religion, renewal and choice Flashcards
outline obligation to consumption
- Davie: in late modern society, there has been a major shift in R - away from obligation, and towards consumption + choice
- in the past, churches could ‘oblige people to attend church, believe certain things + behave in certain ways
- R is no longer inherited or imposed, but a personal choice
- e.g. in England + France, infant baptism was once an obligatory rite of passage, but now only a minority of babies are baptised
- however, there has been an increase in adults choosing to be baptised
outline believing without belonging
- Davie: disagrees with secularisation theory - R isn’t declining, but simply taking a different, more privatised form
- many people still belong to a R, but don’t feel it necessary to attend church, as R has become more privatised
- Davie calls this ‘believing without belonging’ - e.g. bedside Baptists (having faith but not attending church) - R is changing to accommodate more lifestyles
- D also notes a trend towards vicarious religion
outline vicarious religion: the Spiritual Health Service
- Davie argues that in Europe, major national churches are seen as public utilities, or a ‘Spiritual Health Service’, like the NHS, that is there for everyone to use whenever
- people expect churches to provide services for funerals, wedding, even if they aren’t regular attenders
outline Davie’s view of the secularisation theory
- the secularisation theory assumes that modernisation affects every society in the same way, causing the decline of R
- Davie criticises this assumption - she argues there are ‘multiple modernities’
- e.g. UK + USA are both modern societies, but with very different patterns of R, esp in relation to church attendance (high in USA, low in UK), but accompanied by believing without belonging
outline neither believing nor belonging
- Voas + Crockett: rejects Davie’s claim that there is more believing than belonging
- evidence from 5,750 respondents show that both church attendance + belief in God are declining together
- if D were right, we would see higher levels of belief
- Bruce: adds that if people are not willing to attend church, this just reflects the declining strength of their beliefs - when people no longer believe, they no longer wish to belong, so their involvement in R diminishes
what was found in the 2011 Census
- 2011 Census results show that 63% of people identified themselves as Christian
- this supports Davie’s idea of believing without belonging, as church attendance stats are much lower
what does Day say about neither believing nor belonging
- very few of the ‘Christians’ she interviewed mentioned God/ Christianity
- their reason for describing themselves as Christian wasn’t religious, but simply a way of saying they belonged to a ‘White English’ ethnic group
- Day says they ‘believe in belonging’ - describing themselves as ‘Christian’ was actually a non-religious marker of their ethnic or national identity
outline Hervieu-Leger’s idea of spiritual shopping
- Hervieu-Leger: agrees there has been a dramatic decline in institutional R in Europe, with less attending church - due to ‘cultural amnesia’ + social equality
- while trad R has declined, it hasn’t disappeared - individual consumerism has replaced collective tradition;
- people today feel they have a choice as consumers of R + have become spiritual shoppers
- R is now individualised, we have developed ‘do-it-yourself’ beliefs that give meaning to our lives + fit in with our interests
- R is thus now a personal spiritual journey in which we choose the elements we want to explore + groups we want to join
outline Hervieu-Leger’s idea of cultural amnesia
- cultural amnesia = a loss of collective memory of R as it is no longer passed down generationally through extended fams + churches
- now, we have largely lost R, because few parents teach their children about R
- now, parents let children decide for themselves what to believe, so children no longer inherit a fixed R identity
- as a result of cultural amnesia + social equality, R no longer acts as the source of collective identity it once was
- BUT, Hervieu-Leger notes that R does continue to have some influence on society’s values - e.g. the values of equality + human rights have roots in R
name Hervieu-Leger’s 2 new emerging types of religion
1) pilgrims
2) converts
outline greater social equality as a cause for the decline in R
- the trend toward greater social equality has undermined the traditional power of the Church to impose R
- thus, young people no longer have a fixed R identity imposed through socialisation + are ignorant of trad R
outline Hervieu-Leger idea of Pilgrims as a new emerging type of religion
- pilgrims: like those in the holistic milieu in Kendal, they remain in 1 faith group + take an individualised approach in search for self-discovery
- they pick and choose aspects o f it + disregard others - e.g. praying whilst having pre marital sex
outline Hervieu-Leger idea of Converts as a new emerging type of religion
- Converts: move between different R groups that offer a strong sense of belonging, usually based on a shared ethnic background or R doctrine in search of a personalised set of beliefs
- they never fully commit to 1 R - pick n mix R
- as in the Kendal Project, these include evangelical movements + also the churches of EM groups
