Beliefs in Society: Social Groups

Question 1

Why is the relationship between social class and religion problematic?

Answer 1

Many classical sociological theories argued that the poorest in society would be the most religious. However current UK trends may indicate patterns have changed and measuring the relationship between religion and social class remains complex.

Question 2

How might Marxists see the relationship between class and religiosity?

Answer 2

• Argue that the WC are more likely to be religious - seek it out as a numbing agent to their oppression.
• Religion is a source of solace to working class individuals and they seek in it compensation for their oppression.

Question 3

How might Neo-Marxists explain the relationship between class and religious participation?

Answer 3

• Argue the working class are more likely to be religious because religion can support them and create change.
• Religion appeals to the subordinate and oppressed as a tool for change. Empirical example - 60s Latin America, Father Torres.

Question 4

How can Weberianism be used to explain relationships between social class and religiosity?

Answer 4

• Religion appeals to the middle class or those reaping the rewards of business, becuase the spirit of capitalism and calvanism have an elective affinity.
• Religion can be used to justify money making, and capitalist practices.

Question 5

How does the emergence of New Age Movements link to social class?

Answer 5

According to Bruce, NAMs appeal most to MC graduates in ‘expressive positions’ concerned with the self and human potential.

For example, community workers, counsellors, artists.

The middle class also have higher participation in NAMs becuse the have the financial capital and time to participate, they can affort to spend money on themselves and have the means and resources to join often expensive and consumerist NAMs.

Question 6

How do New Religious Movements link to social class?

Answer 6

• On the one hand marginalised and economically deprived individuals are more likley to join NRMs. Example - Jonestown attracted people from impovrished and subordiante backrounds.
• Millenarian movements appeal to the poor because they promise immediate improvement.
• Equally, those who feel relatively or spiritually deprived also feel the need to join (Wallis, Willis) - not all people who join NRMs are economically deprived.

Question 7

Ashworth and Farthing (2007)

Answer 7

Claim that individuals who are reliant on state benefits are acually the least likely to attend church services.

Question 8

YouGov survey (2015)

Answer 8

62% of regular church attenders come from middle class backgrounds.

Question 9

What percentage of regular church attenders come from middle class backrounds?

Answer 9

62%

Question 10

Voas and Watt (2014) - MC Church Attendence

Answer 10

Middle class church attendence is a stratergy aimed at making sure their children enroll in the best state schools which are often affiliated with either the Catholic Church or CofE.

Question 11

Church Attendence and Social Class

Answer 11

• Church attendence figures conflict with trends of religious belief.
• Churches in affluent, rural areas have higher attendences than those in urban rural areas.
• Individuals who are reliant on state benefits are actually least likely to attend church services.
• More than half of regular church attenders came from MC backgrounds.

Question 12

Why is church attendence higher in MC communities?

Answer 12

• Church attendence is used by MC parents as a stratergy to make sure their children enroll at the best state schools.
• Going to church is a way of legitimising and retaining status within the community, acts as a sign of respectability.
• Church going provides a level of religious and cultural capital which raises status.
• MC people may see church going as an opportunity to network with members of the community.

Question 13

Religious Organisation and Social Class

Answer 13

• Middle class people are more likely to feel attatched to traditional churches, whereas working class people are drawn to movements like Pentecostalism.
• Working-class individuals may mistrust traditional religions such as Anglicanism becuase they associate them with authority, the establishment, and royalty.
• WC people identify with non-conformist religions like Methodism which tend to be less judgemental and which provide practical solutions to their circumstances.

Question 14

Ahern and Davie (1987)

Answer 14

• Claim that working class people mistrust traditional religions such as Anglicanism because they associate them with authority, establishment, and royalty.
• Working class people identify more with non-conformist religions like Methodism which tend to be less judgemental and provide practical solutions to their circumstances.

Question 15

Martin (1990) - MC Church Attendence

Answer 15

Middle class people may see church going as an opportunity to network with members of the community and appear respectable in the eyes of their community.

