Secularisation (10M) Flashcards
Outline and explain two causes of the process of secularisation [10 marks]
One believed cause of secularisation is societal changes. This has occurred as we have moved from a pre-industrial society to industrialisation. Functionalists Parsons argues that structural differentiation has occurred as we have moved from pre-industrial society. This means that they are now separate, specialised institutions that carry out functions that were previously performed by a single institution such as the church. This leads to the disengagement of religion. As a result, the church becomes less influential in society and people’s lives. This is because its functions have been transferred. Thereby becoming more disconnected from society and individuals, resulting in secularisation.
Another believed cause of secularisation is religious diversity. This refers to when there are many religions and religious interpretations present in society. Berger argues that this creates a crisis credibility for religion. This is because diversity undermines religion’s plausibility structure. This means that there is a growth in cynicism. As a consequence, people begin to question religion and this erodes religions’ certainties. Meaning that these beliefs become relative rather than absolute. Therefore, religion becomes a personal choice whereby individuals have free will to opt out. Thus causing secularisation.
Item A
The United States is home to groups such as the New Christian Right that campaign to promote religious values in wider society, and opinion polls show that about 40% of Americans describe themselves as ‘regular church attenders’. Although these figures may lack validity, church attendance in the USA is certainly higher than in European societies such as the United Kingdom. As such large numbers of people are churchgoers, it is likely that there are a wide variety of motives for church attendance.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two reasons why apparently high church attendance figures may not mean that the United States is a religious society [10 marks]
‘Church attendance in the USA’ (Item A) is higher than in European societies. Yet, this doesn’t reveal the true picture of reality. This is supported by Bruce, who argues that American religion has undergone secularisation from within. This means that the emphasis on traditional Christian beliefs and God has declined. As a result, it is now seen as a form of therapy. Consequently, religion’s purpose has shifted from seeking salvation to seeking personal improvement. Thus, individuals have adapted their lifestyles and attitudes and now churchgoers are much less strict when adhering to traditional religious morality. Therefore, the United States is not necessarily a religious society. However, religion is not declining but simply changing form.
Church attendance is also on the decline. ‘Opinion polls show that about 40% of Americans describe themselves as regular church attenders’ (Item A). But, Hadaway found that this figure did not match the churches’ own attendance statistics. This shows that Americans are no longer attending church. This leads to the ‘attendance gap’. This implies that attending church is seen as socially desirable or normative. This indicates that individuals are more committed to a positive social identity rather than religion and church. Even so, falling church attendance figures fail to consider the number of committed religious people who don’t attend church.
Outline and explain two reasons why figures on attendance at mainstream church may overstate the degree of secularisation in Britain today [10 marks]
One reason that church attendance figures overstate the degree of secularisation is that they ignore the introduction of new religions. There is now a decline in traditional religions and a growth in non-traditional religions. Postmodernist Lyon argues that the decline in traditional churches does not necessarily mean that religion will also decline. He argues that there are many new religions that consumers can ‘sample’ from and form their own personal belief system. This suggests that society is now in a New Age of religion. This means that there is now a shift from obligation and obedience to discovery and personal development within religion. This indicates that non-traditional religion serves the needs of consumers better, resulting in an increase in the uptake of these types of religions. This implies that secularisation within Britain today is overstated as it ignores the growth of non-traditional religions.
Another reason that church attendance figures overstate the degree of secularisation is that it ignores how religions are changing. As religions begin to change, the behaviour patterns of individuals also begin to change. Davie believes that there is now a major change in religion, where there is now a move away from obligation to consumption or choice. This means that religion is not declining but simply taking a different and more privatised form. This suggests that individuals are increasingly reluctant to join or belong to organisations such as churches. This means that individuals may still believe in religion and hold religious beliefs but may simply avoid religious organisations such as churches. This leads to an increase in the number of individuals ‘believing without belonging’. This insinuates that church attendance figures ignore the proportion of religious individuals who choose not to belong to organisations such as churches, thus overstating the level of secularisation present within society.
