wilson describe secularisation?
Brian Wilson (1966) described secularisation as ‘the process whereby religious thinking, practices and institutions lose their social significance’
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What is the quantitative data that suggests religious practice and institutions are losing their social significance in countries like the UK and USA?
English church census suggests that 50% of the adult population attended church in the 1850s, compared to just 7.5% in 2000
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What did Gill et al do?
Used surveys to show a significant decline in belief in god and the afterlife
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What process did Max Weber talk about?
Talked about the process of rationalisation and the disenchantment of the world. He writes about how, in the Middle Ages, the world was an enchanted garden populated with angels and demons, spirits and ghosts. He argued that the enlightenment period, with its great strides forward in science and philosophy, began the processes of rationalisation and disenchantment where people would increasingly seek for rational explanation for phenomena, rather than blame divine intervention.
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How did Weber view rationalisation and disenchantment?
In terms of changing religious beliefs and an increasing separation between religious belief and everyday existence: the idea of a non-interventionist god who was on the outside, looking in.
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What does Peter Berger write about?
How there’s no longer a shared sacred canopy. Because of pluralism - the existence of a wide range of ideas and belief systems - and rationalisation, people are no longer United by a shared set of beliefs, as they were in previous eras. Furthermore, the wide range of different stories that claim a monopoly on the truth undermines the plausibility of it all. They can’t all be there, so perhaps none of them are
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How did Steve Bruce further develop Webers concept of rationalisation?
Bruce argues that people have developed more rational ways of thinking and a technological worldview
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What did Parsons write about?
Structural differentiation. Increasingly other institutions have taken on many of the functions that religion use to preterm. The most obvious one is the state, which has taken over historical religious functions such as education and health but also increasingly provide funerals, marriage ceremonies etc. as a result of this, it inevitably loses its social significance and therefore is again part of the process of secularisation
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What is another concept of secularisation?
Secularisation from within where some religions have themselves become significantly more secular, perhaps to fit in with the modern world or to remain relevant. ( e.g views on women)
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Evaluation of the view that society is becoming for secular?
• there’s no reliable measurement of church attendance. Church census data and congregation counts only reveal how many attended on a particular day. If there were previous knowledge about the date, this could boost attendance in order to reflect well on the church. When data is provided by a religious organisation itself, it’s likely to present itself in a positive light. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that when people complete questionnaires asking about their church attendance, they overstate how often they attend.
• church attendance doesn’t necessarily correlate with religiosity, so a lot depends on how one chooses to define secularisation. After all, church attendance in the 1850s was not just about religious belief but also social interaction and social status.
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Grace davie evaluation that religion is becoming more secular?
sociologists like Grace Davie argue that, rather than religion declining it is instead changing. Davie argued that today people believe without belonging. The idea is that belief has become more privatised. There is evidence to suggest that people maintain religious belief but choose to keep their beliefs private, rather than join and participate in a traditional religious organisation
davie further suggested that people practice their religion vicariously. Professional religious figures (like priests) practice religion on behalf of believers who remain at home. People still turn to religion for baptism, weddings and funerals and for festivals like Christmas and Easter
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What idea did David Lyon have?
David Lyon added to this with the idea that people could ‘pick and mix’ religious beliefs as if they were purchasing consumer commodities. Such an approach to religion takes place outside churches, mosques or temples.
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What does Bruce believe about the idea of pick and mixing religion?
Bruce counter-argued that pick and mix is a very weak form of belief and that most people today neither believe nor belong.
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What does Berger argue?
Argued that there has been significant desecularisation of the world and that western academies did not predict this because they were blinded by their own atheism. Berger believes the world has become more religious in recent years
Berger argues that secularisation theory is Eurocentric and the nature of contemporary religion, globally, is pluralism rather than secularism. There is penalty of evidence that religious belief is growing rather than contracting. The percentage of people in the world who are religious is increasing
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What do Stark and Bainbridge (1996) argue?
Agree with Berger that secularisation theory is Eurocentric and they put this down to ‘religion market theory’ or ‘rational choice theory’. They argue that there was no ‘golden age’ of religion and that religiosity remains largely constant, because people are naturally religious and it meets various humans needs. They further argue that religious organisations act like businesses, selling a product. Where there is competition then the churches will try make themselves attractive. They argue as churches decline, new products come onto the market (sects, cults) which eventually leads to diversity and a religious ‘revival’. They use this argument to explain why religion has remained strong in the USA. No one church has ever been dominant there, there’s always been lovely completion.