outline the Postmodern view of religion
- Lyon: agrees with Davie that believing without belonging is increasing
- Lyon argues that trad R is giving way to a variety of new religious forms which demonstrates its continuing vigour (enthusiasm)
- as a Postmodernist, L explains this in terms of the shift from modern to postmodern - PM society has several features that are changing the nature of R - e.g. globalisation, rise in media + communications, growth of consumerism
outline globalisation, the media and religion
- Globalisation has resulted from the role media + information technology play in mod society which saturates us with global messages + images, giving us instantaneous access to ideas + beliefs of previously remote places + Rs
- R ideas have become ‘disembedded’ - the media lifts them out of physical churches + into a different place and time
- e.g. Televangelism relocates R from real churches to the Internet, allowing believers to express their faith without physically attending church - shows how boundaries between diff areas of life becomes blurred
- thus, R becomes de-institutionalised (detached from its place in R institutions), floating in cyber-space
outline an AO3 evaluation of Helland’s idea of online religion
- while Postmodernists might see online R as a radical new alternative that may be replacing R, Hoover shows that for most users, its just a supplement to their church-based activities rather than a substitute for them
outline online religion and religion online
- Helland: distinguishes between 2 kinds of religious internet activity, which he calls ‘religion online’ + ‘online religion’
outline Helland’s idea of online religion
- online R is a form of ‘cyber-religion’ that may have no existence outside the internet
- it’s a ‘many-to-many’ form of communication that allows individuals to create non-hierarchical (‘flat hierarchy’) relationships + a sense of community where they can virtually worship, meditate, explore shared spiritual interests + provide mutual support
- e.g. online courses for spirituality, New Age Movements
outline Helland’s idea of religion online
- R online is a form of top-down communication where a traditional R organisation uses the internet to address members + potential converts
- there is no feedback/ dialogue between the parties
- this is an electronic version of the traditional, hierarchal communication of churches to their members, communicating only the officially approved ideas - a supplement to what already exists
- e.g. Church of England website
outline Lyon’s view of the decline in traditional churches
- Postmodernists, such as Lyon, argue that the decline of traditional churches doesn’t mean the end of R
- in their place, many new R movements are arising from which consumers can ‘sample’ + construct their own personal belief system
- thus, R + spirituality aren’t disappearing; they are evolving, taking on new forms that fit the consumerist nature of postmodern society
outline religious consumerism
- PM society also involves the growth of consumerism, esp the idea that we now construct our identities through our consumption
- Hervieu-Leger: emphasises how this is also true of R, in which we act as spiritual shoppers, choosing R beliefs + practices to meet our individual needs
- we no longer have to sign up to any specific R tradition, instead we can pick up ‘pick n mix’ elements of different faiths to suit our tastes + identify with them until something more trendy comes along
outline Lyon’s view of religious consumerism + example
- Lyon: argues R has relocated to the sphere of consumption
- while people may have ceased to belong to R organisations, they haven’t abandoned R
- instead, they have become ‘R consumers’ making conscious choices about which elements of R they find useful - e.g. drinking alcohol but going to church
- e.g. in Ammerman’s study of American Christian Fundamentalists in which they made use of a number of churches w/o giving strong loyalty to any of them + used them for diff aspects (e.g. day care, counselling, services)
what is an effect of religious consumerism
- one effect of the variety in choice of R products, is a loss of faith in ‘meta-narratives’ (theories of worldviews that claim to have the absolute, authoritative truth - e.g. trad Rs)
- people now have access to a wide range of diff + contradictory beliefs
- Berger: this weakens trad R’s monopoly of the truth + power - exposure to competing versions of the truth makes people sceptical that any of them are true
- thus, once dominant R institutions, e.g. traditional churches, lose their authority + decline
define individualism
- individualism = the notion that every individual is free to decide what is trye for themself
- e.g. by engaging in spiritual shopping, pick n mixing ideas found online etc
outline self-religions and the New Age Movements
- New Age spirituality rejects the idea of obligation + obedience to external authority found in trad Rs
- NAMs emphasise the idea of life as a spiritual journey of discovery, development, autonomy + connecting with one’s ‘inner self’
- this is achieved through individualism + consumption to meet needs, thus New Age beliefs and practices have been called ‘self-spirituality’ or ‘self-religion’
outline re-enchantment of the world
