religion, renewal and choice

Question 1

religion, renewal and choice

Answer 1

looks at the idea of whether the religion is decline, and therefore becoming secular, or if it is just simply changing
-Religion is not declining, just changing

Question 2

GRACE DAVIE

Answer 2

‘privatised’ religion
-argues religion has become more privatised (having religious beliefs without belonging to an organisation)
-Includes churches, political parties or trade unions
-Despite this people still hold beliefs- ‘believing without belonging’
-VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT

Question 3

Vicarious reinforcement

Answer 3

religion is practised by an active minority on behalf of the great majority
-In Europe, the major national churches are seen as public, utilities, or a sort of ‘ spiritual health service’ e.g NHS or churches used for e.g baptisms, funerals, wedding and public mournings e.g princess Diana
-They are there for everyone to use when they need to
-Compared to the tip of an iceberg- surface only seems like a small commitment (only a few attend church) but below is a much wider commitment (e.g. beliefs practised at home and use church when needed)

Question 4

What does Davie criticise about the secular theory?

Answer 4

-believe modernisation does not affect every society in the same way- there are multiple modernities
-e.g. Britain has low church attendance and America has high church attendance, but accompanied by believing without belonging

Question 5

VOAS AND CROCKETT

Answer 5

-criticise Davie
-‘neither believing, nor belonging’
-Doesn’t agree that people believe instead of belonging
-Evidence from British Social Attitude survey (1983-2000) shows church attendance AND religious beliefs are in decline.

Question 6

Bruce

Answer 6

The decline in church attendance is a reflection of the declining strength of their belief, directly correlated

Question 7

Abby Day

Answer 7

The 2011 UK census showed that 63% of people identified as Christian however, Abby found a few Christians mentioned God or their faith
-The reason for this was their way of saying they belong to ‘White English’ ethnic group so non-religious. They believe IN belonging
-Christianity was a non-religious marker for their identity

Question 8

HARVIEU-LEGER- Spiritual shopping

Answer 8

-agrees that there has been a dramatic decline in institutional religion in Europe
-cultural amnesia (a loss of collective memory)
-Nowadays, religion is not really passed through generations, but parents let their children decide for themselves
-This is also due to the trend towards greater social equality
-Younger people no longer have fixed religious identities

HOWEVER religion has not disappeared
-Instead collective traditions have been replaced with religious consumerism or choice, and we have become SPIRITUAL SHOPPERS

Question 9

What is cultural amnesia?

Answer 9

A loss and collective memory

Question 10

Replacement of traditional religion

Answer 10

-traditional religion has been replaced by individual consumerism i.e. People have a choice about their religion.
-Have basically developed a DIY approach to religion
-two new religious types of individuals have emerged

Question 11

What 2 new types of religious types have emerged?

Answer 11

pilgrims
converts

Question 12

Pilgrims

Answer 12

follow an individual path by joining a New Age group or for individual ‘therapy’ (doing it alone)

Question 13

Converts

Answer 13

joining a religious group with a strong sense of belonging, re-creating a strong sense of community

Question 14

Harvieu-Leger
What trends in modern society have begun to accelerate?

Answer 14

-decline in tradition (and traditional structures)
-Increasing individualism
SO religion still has an impact on society’s beliefs

Question 15

LYON- Postmodern religion

Answer 15

-agrees with Davie that believing without belonging is increasingly popular
-religious ideas have become ‘disembedded’
-the growth of technology and communication means we can access these ideas anywhere in the world- globalisation
-religion has therefore become ‘de-institutionalised’
-we no longer have to sign up to any one religion, we can ‘pick and mix’ elements of different faiths for our own identity
-this ‘pick and mix’ approach has lead to a loss of faith in meta-narrative (theories or world wide views that claim to have absolute authority/ truth)

Question 16

What does ‘disembedded’ mean?

Answer 16

-religious ideas have been lifted out of physical churches and moved to a different place and time -> onto the internet e.g. electric church and televangelism
-signs and images have detached from their place in religious institutions

Question 17

What does ‘de-institutionalised’ mean?