Applying material from item J and your knowledge, evaluate the view that science has a greater influence than religion on people’s lives today (20)
According to Item J ‘ the development of modern society has been accompanied by a scientific approach to understanding and controlling the world’ which in turn has led to science having a greater influence on people’s lives today. This theory is further developed by Weber who argued that the Protestant Reformation started by Martin Lither started a process of rationalization of life in the West. This process undermined the worldview and replaced it with a rational scientific outlook. The medieval Catholic worldview believed that God and other spritual forces were believed to be present and actively changing the course of events through their supernatural powers i.e prayers, spells, fasts etc. However, the Protestant worldview brought a new worldview. Although God had indeed created the world he left it to run according to its own principles. This therefore meant that events were no longer explained as the work of unpredicatable supernatural beings. Instead, using reason and science, humans could discover the laws of nature and understand and predict how the world works and control through technology. Furthermore, through the process of disenchantment (squeezing out religious ways of thinking) science is able to thrive and provide the basis for technological advances that give humans the ability to control nature. This thus showcases how the combination of rationalization and disenchant ment has led to less people looking to religion and more to science. Contrastingly, religion still has a greater influence than religion on people’s lives as for many individuals religion helps them to cope with emotional stress and strengthen their social solidarity
Consequently, Item J also implies that religion still has a great influence on peoples lives today as Malinowski argues that for many individuals, religion performs psychological functions i.e coping with emotional stress and maintaining social solidarity. Malinowski studied the Trobriand Islanders of the South Pacific. He found that religion helped to maintain social solidarity among the Islanders when they faced uncertain or uncontrollable events. The Islander would often perform rituals when the fishermen fished in open sea. This was manly due to the fact that fishing in open sea was seen as an dangerous activity, Many men didn’t survive and catching fish wasn’t a guarantee. The ritual performed thus gave the Islanders a sense of control, thus reducing stress and anxiety and maintained social solidarity. Malinowski also claimed that religion helped to reduce suffering in times of crisis i.e birth?death. For example, rituals undertaken at funerals help to reinforce social solidarity and and the idea of the afterlife provides a sense of comfort.Similarly, Talcott parsons - religion as providing psychological functionsby answering ultimate questions about life relgion answers to such questions , for example by explaioning suffering as the result of faith that will be rewarded in heaven. by doing so religion helps people to adjust to adverse events., further emphasising the the influence relgion has on individuals todaty’. However it is important to still note that science may still have greater influence as the increased development of the technological worldview has meant that more likely to turn to science and medicine in times of emotional stress i.e psycho therapy and get answers than religious activities such as praying.
- Another reason why science has greater influence in people’s lives today is due to its open belief system. According to Popper science is an open ‘belief system’ where every scientist’s theories are open to scrutiny, criticism and testing by others. Science is governed by the principle of falsificationism - scientist set out to try and falsify existing theories, deliberately seeking evidence that would disprove them. If the evidence from an experiment or observation contradicts a theory and shows it to be false, the theory can then be discarded and a search for a better explanation can begin. On the other hand religion is deemed as a closed belief system. it’s knowledge is literally sacred and religious organisations claim to hold it on God’s divine authority thus meaning that it cannot be challenged and those who do may be punished for their heresy. This in turn causes many individuals to actively engage with science because they feel as there is space for discussion whereas religion must be followed blindly and not questioned. This in turn leads to higher scientific engagement within peoples daily lives, which in turn leads to more scientific influence within their lives also. However, although there is slightly more scientific influence rather than religious influence, religion continues to impact the lives of others by reinforcing collective conscience and maintaining social integration within society.