Question 16

Davie (2013)

Answer 16

While the priesthoods of most religions are male, Davie notes in terms of religious practice, belief, self-identification, private prayer, and many other aspects, there are gender differences.

Question 17

Outline the key trends in gender and levels of religiosity

Answer 17

• More women than men participate in religious activities + believe in God.
• The priesthoods of most religions are male.
• More women say they have a religion, and more women than men say religion is important to them.
• Fewer women say they are atheist or agnostic.
• There are nearly twice as many women as men involved in sects.

Question 18

Miller and Hoffman (1995)

Answer 18

Women express greater interest in religion, have a stronger personal commitment to it and participate more. This applies to all ages, religious organisations and faiths, except Sikhs.

Question 19

Miller and Hoffman (1995)

Answer 19

Women express greater interest in religion, have a stronger personal commitment to it and participate more. This applies to all ages, religious organisations and faiths, except Sikhs.

Question 20

Ferguson and Hussey (2010)

Answer 20

Found Sikh men are more likely than women to practcie their religion.

Question 21

British Attitudes Survey (2012) - Gender and Religious Paticipation

Answer 21

Found more women say they have a religion.

Question 22

38% of women say religion is important to them

Answer 22

compared to just 26% of men

Question 23

Voas (2015)

Answer 23

only 26% of women say they are atheist or agnostic, compared to 34% of men.

Question 24

Bruce (1996) - Gender and Sects

Answer 24

Estimates that there are nearly twice as many women as men involved in sects.

Question 25

Miller and Hoffmann - Reasons for Gender Differences in Religiosity

Answer 25

1. Gender differences in risk taking
2. Women are socialised to be more passive, obedient and caring
3. Women have fewer work commitments

Question 26

Reasons for Gender Differences:

Miller and Hoffman - Risk Taking

Answer 26

• Gender differences in risk taking are a reason for differences in religiosity.
• Having no religion means people are risking condemnation to hell.
• Men are more risk averse than women, so they are more likely to take the ‘risk’ of atheism.

Question 27

Reasons for Gender Differences:

Miller and Hoffman - Socialisation

Answer 27

• Women are socialised to be more, passive, obedient, and caring.
• These qualities are valued by most religions, so it follows that women are more likely to be attracted to religion.
• Men with these qualities are also more likely to be religious.

Question 28

Reasons for Gender Differences:

Miller and Hoffman - Employment Status

Answer 28

• Women often have more scope for religious activities due to fewer work commitments.
• As religion has become more privatised, mens religiosity has declined more quickly.
• Religion has been driven out of the male dominated sphere of work, confining it to the private sphere of family - which women are more closely associated with.

Question 29

What do Miller and Hoffman recognise about gender differences in religiosity, in terms of female employment?

Answer 29

They recognise that this factor (women’s work commitment) is less relevant today as more women have challenging full time careers. This may account for ‘the decline of female piety’ where women are also withdrawing from religion.

Question 30

Evaluate the claim that gender differences in risk taking affect levels of religious participation (Miller and Hoffmann).

Answer 30

• Miller and Hoffman put forward an outdated argument, by making grand, sweeping biological assumptions about risk taking and gender.
• The Sikh religion is also an outlier to their theory, proving female levels of participation are more complex than simple ideas about the character of a particular gender.

Question 31

Evaluate the claim that women’s fewer work commitments has led to higher levels of religious participation in females (Miller and Hoffmann).

Answer 31

Although women don’t work they do carry out large amounts of unpaid domestic labour (linking to dual burden and triple shift), so fewer work commitments doesn’t automatically mean they have more free time to commit to religious activities.

Since the introduction of key policies such as the Equal Pay Act in 1970, women have entered the workforce - so this factor is less relevant today.

Question 32

Bruce (1996) - Female employment and Religion

Answer 32

Over the last two centuries religion has been gradually driven out of the male-dominated sphere of work, confining it to the private sphere of family and personal life - the sphere which women are most closely associated with.