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Criticism of Stark and Bainbridge?
Doesn’t explain why religion has remained very strong in societies with one dominant faith such as in the Middle East
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What do Norris and Inglehart (2011) propose?
Propose an alternative explanation called Existential security theory which suggests that religion remains a key part of societies where there is a lack of economic security. This explains why developing countries have retained high levels of religiosity - religions fills in the void as a compensator
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What is a key feature in contemporary society according to postmodernists?
The process of globalisation: how society has become more interconnected across the world, economically, culturally and politically
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What did Peter Beyer (1994) identify were the 3 key impacts of globalisation on religion?
1. Particularism
2. Universalism
3. Marginalisation
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Particularism meaning?
Religion has increasingly been used as an avenue for anti-globalisation activity. While one feature of globalisation is a sort of cultural homogenisation (the creation of a single, global popular culture) religion is often seen as the opposite of that: a symbol of how people are culturally different from one another, rather than the same.
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What has particularism contributed to?
A rise in fundamentalism and is a feature of political conflict in many areas of the world
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Universalism meaning?
While small fundamentalist groups might emphasise their difference from other people, the major religions have increasingly focused on eBay unites them. Far from the feared clash of civilisations, religious leaders emphasise shared values and common concerns
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Marginalisation meaning?
Beyer also notes that religion is increasingly marginalised in contemporary society, playing lass part in public life, although this may well be Eurocentric view and may be caused by other social changes rather than globalisation
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What’s another way globalisation has had an impact on religion?
Through the way religions have made use of global communications. Religious groups are able to take advantage of modern technology to recruit new members, spread the word and keep in contact with other members of the religion.
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What is religious identity much less attached to in the modern day?
Much less attached to national identity than it once was. Most of the main world religions are international in character and while some countries still have clear state religions, it is certainly less a feature of a national identity in the West than it use to be.
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What county is an exception?
India. Meera Nanda (2008) argues that Hinduism is closely related to Indian nationalism. In a survey, 93% of Indians considered their culture ‘superior to others’ and increasingly Indian national identity and Hinduism are seen as effectively the same thing.
Hinduism has become what Bellah called a civil religion. Through the worship of Hindu gods, Indians are worshipping India itself.
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What do some sociologist argue about globalisation?
Suggest that globalisation has led to the rapid spread of some religious organisations
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What does David Martin (2002) point out?
Points out the growth of Pentecostalism ( a Christian denomination). Martin contrasts Pentecostalism with Catholicism. Martin argues that various features of Pentecostalism endear it to people in poorer parts of the world in an era of globalisation. First, people choose to join the church rather than being born into it. Second, it’s viewed as being of the side of the poor. Third, it’s not associated with state or government whereas the Catholic Church is often closely connected to the state. Finally, it is less hierarchical than the Catholic Church
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What does Martin do in contrast to Giddens (1991)?
Martin presents one way in which religious institutions themselves have responded to globalisation whereas giddens presents another which is becoming more apparent in contemporary society
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What idea does Giddens put forward?
Fundamentalism
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How did Almond (2003) define fundamentalism?
A ‘pattern of religious militancy’ led by ‘self-styled true believers’ and identified their cause as being directly opposite to secularisation
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What does Giddens (late modernist) argue about globalisation and fundamentalists?
Argues that globalisation has caused significant levels of insecurity for people and that fundamentalist religion offers very simple answers. In a world of confusion and uncertainty, faith with very clear rules and absolute truths have proved very attractive
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What is fundamentalist religion?
Fundamentalist religion is where religious texts are taken entirely literally (such as he did creation story in bible) and provide a strict set of rules which people should live by. Because views clash with norm in society, fundamentalist religion often highly political (far right)
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Issues with fundamentalism?
It is a conservative force yet proposes significant social change. Fundamentalists want to change contemporary liberal, pluralistic society into a conservative and traditional society
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What is fundamentalism a cause of?
As well as potentially causing social change, it is a significant cause of conflict, both with other religions and with other followers of the same religion who don’t support the fundamentalist interpretation
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Evaluation of the view that globalisation has led to fundamentalism?