Applying material from item J and your knowledge, evaluate the view that science has a greater influence than religion on people’s lives today (20)
2
- In agreeance with Item J Durkheim argues that religion not only influences people on a day to day but also helps to reinstate the collective conscience within society. He claims that sacred/religious symbols represent societies collective conscience i.e shared norms, values, beliefs and knowledge that member abide by and make social life and cooperation possible, as without collective conscience society would disintegrate. Moreover Durkheim also believed that regular shared religious rituals reinforce the collective conscience and maintain social integration. Religious practices also influence individuals to have a shared identity of sense of belonging e’g. in Islam, Aqiqa is performed after the birth of a child which gives the children a sense of social solidarity as Muslims reinforces unity amongst the group. In this case, through it’s sacred symbols, principles and religious practices religion encourages members to to adopt a mindset of togetherness in order for society to function accordingly, thus showcasing the amount of influence religion has on people today. Adversely, Stephan Mestrovic argues that Durkheim’s ideas cannot be applied to contemporary society because increasing diversity has fragmented the collective conscience. talk about science.
Outline and explain two ways in which a decline in participation in religious institutions may not mean that society is becoming more secular [10 marks]
One reason that religious institution attendance figures
overstate the degree of secularisation is that they ignore the
introduction of new religions. There is now a decline in
traditional religions and a growth in non-traditional religions
Postmodernist Lyon argues that the decline in traditional
churches does not necessarily mean that religion will also
decline. He argues that there are many new religions that
consumers can ‘sample’ from and form their own personal
belief system. This suggests that society is now in a New Age
of religion. This means that there is now a shift from obligation
and obedience to discovery and personal development within
religion. This indicates that non-traditional religion serves the
needs of consumers better, resulting in an increase in the
uptake of these types of religions. This implies that
secularisation within Britain today is overstated as it ignores
the growth of non-traditional religions.
Another reason that a decline in participation within religious
institutions overstate the degree of secularisation is that it
ignores how religions are changing. As religions begin to
change, the behaviour patterns of individuals also begin to
change. Davie believes that there is now a major change in
religion, where there is now a move away from obligation to
consumption or choice. This means that religion is not
declining but simply taking a different and more privatised
form. This suggests that individuals are increasingly reluctant
to join or belong to organisations such as churches. This means
that individuals may still believe in religion and hold religious
beliefs but may simply avoid religious organisations such as
churches. This leads to an increase in the number of individuals
“believing without belonging’. This insinuates that religious
institution attendance figures ignore the proportion of
religious individuals who choose not to belong to
organisations such as churches, thus overstating the level of
secularisation present within society.
Item A Older people are more likely to both attend church and express religious beliefs than younger people. Some sociologists have suggested that this is due to changes which occur during the life-course. Other sociologists believe this trend is more about social changes resulting in generational differences. Applying material from Item A, analyse two reasons why younger people are generally less religious than older people [10 marks]
The first reason as to why older people are more religious is
that they are closer to the end of their ‘life-course’ (Item A).
This is because they are biologically closer to death which
means they start to think more about what happens after
death. This is supported by Heelas, who argues that people
become more interested in spirituality as they age. This
suggests that religion offers a suitable explanation to older
people’s questions about the afterlife. Furthermore, social
isolation may also influence religious participation. This is
because retirement may mean that older people lose their
workplace connections and are more likely to see their friends
die. This means that attending church can help older people
make up for these lost connections. Even so, this displays an
ethnocentric view. Not all old people will engage in religion,
for example 22% of those who identify as Christian are over 65
compared to only 3.9% of Muslims.
Younger people are generally less religious than older people
due to social changes. Each successive generation is less
religious than the previous generation. Voas and Crockett
believe that secularisation is a possible explanation for age
differences in religiosity. This means that the church has
become disengaged from society and so has less influence
over social life. Thus, children todav are much less likely to see
religious authority being exercised in politics for example.
Moreover, religion has also lost its influence in education: RE
now presents religion as a choice rather than a necessity. In
addition, postmodernity emphasises fun, diversity and choice,
which religion doesn’t appear to offer. In this case, non-
religious participation is seen as normal if the individual
believes that it doesn’t fit their needs. As a result, parents are
much less likely to socialise their children into religious beliefs
and practices, which explains the decline in religion among
young people. Even so, this isn’t the case for all children.
Brierly argues that under 15s are the most likely group to go to
church as they have no choice and are forced to go by their
parents, suggesting that not all young people are no longer
religious.