Answer 17

-now float on television/ cyberspace
-removed from their original location in the church, religious ideas have now become a cultural resource that individuals can adapt for their own purpose

Question 18

Berger

Answer 18

people now have access to a wide range of different and contradictory beliefs which has weakened the claims of traditional religions that hold the ‘truth’
-this is because exposure to many competing versions makes people sceptical that any of them is really wholly true so mainstream churches lose their authority and decline

Question 19

Lyon- ‘re-enchantment’

Answer 19

believes that the past 40 years has seen a period of re-enchantment which is a growth of unconventional beliefs and practices as opposed to mainstream religious groups
-religion is not disappearing, it is evolving and taking on new forms!
(direct counter for secularisation and Weber’s view of ‘disenchantment’)

Question 20

Bruce- the weaknesses of the new age

Answer 20

-the problem of scale
-socialisation of the next generation
-weak commitment
-structural weakness

Question 21

the problem of scale

Answer 21

New age forms of individualised religion need to be springing up on a much larger scale if it is to fill up the gaps left by the decline of traditional institutionalised religions.
e.g. In Kendal (1851), 38% of the population attended church, every Sunday- 14,500 is needed to match, but now there’s only 3000

Question 22

socialisation of the next generation

Answer 22

Believe system must be passed down to the next generation to survive
but in Kendal, only 32% who were involved in the new age, said, their children shared the same spiritual beliefs
-BUT to maintain same number of believers in the next generations. Typical couple with two children would need to socialise both into new age views.

Question 23

Gleddining and Bruce- weak commitment

Answer 23

-serious commitment to new age, beliefs and practices were very rare- instead meditation, alternative medicine, astrology horoscopes etc.
-Very few said their practices were important in their lives, even of those who described themselves as ‘spiritual’
-‘Bruce’- most people in every demographic category showed no interest in alternatives spirituality

Question 24

structural weakness

Answer 24

-New age, spirituality itself is a cause of secularisation as it is subjective and individualistic and is based on the idea that there is no higher authority than the self so the new age:
-Lacks an external power to extract commitment from new age participants against their wishes
-can’t achieve consensus about its beliefs as it lacks cohesion as a movement due to everyone being free to believe as they wish

-Cannot evangelise (persuade others of the truth) because believes enlightenment comes from within not from someone else
-Unlikely to fill the gaps left by the decline of traditional institutional religion

Question 25

Bellah’s example of self-religion

Answer 25

Sheilaism
-when individuals hold their own beliefs, they may hold religious beliefs without ever practicing their religion

Question 26

STARK AND BAINBRIDGE
Religious Market theory (AKA Rational choice theory)

Answer 26

-critical of the secularisation theory, which they see as Eurocentric
-Believe that the secularisation theory puts forward a distorted view of the past and future, as there was never a ‘golden age’ of religion in the past, nor is it realistic to predict a future end point where atheism is absolute

Question 27

What is eurocentrism?

Answer 27

The practice of viewing the world from a European perspective, and with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously in the superiority of European culture

Question 28

What 2 assumptions is the RMT based on?

Answer 28

-people are naturally religious and religion meets human needs: so the overall demand for religion remains constant, even though the demand for particular types of religion may vary

-It is human nature to seek rewards and avoid costs: weigh up costs and benefits of different options available when they make choices

Question 29

Compensators

Answer 29

-religion is attractive because it provides us with compensators
-when real rewards are scarce or unobtainable, religion, compensates by providing our supernatural rewards
-Only religion is capable of providing such compensation
e.g. Immortality is unobtainable, but religion, compensates us by promising life after death.

Question 30

The cycle of renewal

Answer 30

-A perpetual cycle of religious, decline, revival and renewal (an alternative to the secularisation theory)
-Religion is always changing- instead of disappearing new forms of religion are replacing old ones.
-e.g. when established churches declined, they leave a gap in the market for sects and cults to attract new followers
-from this point of view, secularisation theory is a one-sided as it sees the (a one-way) decline, but ignores the growth of new religions and religious revivals

Question 31

Religious competitions

Answer 31

-Believe churches operate similarly to companies selling goods in a market
-where secularisation theory sees competition as undermining religion, religious market theorists argue that competition is important in improving the quality of religious ‘goods’ on offer in order to attract more ‘customers’
-Religions that are not responsive to the needs of their members fail, and begin to die out

Question 32

America

Answer 32

religion and religiosity is thriving and has no signs of slowing down
-This is because there has never been a religious monopoly in America as the American Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and the separation of church and state
-this competition between healthy religions meant it grew or declined based on consumer demand

Question 33

Europe

Answer 33

religion is slowly declining and has increasing rates of secularisation
-Europe has a religious monopoly- one church with no competition- it leads to its decline as no competition means no incentive to provide people with what they want -> lack of competition = lack of choice
-Most European countries are dominated by an official state church (e.g. UK- COE)

Question 34

Stark and Bainbridge: supply not demand

Answer 34

They conclude that the main factor influencing the level of religious participation is not the demand for religion as secularisation theory suggest but the supply
-Participation increases when there is an ample supply of religious groups to choose from but declines when supply is restricted
-(Also suggest that the decline of religion is not a universal trend happening in all societies as some versions of secularisation theory suggest)