- Lyon: criticises Weber’s secularisation theory which assumes R is being replaced by a rational, scientific worldview (rationalisation theory)
- Lyon: we are now in a period of ‘re-enchantment’, with the growth of unconventional beliefs, practices + spiritualty
- although trad forms of R have declined, esp in Euro, Lyon highlights the non-trad Rs in the West + their resurgence in other parts of the world
outline the Spiritual Revolution
- some argue that a ‘spiritual revolution’ is occurring, in which trad Christianity is giving way to ‘holistic spirituality’/ New Age spiritual beliefs + practices that emphasise personal development
- increased interest in spiritualty can be seen in the growth of the ‘spiritual market’, with an explosion in books sold about self-help + spiritualty, courses, meditation, crystal healing etc
outline Heelas + Woodhead’s study of Kendal
- Heelas + Woodhouse: studied Kendal in 2005 to investigate whether trad R had declined, + if so, how far the growth of spirituality is compensating for this
- they distinguished 2 groups; congregational domain (of trad + evangelical Christianity), and the holistic milieu (of spirituality + New Age)
- in a typical week, 8% of the population attended church, whilst 1.5% took part in activities of the holistic milieu
- however, within the congregational domain, trad churches were losing support, while evangelical churches maintained it - ‘process of desacralisation’
- although fewer were involved in the holistic milieu, it was growing
outline Heelas + Woodhouse’s 3 explanations for the trend found in Kendal
1) New Age spirituality has grown due to a turn in today’s culture - a shift away from the idea of doing your duty + obeying external authority, to exploring your inner self by following spiritual path
2) as a result trad Rs, which demand duty + obedience, are declining - H + W: R tells you what you want to believe + how to behave, this is out of tune with a culture which believes in individual autonomy
3) Evangelical churches are more successful than trad churches - both demand discipline + duty, but evangelicals also emphasise the importance of spiritual healing + personal growth through being ‘re-born’
(weakness of the New Age) outline Glendinning + Bruce’s 4 points in support of secularisation theory
1) the problem of scale
2) socialisation of the next generation
3) weak commitment
4) structural weakness
(weakness of the New Age) outline Glendinning + Bruce’s idea of the problem of scale in support of secularisation theory
- Glendinning + Bruce: even if New Age forms of individualised R are springing up, this would have to be on a much larger scale to fill the gap left by the decline of trad R
- e.g. in Kendal in 1851, about 40% of the population attended church weekly, to match that today, there would have to be 14,500 attendees, but there are only 3,000
(weakness of the New Age) outline Glendinning + Bruce’s idea of weak commitment in support of secularisation theory
- Glendinning + Bruce: although many people have dabbled in meditation, astrology, horoscopes etc, serious commitment to New Age beliefs + practices was very rare
- even among those who described themselves as spiritual, few said that it was important in their lives
- Bruce: most people in every demographic show no interest in alternative spirituality
(weakness of the New Age) outline Glendinning + Bruce’s idea of the socialisation of the next generation in support of secularisation theory
- for a belief system to survive, it must be passed down to the next generation
- however, in Kendal, only 32% of parents who were involved in the New Age said their children shared their spiritual interests
- yet to maintain the same number of believers in the next generation, children would have to be socialised into the NA views
- also, W in the holistic milieu are more likely to be childless
outline the religious market/ rational choice theory
- Stark and Bainbridge: critique the secularisation theory, as its Eurocentric; it focuses on the decline of R in Europe + fails to explain its continuity in US + elsewhere
- ST also distorts past + future; there was never a ‘Golden Age’ of R + its unrealistic to assume that everyone will be atheists in the future
- Stark + Bainbridge propose 2 assumptions; people are naturally religious and religion meets human needs, and it is human nature to seek rewards and avoid costs
outline Stark and Bainbridge’s 2 assumptions in their religious market theory
1) people are naturally religious + religion meets human needs;
- thus, overall demand for R remains constant, even though the demand for particular types of R varies
2) it is human nature to see rewards + avoid costs;
- when people make choices, they weigh up the costs + benefits of their diff options
(religious market theory) outline compensators
- Stark + Bainbridge argues that R is attractive because it provides us with compensators
- when real rewards are scarce/ unattainable, R compensates by promoting supernatural ones
- e.g. immortality is unattainable, but R compensates by promising heaven/ life after death
- only R can provide compensators - non-religious ideologies, e.g. Communism, doesn’t promise supernatural rewards
(religious market theory) outline the cycle of renewal