Item L Religion once provided what Berger calls a 'universe of meaning', and religion acted as a 'sacred canopy' stretching over society. These helped people to interpret and make sense of the world and their position in it. Religion gave some focus, order and meaning to their lives, and protected them from the uncertainties of life However, in many contemporary societies, religion is losing this role for a lot of people Applying material from Item L, analyse two reasons why for many people religion may no longer be acting as a 'universe of meaning' and as a 'sacred canopy' [10 marks]
Previously, religion ‘helped people to interpret and make
sense of the world and their position in it’ (Item L). But, over
time society has gone through a period of rationalisation,
where science and technology has replaced religion. Bruce
argues that the growth of a technological worldview has
largely replaced religious or supernatural explanations of why
things happen. This means individuals now often look for
logical explanations provided by science and technology
rather than religious explanations. This is achieved through the
power of reason, whereby laws of nature seek to understand
and predict how the world works and control it through
technology. This suggests that technology leaves little room
for religious explanations in daily life. Consequently, this
undermines the collective ‘universe of meaning’ as religion can
no longer explain why certain things occur. But, Einstein
argues that religious meanings can actually be strengthened
by science, and in some cases the ‘universe of meaning’ may
actually grow stronger if religion is verified by scientific
explanations.
Religion can no longer act a ‘sacred canopy stretching over
society’ (Item L). This is due to increased levels of diversity
present in society. This is supported by Bruce, he argues that
the plausibility of beliefs is undermined by alternatives. Due to
globalisation and higher levels of migration, there is now a
diversity of cultures, lifestyles and occupations. This suggests
that religious individuals are aware that others around them
may not share their beliefs. This implies that the church no
longer holds an absolute monopoly. As a result, there is now
greater religious competition, whereby different versions of
the truth are put forward. Thus, society is no longer unified
under the sacred canopy provided by one church. However,
Beckford believes that religious competition can strengthen
commitment among religious groups to its existing beliefs
rather than undermining them, suggesting that sacred canopies
may be able to be created within religions.
Item P Compared with older people, young people are generally less religious in terms of their expressed beliefs in surveys and their participation in religious activities, although this is not true among young Muslims, who show greater religious participation and commitment. Young people seem more attracted to New Age spirituality and new religious movements, but the vast majority do not participate either Applying material from Item P, analyse two differences between the religious belief and participation of young people compared with those of older people [10 marks]
‘Young people are generally less religious in terms of their
expressed beliefs in surveys and their participation in religious
activities’ (Item P). This may be due to the decline in
importance of traditional religion. Voas and Crockett believe
that secularisation can help to explain age differences in
religiosity. This means that within each succeeding generation,
only half as many people are religious compared to the
previous generation. This is because there is a collapse in
religious socialisation. For instance, there is a decline in the
number of Sunday Schools. This suggests that religion has
filtrated out of all the important social institutions. This implies
that religion is no longer a fundamental part of children’s lives.
As a result, religious participation remains low within this
group. Whereas, older people experienced religious
socialisation, which helps to embed religious participation as
religion is seen as important. However, this isn’t the case for all
groups. For instance, young Muslims show greater
participation and commitment as there is greater emphasis on
religious socialisation.
Societal changes may also explain age differences in
religiosity. Modern society places emphasis on the
individualism and this paves the way for new religions and
belief systems. Lyon argues that these new religions are known
as New Age beliefs and practices. This means that there is a
shift from obligation and obedience to self-enlightenment. This
indicates that life is a journey of discovery where personal
development is highlighted. Consequently, this encourages
expressive and utilitarian individualism. This insinuates that
‘young people seem more attracted to New Age
spirituality’ (Item A). This is because norms have shifted to a
period of re-enchantment, thus traditional religions/institutions
have lost their appeal with younger people. This is due to
young people’s want to keep up with societal trends and
pursue freedom. As a result, young people prefer non-
conventional beliefs as oppose to traditional religion. Even so,
this pursuit of freedom can be limited. According to Brierly,
under 15s are generally more likely to go to church because
they have no choice and are forced to go by their parents.