• some sociologists point out that fundamentalist religion is nothing new, it is just more noticeable we a result of globalisation and in contrast to the largely secular liberal beliefs in Western Europe today
• while certain countries have witnessed desecularisation where fundamentalist movements have replaced more secular norms, there are many other places which have seen largely fundamentalist religion in place for many years. Furthermore, what is not considered fundamentalist Christianity, for example, would’ve historically been seen as quite mainstream Christian views
• Karen Armstrong (2000) rejects the idea and points out that fundamentalist movements are not throwbacks to medieval religion but thoroughly contemporary. Medieval religion was very mysterious whereas fundamentalist movements make use of technology and the methods of modern social movements to achieve their goals
• if growth of fundamentalism is a reaction to globalisation, it’s also a reaction to secularisation
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What does Lyon describe religion has become?
Describes how religion has become disembedded in postmodern society: it is no longer embedded in religious organisations or in a particular country or culture and beliefs aren’t embedded in their original contexts. This allows people to pick and mix lots of different belief systems - take what they like and reject what they don’t like. In this way religion becomes a matter of choice and therefore should be viewed as consumption rather that obligation - fits in with idea of growth of holistic milieu
Major factor = technology - TV and internet has taken religion out of churches and into channels and websites - this allows religion to become more privatised - links to Davies idea of believing without belonging.
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Problems with religion linking to Durkheim, Parsons, Marx or De Beauvoir?
If religion is not about a shared set of beliefs but instead a private individualised belief, then it can’t lead to a collective conscience. If religion is about meeting the individual’s needs and wants as a product to be consumed, then it will not ensure self-discipline and control. People worshipping an entirely individualised, privatised religion are not worshipping society itself
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How is the idea of ‘pick and mixing’ religion related to fundamentalism?
Related through the way religion is a source of identity. In a society where other sources of identity are breaking down - gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality - religion can be an attractive source of identity and can become its primary function. A source of identity was never considered as a function for religion by Durkheim or Marx, because societies were assumed where most people were religious and most people believe in the same religion. In a diverse, pluralistic and globalised society, that isn’t the case and therefore religions new role is a source of identity.
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What does rejecting metanarratives mean for Lyotard?
Rejecting metanarratives, like Marxism theories or scientific theories, means that religion is just another narrative, competing with all the others. This is a challenge to secularisation theories because it’s saying religious ‘truths’ are as true as scientific ones. The idea that people can choose their own truth is another factor in a resacrilisation of society.
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What does Bauman argue?
Argued that in modernity people were looking for theories that were always right: universal truths, but in postmodernity people would find the belief or theory or truth that helped them at that time in that place.
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Evaluation of postmodern views of religion?
• Berger was correct that secularisation theory is Eurocentric and religion is growing in other places - for the vast majority of those religious people, religion is still largely traditional and carrying out its traditional functions. Many argue that secularisation is wrong not because religion has changed, but because it’s largely stayed the same
• while televangelism and preachers on YouTube are examples of religion changing, it’s possible that Lyon overstates their significance. Most of the audience at home will also attend religious ceremonies as these things are marketed at a religious audience.
• there’s still quite a lot of evidence that, in western liberal democracies, secularisation theory is accurate. Although there’s been a growth in new age movements, they don’t come close to challenging the popularity of major religions or atheism. Many of those who costume new age ideas are happy to consider themselves Christian or are clear that they have no religious faith. Those ‘believing without belonging’ and worshipping vicariously through professional clergy might not really believe much at all (Bruce)
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What does contemporary society being globalised and pluralistic mean for religion?
Religion has become more about identity in a way it traditionally was not
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What are 2 key idea about religion in contemporary society?
It’s assumed that economic development and prosperity goes hand in hand with secularisation. It’s also suggested that increased religiosity is a reaction to globalisation among the poor and marginalised - the ‘losers’ in the new global system
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What is significant about Nanda’s study on India?
Globalisation has come to India and brought with it rapid economic growth and a fast growing middle class. However Nanda reveals a large increase in the religiosity of this new middle class - Nanda argues as Indians become richer, they donate money to their temples and go on pilgrimages.
Nanda therefore argues that globalisation has helped to fuel Hindu nationalism in India and that this has been driven from the successful middle class
STRONG EVALUATION AGAINST SECULARISATION THEORY
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How has Nanda’s conclusions been criticised?
People argue that Hindu nationalism has deeper roots than globalisation and question the existence of a causal relationship between the two. These critics suggest that globalisation and economic development is likely to lead to sexualisation in India too
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What is a metanarrative?
A ‘big story’ which sets out to explain how the world works
