general secularisation Flashcards
what is secularisation?
the process of religious thinking, practice and institutions lose social significance
what are the 4 problems with measuring secularisation?
-definitions
-validity
-reliability
-representativeness
what is meant by definitions as a problem in measuring secularisation?
there’s little consensus of what is meant by the term religion and being religious
what is meant by validity as a problem in measuring secularisation?
problems defining the key terms means validity is low
historical documents aren’t common so its difficult to find trends
results are open to interpretation
martin 1969 - victorian society required church attendance for respectability
what is meant by reliability as a problem in measuring secularisation?
historical documents may not meet modern standards of reliability, too many variables
social desirability is a big factor in religion
what is meant by representativeness as a problem in measuring secularisation?
can the results obtained be generalised to everyone?
what is the disappearance thesis?
-Woodhead and Heelas 2000
-modernity has brought on the death of religion, it has lost significance for both people and society, and this will continue until religion has disappeared
what is the differentiation thesis?
-Woodhead and Heelas 2000
-religion is in social decline but not individual decline; it no longer has an important role in daily society, but individual belief can still be strong
what are the 8 general causes of secularisation?
-old fashioned rituals and traditions
-loss of status (especially in the wake of sex abuse scandals)
-loss of functions eg NHS, welfare state
-challenges from sects, cults etc, people look for practices more relevant to today
-changing leisure patterns (sundays are no longer a day of rest)
-growth of science / discreditation (Comte and Weber)
-decline of metanarratives (shopping for belief systems)
-religious pluralism (multi-faith societies)
