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Beliefs in society > Secularisation > Flashcards

Secularisation Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

Who defines secularisation?

A

Bryan Wilson 1966

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2
Q

How does Bryan Wilson define secularisation?

A

“Secularisation is the process whereby religious thinking, practice and institutions lose social significance.

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3
Q

What does Wilson mean by ‘thinking’?

In his definition of secularisation

A

Believing in God, heaven and hell, angels, miracles etc.

(thinking, practice and institutions have declined since the 1950s)

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4
Q

What does Wilson mean by ‘practice’?

In his definition of secularisation

A

Going to a place of worship, praying, celebrating festivals.

(thinking, practice and institutions have declined since the 1950s)

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5
Q

What does Wilson mean by ‘institutions’?

In his definition of secularisation

A

The power, status and influence of the Church of England, the Pope etc.

(thinking, practice and institutions have declined since the 1950s)

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6
Q

Give evidence for secularisation in the UK

A
  • A decline in the proportion of the population going to church or belonging to one (religious affiliation)
  • an increase in the average age of churchgoers
  • fewer baptisms and church weddings
  • greater diversity, including more non-religious groups
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7
Q

What does the 1851 Census of religious worship show about attendance?

A

Crockett estimates that 40% or more of the adult population attended church on Sundays.

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8
Q

What was the attendance of church goers in 2015?

A

About 5% of the adult population attended church on sundays.

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9
Q

Describe the change in Sunday attendance in the Church of England

A

Fell from 1.6 million in 1960 to under 0.8 million in 2013.

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10
Q

What has happened to Sunday school attendance?

A

It has declined

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11
Q

What has happened to weddings?

A
  • In 1971, 60% of weddings were in church, but by 2012 the proportion was only 30%
  • the number of weddings in Catholic Churches fell by 3/4 between 1965 and 2011.
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12
Q

What has happened to baptisms?

A

Have fallen steadily. The number of Catholic baptisms today is under half those in 1964.

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13
Q

What is a ‘bogus baptism’?

A

Baptisms of older children have increased in recent years. Research shows this is because faith schools (which are higher performing) will only take baptised children. Baptism is therefore an entry ticket to a good school rather than a sign of Christian commitment.

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14
Q

What is religious affiliation?

A

a person’s membership of or identification with a religion.

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15
Q

What has happened to religious affiliation?

A

Declined.
- Between 1983 and 2014, adults with no religion rose from 1/3 to 1/2.
- In the same period, those identifying as Christian fell by a third and Anglicans numbers more than halved.

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16
Q

What has happened to religious belief?

A

It is declining. Surveys show a significant decline in belief in a personal God, in Jesus as the son of God and in Christian teachings about the afterlife and the Bible.

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17
Q

How has the influence of religion as a social institution also declined? (a process called disengagement)

A

The state has taken over many of the functions that the church used to perform e.g., Education.
Although there are still faith schools, these are mainly state funded and must conform to the state’s regulations. Many don’t conform to the legal requirement of providing a daily act of collective worship. (a BBC survey in 2005 found that over half the secondary schools in Wales failed to comply with this).

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18
Q

What has happened to the clergy?

A

Number of clergy has decreased [during 20th century it fell from 45,000 to 34,000].
They are also an ageing workforce [only 12% of American clergy are under 40]
Lack of clergy in local communities means that the day-to-day influence of the church is reduced.

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19
Q

What does Bruce argue and conclude?

A

Agrees there is a steady and unremitting decline. He concludes if current trends continue, the Methodist Church will fold around 2030 and then the Church of England will be merely a small voluntary organisation with a large amount of heritage property.

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20
Q

Who argues against secularisation?

A

Grace Davie (Late Modernist)
Daniele Hervieuleger (Late Modernist)
David Lyon (Postmodernist)

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21
Q

What does Grace Davie argue?

A

She rejects the secularisation thesis and argues religious beliefs are changing but not declining.

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22
Q

What 3 things does Davie talk about?

A
  1. From obligation to consumption
  2. We are a nation of believers but not belongers
  3. Vicarious Religion
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23
Q

Explain what Davie means by “from obligation to consumption”?

A

We are not forced to be religious but choose to be. Although most people don’t go to church those that do are probably more committed than in the past.

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24
Q

Explain what Davie means by “we are a nation of believers but not belongers”?

A

Davie says religion is not declining but is taking a more privatised form. People are increasingly reluctant to belong to organisations, whether these are churches, political parties or trade unions. But despite this, people still hold religious beliefs.

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25
Q

Explain what Davie means by “vicarious religion”?

A

We like the idea that religion exists even if we choose not to use it.

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26
Q

Who criticises Davie’s argument of believing but not belonging?1

A

Voas and Crockett

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27
Q

How do Voas and Crockett criticise Davie’s argument of believing but not belonging?

A

Evidence from 5,750 respondents shows that both church attendance and belief in God are declining together. If Davie were right, we would expect to see higher levels of belief.

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28
Q

What does Daniele Hervieu-Leger argue?

A

People have become “spiritual shoppers”. Individual consumerism has replaced collective tradition. We create our own religiosity and take whatever parts from our own religiosity and take whatever parts from traditional or new age beliefs as we see fit.

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29
Q

According to Daniele Hervieu-Leger, what new 2 religious types are emerging?

A

Pilgrims and Converts

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30
Q

Describe Pilgrims

A

They follow an individual New Age path

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31
Q

Describe Converts

A

Those that choose Fundamentalist Evangelical Movements

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32
Q

What does Postmodernist David Lyon say?

A

Technology has led to some churches running services online. The TV allows televangelists to preach to wide global audiences via ‘God Channels’. Lyon also focuses on the New Age which he sees as a form of self-spirituality in a good way.