- as an alternative to the secularisation theory (one-way process of continuous declines), Stark + Bainbridge propose a cycle of religious decline, revival and renewal
- they describe a perpetual cycle, with some Rs declining + others growing
- e.g. when established churches decline, they leave a gap in the market for sects + cults to attract new followers
- thus, sec theory is one-sided - it sees the decline, but ignores the growth of new Rs/ R revivals
(religious market theory) outline religious competition
- Stark and Bainbridge: churches operate like companies selling goods in a market
- where sec theory sees competition between diff R organisations as undermining R, religious market theorists take the opposite view
- they argue that competition leads to improvements in the quality of R ‘goods’ on offer
- churches that make their product attractive will succeed in attracting more ‘customers’, whilst churches that don’t respond to their member’s needs will decline
(religious market theory) outline America vs Europe
- demand for R increases when there is variety of choice, as consumers can find one that suits their needs
- with R monopolies (1 church dominating), there is decline, as w/o competition, a church has no incentive to provide people with their needs
- Stark + Bainbridge: R thrives in the USA as there are no R monopolies - Constitution guarantees R freedom + separation of church and state
- the variety of choice of R in the USA has encouraged the growth of a healthy R market where R grows/ declines based on consumer demand
- in Europe, most countries are dominated by an official state church, e.g. Church of England - this monopoly means competition is held back + the lack of choice has led to decline
(religious market theory) outline supply not demand
- Stark + Bainbridge concludes that the main factor influencing the level of R participation isn’t demand for R (as sec Th suggests), but the supply
- participation increases when there is a supply of R groups to choose from, but declines when supply is restricted
- based on their comparison of America vs Europe, S + B argues that the decline of R isn’t universal in all societies, as sec Th suggests
(religious market theory) outline supply-led religion
- many studies support Stark + Bainbridge’s view that demand for R is influenced by the quality + variety of R + its response to consumer needs
(religious market theory) outline 2 examples of supply-led religion
- Hadden + Shupe: the growth of Televangelism in America shows the level of R participation is supply-led - the commercial funding of R broadcasts opened up competition where evangelical churches thrived
- Stark: until 1945, Shintoism was the state R of Japan + other Rs were suppressed. but after WW2, R was de-regulated, creating a market in which new Rs, e.g. Soka Gakkai, have thrived
(religious market theory) outline AO3 evaluations of the religious market theory
- Bruce: rejects the R market theory - stats show that diversity has been accompanied by R decline in both Europe + USA - competition/ supply has no effect
- Norris + Inglehart: high levels of R participation exists in countries where churches are a monopoly, e.g. Ireland, Venezuela - whereas countries with R pluralism, e.g. Holland, Australia have lower levels of R participation
- Bruce: Stark + Bainbridge misrepresents sec theory - doesn’t claim there was a R ‘Golden Age’, or that everyone will become atheist, or that secularisation is universal (just to Europe + US)
outline Norris and Inglehart’s view of the religious market theory
- Norris and Inglehart: rejects the religious market theory as it only applies to US + fails to explain the variation in religiosity between diff societies
- e.g. international studies have found no link between R choice + R participation that is claimed by Stark and Bainbridge
outline the existential security theory
- Norris + Inglehart: the reason for variations in religiosity between societies isn’t due to diff degrees of R choice, but diff degrees of ‘existential security’ (‘the feeling that survival is secure’)
- R meets a need for security + therefore societies where people already feel secure have a low demand for R
- with these differences, R demand isn’t constant, but varies between societies, which explains why LICs remain R, + prosperous Western countries are secularising
(existential security theory) outline the differences between poor + rich societies
poor societies:
- where people face life-threatening risks, e.g. famine, disease, environmental disasters, have high levels of insecurity + thus have high levels of religiosity
- poor people who live in rich societies also face greater insecurity + are therefore more religious than rich people in those societies
rich societies:
- where people have higher living standards, are less at risk, have a greater sense of security + thus lower levels of religiosity
(existential security theory) what is an undermining factor of this theory
- Norris and Inglehart: notes that global population growth undermines the trend towards secularisation
- rich, secure, secular Western countries have low levels of population growth, whereas poor, insecure, religious countries have high rates
- as a result, while the West is becoming more secular, the rest of the world is becoming more religious
outline state welfare and religiosity