Question 35

Supply-led religion

Answer 35

-Stark and Bainbridge state that the demand for religion is largely influenced by the variety and quality of religion available, and how much is response to personal needs
-lots of evidence to support the religious market theory

Question 36

Hadden and Shupe

Answer 36

-argue that the growth of televangelism in America shows the level of religious participation as supply-led
-Commercial funding of religious broadcasts began in 1960 which led to competition opening up in which evangelical churches thrived
-Televangelism responded to consumer demand by preaching a ‘prosperity gospel’

Question 37

Finke

Answer 37

-The lifting of restrictions on Asian immigration into America in the 1960s, allowed Asian religions e.g Hare Krishna and Transcendental Meditation to set up permanently in the USA
-Asian faith, became another another option that proved popular with consumers in the religious market

Question 38

Miller

Answer 38

-an increase of evangelical megachurches (with a congregation of more than 2000)
- most in the US, some in South Korea too
-large, congregations have lavish resources and are able to offer a vast range of activities to meet the diverse needs of their members
-compares them with hypermarkets

Question 39

Criticisms

Answer 39

-BRUCE: rejects of view that diversity and competition increased the demand for religion as statistics show that diversity has been accompanied by religious decline in both Europe and America
-BRUCE: argues that S&B misrepresent the secularisation theory, as the theory does not claim a golden age of religion, or that everyone will become atheist, but simply claims that religion is in a long-term decline and doesn’t claim that secularisation is universal as it just applies to Europe and Canada
-NORRIS AND INGLEHART: show high levels of religious participation exist in Catholic countries where the church has a near monopoly e.g Ireland, Venezuela, BUT countries like Holland and Australia, with religious pluralism, often have low levels of participation
-BECKFORD: believes RMT= unsociological as it assumes people are ‘naturally’ religious and fails to explain why they make the choices they do

Question 40

NORRIS AND INGLEHART- Existential security theory

Answer 40

-Believe that the RMT fails to explain variations in religiosity between different societies
e.g. International studies have found no evidence linking religious choice and religious participation.
-they argue that the reason for the variation is not the degree of religious choice, but the degrees on existential security

Question 41

What is existential security?

Answer 41

‘ the feeling that survival is secure enough that it can be taken for granted’
-religion meets a need for security, and therefore societies where people already feel secure have a low level of demand for religion

Question 42

Poor societies

Answer 42

-where people face life-threatening risks, such as famine, disease, and environmental disasters, have high levels of insecurity and thus high levels of religiosity
-Poor people who live in rich societies, also face greater insecurities, and therefore are more religious than rich people in the society

-High population growth
-Low security
-Trend towards increasing religiosity

Question 43

Rich societies

Answer 43

-where people have a high standard of living and are at less risk, have a greater sense of security and thus lower levels of religiosity
-rich countries are the minority, so the majority of the world is becoming more religious
-global population growth undermines the trend towards secularisation

-low population growth
-high security
-Trend towards increasing secularisation

Question 44

Existential security- Europe

Answer 44

-in Western Europe, the trend is towards increasing secularisation
-The societies are amongst the most equal and secure in the world with well developed welfare states, offering comprehensive healthcare, social services and pensions
-this has led to declining poverty, and protect those at the bottom from insecurity
-thus, there is less necessity for religion

Question 45

Existential security- America

Answer 45

-US remains much more religious
-America is the most unequal of the rich societies with an inadequate welfare safety-net and individualistic ‘dog eats dog’ values
-This creates increasing levels of poverty and insecurity and so a greater need for religion
-(more religious than other rich societies, but still less religious than poor societies)

Question 46

Gill and Lundegaarde-
State welfare and religiosity

Answer 46

-found that the more a country spends on welfare, the lower, the level of religious participation
e.g. European spend more than USA, so = more secular
-In the past religion used to provide welfare for the poor and still does in poorer societies, but from the 20th century, the state in the West began to provide welfare leading to the decline of religion
-Do not expect religion to disappear, completely as although welfare provision meets the need for security, it does not answer ‘ultimate questions’ about the meaning of life
-this reduces the need, but doesn’t eliminate it

Question 47

Vásquez’s criticisms of the existential security theory

Answer 47

-N&I only use quantitative data about income levels and do not examine peoples own definitions of ‘existential security’, so qualitative data is also needed.
-N&I only see religion as a negative response to deprivation and ignore the positive reasons that people have for religious participation and the appeals that some types of religion have for the wealthy.