Question 33

Outline five explanations for higher levels of religious participation among women.

Answer 33

1. Church is a source of gender identity
2. Women have a closer proximity to birth and death
3. Women have fewer work commitments
4. Gender differences in risk taking
5. Socialisation patterns

Question 34

How does Greely (1992) explain gender differences in levels of religious participation?

Answer 34

Argues that women’s role in taking care of family members increases their religiosity. Women are also attracted to the church as a source of their gender identity.

Question 35

Davie (1994) - Womens closer proximity to birth and death

Answer 35

Davie claims that women’s closer proximity to birth and death, through child bearing, and caring for the sick and elderly brings them closer to ‘ultimate questions’ about the meaning of life that religion is concerned with. Women also see God as one of love and creation, whereas men view God as one of power and control.

Question 36

Why might women be attracted to fundamentalism?

Answer 36

Because of the certainties of a traditional gender role.

They seek confort in the rigidity of gender roles prescribed in fundementalist religions, against the backrop of an ever-changeing, fast-paced society.

Question 37

Why might women be attracted to New Age Movements?

Answer 37

• Women are often associated with nature, and creation, through childbirth and child-rearing (echoes Davie’s argument) - so are attracted to New Age movements that celebrate the ‘natural’, and cults of healing.
• Praise of the natural and the divine female in New Age movements gives women a higher status and sense of self-worth.
• New Age movements also emphasise the importance of being authentic rather than merley acting out roles - so become a way for women to escape their ascriped roles.
• New Age movements often emphasise emotionality and feeling, which are at odds with toxic masculinity.

Question 38

How do Stark and Bainbridge (1985) explain higher levels of female participation in religion (in particular in sects)?

Answer 38

Claim that people may participate in religion to compensate for:
1. Social deprivation (poverty)
2. Organismic deprivation (physical and mental health problems)
3. Ethical deprivation (concern that the world is in moral decline) They claim these forms of deprivation are more common among women and this explains their greater religiosity more generally and their higher level of sect membership specifically.

Question 39

What is the Pentecostal Gender Paradox?

Answer 39

Since the 1970s Pentecostalism has grown rapidly in many parts of the world, particularly among the poor. It is regarded as a patriarchal form of religion, yet despite this, it has proved to be attractive to women.

Question 40

Martin (2000) - Pentecostalism and Gender

Answer 40

Describes the idea that pentecostalism is patriarchal, yet also attractive to women as the ‘Pentecostal Gender Paradox’.

Question 41

Brusco (1995-2012) - Pentecostalism in Colombia

Answer 41

• Found that the answer to the pentecostal gender paradox lies in the fact that it demands its followers to adopt an ascetic (self-denying) lifestyle.
• Pentecostalism does insist on a traditional gender division of labour, where men retain their leadership role in the family and church.
• However, it also presents a powerful critique of machismo culture, and sexual irresponsibility, thus providing women with a means to improve their position, imposing controls on male behaviour.

Question 42

Drogus (1994) - Pentecostalist Doctrine

Answer 42

Although official Pentecostal doxtrine is that men should have authority over women, church magazines and educational materials often encourage more equal relations within marriage.

Question 43

Outline some of the recent trends in gender and levels of religiosity

Answer 43

• There has been an overall decline in church participation.
• There has been a significant decline in church attendence among females age 30-45 with a 16.4% fall in attendence between 1990 and 2005.

Question 44

Brierley (2005)

Answer 44

Notes the decline in church going among women aged 30-45, with a 16.45 fall in attendence between 1990-2005.

Question 45

There has been a 16.4%

Answer 45

fall in Sunday Church attendence between 1990 and 2005, in women aged 30-45.

Question 46

How does **Brierley (2005) **explain the recent decline in church attendence amoung women aged 30-45?

Answer 46

He suggests the decline is the result of home, family, and work commitments.

Question 47

How does **Brown (2001) **explain the recent decline in female church attendence?