- Norris + Inglehart’s theory is supported by Gill + Lundegaarde, who found that the more a country spent on welfare, the lower the levels of R participation - why European countries, who spend more on welfare, are less R than USA
- Gill + Lundegaarde: previously, R provided welfare for poor, + still does so in poor countries - but in the 20thC, the West’s state began to provide welfare, contributing to R decline
- however, G+L don’t expect R to completely disappear, as welfare provisions meet the need for security, but don’t answer ‘ultimate’ questions about the meaning of life - as R does
- thus, although the availability of welfare reduces the need for R, it doesn’t completely eliminate it
outline AO3 evaluations of Norris + Inglehart’s theory
Vasquez:
- N+I only use quantitative data about income levels, they didn’t examine people’s own definitions of ‘existential security’ - qual data is needed
- N+I only see R as a negative response to deprivation + ignores the positive aspects for R participation + the appeal that R can have for the wealthy
Scandinavian countries like _ + _ consistently rank low in religiosity while scoring high on _ _ and _
- Scandinavian countries like Sweden + Norway consistently rank low in religiosity while scoring high on human development and security
name 3 countries that are lower-income and have high levels of religiosity
- Nigeria
- Philippines
- Pakistan
outline the concept of multiple modernities
- Davie: there are diff versions of modern societies - secularisation theories are wrong to assume modernisation affects all societies that same way
outline the concept of re-enchantment
- Lyon: disagrees with Weber + argues we are seeing a period of re-enchantment through a growth of unconventional beliefs, practices + spirituality
outline Davie’s concept of ‘vicarious religion’
- Davie: there is a trend towards ‘vicarious religion’, where R is practised by a minority of professional clergy + regular churchgoers on behalf of the majority who experience R second hand
name examples of religion being changed in its form
- non-religious people wearing R symbols for fashion purposes
- R is more accessible online - e.g. the Bible App, R dating sites, online sermons/ services
- rise in younger people doing non-religious things -e.g. drugs, sex before marriage, drinking
- R has been capitalised + turned into a form of consumption - e.g. Christmas, Easter, R courses/ retreats
outline Davie’s metaphor of a tip of an iceberg to illustrate religious ocmmitment
- D compares vicarious religion to the tip of an iceberg + sees it as believing without belonging
- it is the dedicated minority at the tip (clergy) of the iceberg, and then the ‘believers without belonging’ at the rest of it
- they are still religious, but experience it vicariously
- most people may not normally go to church to pray, but remain attached to the institution that provides rituals + support when needed
outline an AO3 evaluations of Davie’s believing without belonging
- Voas + Crockett: data shows that since 1983, there has been a continual decline in both attending + believing - the lack of attendance represents a decline in the strength of their belief
- Bruce: peoples lack of attendance shows how their belief is weaker, which contributes to secularisation
- interactionist/ postmodern: R is a meta-narrative with personalised meaning, the definition of believing is subjective
outline spiritual shopping
- Postmodern societies are fragmented + have diverse R, spiritual beliefs
- PMs: views belief as a personal matter, of which they can go spiritual + R shopping, picking, choosing + changing beliefs freely
- there is a greater tolerance of beliefs today, which means Rs have a shorter shelf life as consumer tastes + trends change
what is Lyotard’s view of religion
- Lyotard: meta-narratives like R have lost their influence over how people think, interpret + explain the world in postmodern societies
- people now have more control over their lives + less willing to be told what to believe by R authorities
_ people convert to _ annually
- 2.7million people convert to Christianity annually
(weakness of the New Age) outline Glendinning + Bruce’s idea of structural weakness in support of secularisation theory
- New Age spirituality is itself a cause of secularisation because of its subjective nature - there is no higher power than the self
- it lacks external power to extract commitment
- it cant achieve a belief consensus as everyone’s beliefs are different - lacks cohesion
(existential security theory) outline the differences between Europe + USA
Europe:
- West Europe: inc in secularisation - these societies are some of most equal + secure int he world, e.g. developed welfare states, health care, pensions etc - this reduces poverty + protects those at the bottom
USA:
- R in USA as its the most unequal of the rich societies - inadequate welfare, rich-poor wealth gap - this creates high levels of poverty + insecurity, thus greater need for R
outline the case of Uruguay
- Gill + Lundegaarde: studied Uruguay, a small Latin American country which has R diversity, but low participation - goes against Stark + Bainbridge’s free market theory
- Uruguay is very similar to it very R neighbours, except it has a more generous welfare provision - supports Norris + Inglehart’s existential security theory
