ETHNICITY & RELIGION

Question 1

Brierley, 2013

Answer 1

• Found that black people are twice as likely to attend church as whites. Muslims, Hindus and black Christians are also considerably more likely to see their religion as more important than white Christians and more likely to attend a place of worship every week.

Question 2

Modood et al, 1994

Answer 2

• Found some decline in the importance of religion for all ethnic groups and that fewer were observent, especially among the second generation

Question 3

Cultural defence

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Cultural transition

Answer 4

• Where religion provides support and a sense of community for ethnic groups such as migrants to a different country and culture.

Question 5

Bird, 1999
Cultural defence

Answer 5

• Religion among minorities can be a basis for community solidarity, a means of preserving one’s culture and language, and a way of coping with oppression in a racist society
• E.G Many black African and Caribbean Christians found that white churches in the UK did not actively welcome them and some turned to founding or joining black-led churches, especially Pentecostal.

Question 6

Bruce, 2002
Cultural defence

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Brierley, 2013
Cultural defence

Answer 7

• Research shows a significant growth of new churches in London catering for specific languages and nationalities as a result of recent immigration.

Question 8

Herberg, 1955
Cultural transition

Answer 8

• To explain high levels of religious participation among first-generation immigrants, Herberg argues that religion can also be a means of easing the transition into a new culture.
• He posited that religion provides support and a sense of community for minority groups in their new environment.

Question 9

Pryce, 1979
Cultural transition

Answer 9

• Studied the African Caribbean community in Bristol which showed that both cultural defence and cultural transition have been important.
• Argues that Pentecostalism is a highly adaptive ‘religion of the oppressed’ that provided migrants with values appropriate to the new world in which they found themselves.
• Pentecostalism helped African Caribbeans to adapt to British society, playing a kind of ‘Protestant ethic’ role in helping its members succeed by encouraging self reliance and thrift. It gave people mutual support and hope of improving their situation. One the other hand Rastsfarianism represented a different response for some African Caribbeans radically rejecting the wider society as racist and exploitative.