Answer 47

• Argues since the 1960s, women have begun to reject traditional subordinate gender roles.
• Becuase Christianity was closely tied to these roles, women’s rejection of subordination has led them to reject traditional religion at the same time.
• Although some women are attracted to New Age beliefs, their numbers are relatively modest.

Question 48

Outline the key patterns of religious participation among ethnic groups

Answer 48

• Muslims, Hindus and black Christians are considerably more likely than white Christians to see religion as important.
• Most minority ethnic groups have higher than average rates of religious paricipation.
• However, fewer minority ethnic groups are observant in the second gendration.
• The more generations that exist within a community, the lower rates of religious participation.

Question 49

Which religious groups are the biggest in the UK?

Answer 49

Those describing themselves as Christian - 72% of population.

Question 50

Describe and explain the structure of UK society today.

Answer 50

The UK is a multicultural, multi-religious society, there are significant numbers of Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs (almost all of whom belong to ethnic minorities originating in the Indian subcontinent), while many Christians are of black African or Carribean origin.

Question 51

O’Bierne (2004)

Answer 51

Suggests that ethnic minorities tend to see religion as a central element of their identity. Muslims in particular, indicated that religion was as important as their family with regards to shaping their identity.

Question 52

African Carribean participants in O’Bierne’s study …

Answer 52

ranked religion as the third most important aspect of their identity. In comparason white participants ranked religion lower than family, occupation, education, age, interests, nationality, gender, income, and scoail calss.

Question 53

Official statistics from 2011

Answer 53

Indicate that the difference between affiliation and membership figures suggests a clear difference in the way that different cultures engage in religion.

Question 54

2011 Census

Answer 54

• Found that while black people make up 3% of the population, they make up 10% of the official church population.
• Of all white British people who affiliate with Christianity only 32% actively participate, compared to 80% of those from a Muslim backround.

Question 55

Black people make up 50%

Answer 55

of the membership of Pentecostal Churches

Question 56

Mood et al (1997) - Second Generation Religious Partcipation

Answer 56

Found some decline in the importance of religion for all ethnic groups and that fewer were observant, especially among the secong generation. Trends suggest that the more generations exist within a community, the lower the rates of religious participation.

Question 57

Outline three reasons why ethnic minorities have higher levels of religious participation.

Answer 57

1. Pattern Maintenence
2. Cultural Defence
3. Cultural Transition

Question 58

Explain what is meant by pattern maintenance?

Answer 58

Most ethnic minorities originate from poorer countries with traditional cultures, which produce higher levels of religious beliefs and practice. The argument is that on arrival to the UK their children maintain the pattern. However, this disregards the impact of their experiences as immigrants and minoroties in a new society.

Question 59

How might cultural defence produce higher levels of religiosity among ethnic minoroties?

Answer 59

• Religion offers a sense of cultural identity and support in an uncertain or hostile environment.
• Religion can be a basis of communal solidarity and helps to preserve one’s culture in a racist and oppressive foreign society.

Question 60

Give an example which supports the theory of cultural defence

Answer 60

Black African and Carribean Christians found that white UK churches did not actively welcome them when they first settled, so some turned to founding or joining black-led often Pentecostal organisations.

Question 61

How does **Bruce (2002) **contribute to the cultural defence theory?

Answer 61

Argues that religion offers support and a sense of cultural identity in an uncertain or hostile environment.

Question 62

Bird (1999) - Cultural Defence

Answer 62

Notes that religion among minoroties can be:
1. A basis for community solidarity
2. A means of preserving ones culture and language
3. A way of coping with oppression or racism

Question 63

How can the theory of cultural transition be used to explain higher rates of religiosity among ethnic minoroties?

Answer 63

• Religion can be a means of easing the transition into a new culture, by providing support and a sense of community.
• Religion is a stable, grounding force in the migraion process and promotes a sense of continuity.
• Multi-cultural churches allow the intermingling of ethnic groups so religion is a tool which promotes a wider sense of community.

Question 64

Do the points on cultural defence and transition suggest that members of ethnic minorities are more religious?

