Religion and society Flashcards
Social class and religiosity
-Middle and upper class are more likely to be regular attendees at church services compared to working class, working class are regular in weddings and funerals.
-NRMs attract more educated middle class(kelly)
- Cults draw members from higher social classes (Stark and Bainbridge).
-According to Weber , social class dictates the type of religion , rather than belief in the religion , Middle class are more likely to pursue theodicies of good fortune e.g Protestantism and working class will pursue theodicies of misfortune e.g Catholicism.
-NAMs draw membership from higher social classes due to the ‘narcissistic jourey of self discovery according to Hunt.
- Stark and Bainbridge suggest membership of cults attract those with moderate success looking to become more successful and have
Individualistic traits
Gender and religiosity
More women attend church sessions compared to men.
- Supported by 2005 UK church census indicating that women are more likely than men to attend church, at least once a week.
- More women than men are members of NAMs.
o Data from 2008 British Social Attitudes Survey indicates that women are
more likely to see themselves as spiritual compared to men. - ## Bruce: women are more attracted to the healing side of NAMs because it is more relevant in keeping with gender roles (less confrontational, less aggressive, less domineering, more cooperative, and more caring).
Why are females more religious than men
Miller and Hoffman explain higher religiosity in women by looking at difference in gender socialisation. According to them, females are taught to be more submissive, passive, obedient, and nurturing than males; these are the attributes associated with higher levels of religiosity.
- Bruce suggests that religion tends to have affinity with certain aspects of femininity that make women less confrontational, less aggressive, less domineering , more cooperative and more caring.
-Woodhead , talking about gendered secularization , explains that rationalization in 19th century was more in men than women creating the difference in religiosity
- Male church going declined but female numbers remained relatively the same
- Religion has been feminized
Ethnicity and Religiosity
- Minority ethnic groups are more active participants in their religions compared to the white majority.
- Bird supports this; he says many minority ethnic groups originate in societies with high levels of religiosity, e.g. Bangladesh and Pakistan.
- According to Bird, celigion can be a source of community solidarity for. the minority ethnic groups. Such affiliations based on religions perform the following functions:
- Point of contact for new immigrants
- Source of marriage partners
- Social welfare
- Sign of commitment to various aspects of their culture like food, marriage, language, etc.
Helps them cope with oppression (Bird gives an example of Pentecostalism which may be performing a dual function for the
British African Caribbeans, a way to adjust in a society discriminating against them, and an opiate that dulls their pain of oppression and injustice (Karl Marx)
*Help them fight the disadvantaged social and economic
He consid subor
positions. Pryce supports this by giving an example of why some African Caribbeans adopt Rastafarianism, a religion that offers a promise of salvation and sometimes a return to Africa and,
when such exploitar
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ideas over other soclety.
sometimes, radical political views.
* Bruce also supports the vlew that minority ethnic groups are likely to be more religious but says this is mainly for ethical reasons. He sees the strength of minority ethnic religions as caused by:
* Cultural defence: where an ethnic group is protecting its sense
According to Mark, religion is an illusion as
of identity and maintaining ethnic pride through religion.
a
Cultural transition: where an ethnic group uses religion to cope with the challenges of migration.
ou geolste to serve their own interest in maintaining
manipulatable through the gods.
* McGuire supports Bruce by giving an example of the Vietnamese
American Buddhists who create their temples with many features
create gods whom they belleve to have control over nature, ma
to stand above them and capahin at was
reminiscent of Vietnam. Apart from religious functions, the temples are used:
* As a community centre helping members to integrate into the
People then get allenated from the gods they have created, making the gods
Marx did not believe that r was powerful in socleti
~ their hehaviour.
American society.
religion
*Facilitates networks that help members get jobs.
*Negotiate acceptance of their social identity as Buddhists.
* Bruce, however, believes that over time when the ethnic minorities become more ihtegrated, they get influenced by the widely secular societies and become less religious.
According to George Chryssides, ethnic minorities have had three paths available to them:
* Apostacy: abandoning their religion because of the hostility of the environment.
* Accommodation: religious practice is adapted to reflect the new environment.
* Renewed vigour: the religion is reasserted more strongly as a response to the perceived hostility in the new environment.
Age and religiousity
Research evidence from Britain and many countries across the world indicate that the young are less religious than the old
• The World Values Study established that young people (less than 30 years of age) were less likely to say they attended places of worship compared to older people (above 50).
o Research evidence also indicate that the old are more religious
compared to the young.
Why are young people less religious than the elderly
Vas and Crockett note that there are three possible explanations for lack of
religiosity among the young:
o Many people get more religious as they get older because they see themselves as moving closer towards death. People may also turn to religion because they think it is a better avenue for socializing their children.
o Periodic effect (cohort): those born in a certain period might be
religious or not because of the events or social changes of the time.
o Generational decline: It could be the progressive decline of religion so that each generation is less religious that the previous one,
Voas and Crockett conclude that each generation gets into adulthood less religious than its predecessors.
- Lynch suggests that feelings that used to lead young people to religion is today diverted to other things like music, football, among other.
- Crocket and Voas (2005) argued young people are less engaged in rellgion due to greater competition in spiritual marketplace
- Bruce (2000) sees a decline in education through church as a reason for decline in youth attendance - less Sunday schools in contemporary society
- As the process of secularisation has taken hold, less young people are being sociallsed Into religlous norms and values
What problems arise when measuring religiosity?
1 ) Believe without belonging - people can hold religious beliefs while showing little or no commitment to religious organizations and practices. They can believe in God without collectively practicing their belief or linking that belief to any particular religious organization.
2) Belong without believing- this involves those who attend religious services without having any strongly developed sense of religious belief. Religious practice may have secular functions, with people attending services for reasons such as friendship , social status , custom or tradition.
What is a more valid way to understand religiosity
- Abraham’s et Al (1985) suggested that a more valid at to understand religiosity is to measure commitment . The extent to which people feel they belong to a particular religion using a scale that measures and combines four main commitments
1) Disposition: the philosophical dimension to religiosity through questions about spiritual ideas and experiences, such as whether people ‘draw comfort from prayer’.
2 )Orthodox belief: the extent to which people believe in ideas like god or the soul.
3)Moral values: how these are influenced by religious values and teachings.
4) Institutional attachment: the frequency with which people attend religious services, meetings and ceremonies.
What are the 3 ways of defining religion ?
Evaluation of religiosity
Data on religiosity and religious belief is usually based on surveys and church censuses.
While people might not be completely honest in surveys, certain religious organisations might inflate their membership to give more importance to themselves as social institutions. As a result, the sociological data on the relationship between religiosity and ethnic social groups can be misleading and should be handled with caution.
-Modood ; in all religions there is a decline in importance. Especially in the second generation ethnic groups.