Answer 64

NO - Shows that religion is prevalent, but the motivation for religious participation is social (community) rather than spiritual or theological.
Its also specific to migrants, however not all migrants are ethnic minorities, and not all ethnic minorities are migrants. Neglects second generation and third generation ethnic minotities.

Question 65

Give an example which supports the theory of Cultural Transition

Answer 65

**Bruce ** applies cultural transition theory to the history of immigration into the UK, where religion has provided a focal point for Irish, African Carribean, Muslim, Hindu and other communities.

Question 66

How can Cultural Transition Theory be used to explain Mood et al’s findings?

Answer 66

Once a group, such as Irish Catholics, has made the transition into wider society, religion may lose its role and decline in importance and significance.

Question 67

Give an example of a study which can be used as evidence of both cultural defence and cultural transition

Answer 67

Pryce’s (1979) study of the African Carribean community in Bristol.
Argues Pentecostalism is a highly adaptive ‘religion of the oppressed’ that provides migrants with values approprite to the new world in which they found themselves.
On the other hand, Rastafarianism represented a different response by radically rejecting the wider society as racist and exploitative.

Question 68

Explain how** rastafarianism** is an example of cultural defence (Pryce - 1979)

Answer 68

It represeted a different response that radically rejected the wider society as racist and exploitative.

Question 69

Explain how pentecostalism can be used as an example of cultural transition (Pryce - 1979)

Answer 69

Pentecostalism is a highly adaptive, ‘religion of the oppressed’ that provided migrants with values appropriate to the new world. It helped African Carribeans to adapt to British society by encouraging self-reliance and provided people with mutual support and the hope of imporving their situation.

Question 70

Outline the patterns and trends linked to age and levels of religious participation

Answer 70

1. Under 15s are more likely to go to church than any other age group
2. The very elderly are less likely to attend church
3. For any age group, apart from those aged 65 and over, there is an ongoing fall in church attendence, sharpest among the young.
4. The number of 15-19 year olds attending church is projected to fall by half between 2015 and 2025 from 126,000 to 63,000.

Question 71

Why do under 15s have relatively high levels of church attendence?

Answer 71

Because they may be forced to attend by parents. Religious primary schools may have events in the church or encourage children to attend services, more than high schools do.

Question 72

Why do the very elderly have low levels of church attendence?

Answer 72

Because they are more likely to be sick or disabled and thus unable to attend. Higher death rates have also made this into a smaller demographic group which has reduced the total number able to attend, however the ageing population may impact on this trend.

Question 73

The number of 15-19 year olds attending church is projected to fall by

Answer 73

half between 2015-2025 from 126,000 to 63,000.

Question 74

Voas and Crockett (2005) - Age and Religious Participation

Answer 74

They offer tow possible reasons for age differences in religiosity
1. The ageing effect
2. The generational effect

Question 75

Explain what Voas and Crockett (2005) meant by the ageing effect?

Answer 75

• The view that people turn to religion as they get older and become more interested in spirituality.
• As people approach death, they become more concerned about spiritual matters and the afterlife, or the repentence of past deeds.
• As a result they are more likely to go to church.

Question 76

Explain what Voas and Crockett (2005) meant by the generational effect?

Answer 76

• As society becomes more secular, each new generation is less religious than the one before.
• There are more old people in church congregations today becuase they grew up in a period when religion was more popular
• Equally they also lived through events which may have brought them closer to religion such as war and rapid social changes.

Question 77

Suggest reasons for higher levels of religious participation among older people, which don’t include the explainations put forward by Voas and Crockett (2005)

Answer 77

1. Elderly individuals are more likely to be widowed or have friends who pass away, so they become lonely and go to church to socialise with others.
2. Older people have more time on their hands for religious commitment becuase they are retired from work
3. Young people are less stigmatised for choosing to be atheist
4. Religion gives older people a role in society and volunteer work within the church is a replacement for economic work
5. Older people have more life experience so may have suffered more losses, traumas, and obstacles making them more likely to seek comfort and consolance in religion.

Question 78

According to Voas and Crockett (2005), which effect is most significant in explaining the age gap in religious participation?

Answer 78

The generational effect is more significant. Voas and Crockett (2005) predict that as a consequence the average age of church goers will continue to rise and the young become less and less willing to attend (secularisation).

Question 79

What is the main reason why young people are less religious than older generations according to Voas and Crockett?

Answer 79

Secularisation

Question 80

Gill (1998) - Religious Socialisation

Answer 80

Notes that children are less likely to gain religious socialisation and those brought up without religious beliefs are less likely to become churchgoers later in life.

Question 81

Arweck and Beckford (2013)

Answer 81

Describe the reduction in children being brought up religiously as the ‘virtual collapse of religious socialisation’.

Question 82

Give an example to support the ‘virtual collapse of religious socialisation’ (Arweck and Beckford)?

Answer 82

Traditional Sunday schools which in the 1950s enrolled a third of all 14-year olds, have all but dissapeared. Even parents who share the same faith, have only a 50/50 chance of raising their child to be a churchgoer as an adult. When they are of different faiths, the chances fall to one in four.

Question 83

Parents of different faiths only have

Answer 83

a 1 in 4 chance of raising their child to be a churchgoer as an adult.

Question 84

Parents who share faiths have a

Answer 84

only have a 50/50 chance of raising their child to be a churchgoer as an adult.

Question 85

Suggest other reasons, apart from religious socialisation, to explain why younger people may not be as religious today.

Answer 85

1. Peer group pressure - having a religion may be stigmatised
2. Scandals about religion that have been uncovered may dissuade them, e.g. abuse in the Catholic Church
3. Education - young people are taught rational explanations of the world
4. May view religion as old fashoned and boring - Brierley (2015)
5. Might have oplitical views opposed to the church e.g. views on abortion, LGBTQ+
6. Brought up to be more individualisatic - could create distain for collective worship
7. May be focused on other issues such as the climate crisis or other forms of activism, so lack the time for religious particpation.

Question 86

Brierley (2015)

Answer 86

87% of 10-14 year olds found religion to be old fashoned and boring.

Question 87

Two fiths of Churches have

Answer 87

no one under the age of 11 attending.

Question 88

About 35% of churchgoers are

Answer 88

over 65

Question 89

Within two or three generations

Answer 89

practicing churches will have a very small and very old minority of the UK population. Bruce (2012) predicts that with the exception of Pentecostal churches which will continue to appeal to younger members, this trend will continue.

Question 90

Why is the age profile younger in sects than for denominations?

Answer 90

1. Young adults are more likely to be economically active with fewer financial responsibilities - so can give income to sects.
2. Young people are less likely to have established and firm social ties - so easier to commit fully to sect (world-rejecting).
3. Anomie - many sects target the young because their message of friendship, companionship and the like is more appealing to young people experiencing anomie as they start university (guardian article) or employment.

Question 91

Why are young people more attracted to cults than older generations?

Answer 91

1. The young are more likely to be involved in counter-culture drug use, making them more susceptible to esoteric religious beliefs and fringe-culture ideas.
2. Cults offer to ‘release the inner spirituality’ of the individual, medicating anomie and providing opportunities for success in work and personal relationships, which havent already been achieved by younger people.

Question 92

Outline two reasons for class differences in religiosity

Answer 92

1. WC - Mistrust of traditional institutions
2. MC - use of religion to network

Question 93

Outline and explain two reasons why people from minority ethnic backrounds seem to have a higher participation rate in religion.

Answer 93

1. Marginalisation - Ethnic minorities seek confort from their oppression in religion.
2. Culture - Ethnic minorities see religion as a central element of their identity.

Question 94

Outline and explain two reasons why older people seem to be more religious than younger people.

Answer 94

1. The generation effect - Older people grew up in a time when religion was more popular.
2. The ageing effect - People become more religious as they approach death, become more concerned with retribution, confession, and the afterlife.