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33
Q

Who criticises the late modernist + postmodernist ideas / supports secularisation?

A

Bruce - the weakness of the New Age

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34
Q

What 4 arguments does Bruce use to criticise the New Age?

A
  1. The problem of scale
  2. Socialisation of the next generation
  3. Weak Commitment
  4. Structural Weakness
35
Q

Explain “the problem of scale”

A

Even if new age forms of individualised religion are springing up, this would have to be on a much larger scale if it is to fill the gap left by the decline of traditional institutionalised religions. More people have left organised religions than joined the New Age.

36
Q

Explain socialisation of the next generation

A

for a belief system to survive, it must be passed down to the next generation. Women in the holistic milieu are more likely to be childless and in at least 3/4 of marriages with a woman in the holistic milieu, the husband doesn’t share his wife’s beliefs. This reduces the likelihood of transmitting them to their children.

37
Q

Explain weak commitment

A

very few said practices were important in real life

38
Q

Explain Structural Weakness

A

New Age is a cause of secularisation because of its subjective, individualistic nature. It is based on the idea that there is no higher authority than the self.
The New Age:
- lacks an external power to extract commitment
- can’t achieve consensus about its beliefs because everyone is free to believe whatever they wish, so it lacks cohesion as a movement
- can’t evangelise because it believes that enlightenment comes from within, not from someone else.

39
Q

What is the main assumption of secularisation in the USA?

A

Wilson and Bruce argue religion is becoming more secular but are still a lot more religious than the UK.

40
Q

What does opinion poll research suggest about church attendance in the USA?

A

Suggests church attendance has been stable at about 40% of the population since 1940.

41
Q

What research did Hadaway conduct to dispute this figure?

opinion poll research / church attendance stable at 40%

A

He studied church attendance in Ohio. To estimate attendance, they carried out head counts at services. Then in interviews, they asked people if they attended church.

42
Q

What did Hadaway find out?

A

Found that the level of attendance claimed by the interviewees was 83% higher than the researchers’ estimates of church attendance in the country.

43
Q

What does Bruce conclude?

A

He concludes that a stable rate of self-reported attendance of about 40% has masked a decline in actual attendance in the United States.

44
Q

Why is there such a gap?

A

The widening gap may be due to the fact that it is still seen as socially desirable or normative to go to church, so people who have stopped going will still say they attend if asked in a survey.

45
Q

What does Bruce mean by ‘secularisation from within’?

A

The way religion has adjusted to the modern world. Emphasis on traditional christian beliefs has declined and religion in America has turned into a therapy. This change has enabled it to fit with a secular society.

46
Q

How has the purpose of religion changed according to Bruce?

A

It has changed from seeking salvation in heaven to seeking personal improvement in this world.

47
Q

What are the explanations of secularisation?

A
  1. Max Weber - rationalisation and disenchantment
  2. Steve Bruce and a technological worldview
  3. Parsons - structural differentiation
  4. Social, cultural and religious diversity
  5. Cultural defence and transition
  6. Existential Security Theory
  7. Religious Market Theory
48
Q

According to Weber, what is rationalisation?

A

Refers to the process where rational ways of thinking and acting come to replace religious ones.

49
Q

When did the process of rationalisation begin for Weber?

A

The Protestant Reformation begun by Martin Luther King in the 16th century started a process of rationalisation.

50
Q

How did the Protestant view of God differ to the Catholic view? How did this lead to secularisation?

A
  • The medieval Catholic worldview that dominated Europe saw the world as an enchanted garden with God and other spiritual beings present and active in the world, changing the course of events through supernatural powers and miracles.
  • However the Protestant Reformation brought a new worldview. Protestants saw God as transcendent (existing above, beyond, outside this world). God created the world but didn’t intervene in it, instead letting it run according to its own principles.

This led to secularisation because events could be explained as the predictable workings of natural forces rather than from supernatural powers. Using reason and science (rationality), humans could understand how the world works, predict it and control it through technology.

51
Q

What is ‘disenchantment’?

A

Squeezes out magical and religious ways of thinking and starts off the rationalisation process that leads to the dominance of the rational mode of thought. This enables science to thrive and provide the basis for technological advances that give humans more power to control nature.
This further undermines the religious worldview.

52
Q

What does Bruce mean when he says that a technological worldview has replaced religious explanations?

A

Technological worldview has largely replaced religious or supernatural explanations of why things happen and thus leaves little room for religious explanation in everyday life, which only survive in areas where technology is least effective (we pray when we are suffering from an illness with no scientific cure)
E.g. when a plane crashes we look for scientific and technological explanations rather than as the work of evil spirits / punishment from God.

53
Q

What does Parsons mean by structural differentiation and how does this lead to disengagement?

A

As societies become more complex, a greater variety of more specialised institutions evolved. Functions the single institution performed are taken over by newly evolved institutions e.g. government.

S.D leads to the disengagement of religion because its functions are transferred to other institutions such as the state and it becomes disconnected from wider society. E.g. church loses influence it once had on education and law.

54
Q

What does Bruce say about religion?

A

It has become privatised - confined to the private sphere of family and the home. Religious beliefs are a matter of personal choice and religious institutions have lost much of their influence on wider society. As a result, traditional rituals and symbols have lost meaning.

55
Q

In what ways have social and cultural diversity caused secularisation?

A

Decline of community - when religion lost its basis in stable local communities, it lost its vitality and hold over individuals

Industrialisation - social and geographical mobility not only breaks up communities but brings people from many different backgrounds together, creating even more diversity.

Diversity of occupations, cultures and lifestyles undermines religion - people who hold religious beliefs know that people around them hold very different views. Bruce says plausibility (believability) of beliefs is undermined by alternative beliefs and by individualism because the absence of a practising religious community reduces belief and practice.

56
Q

How has the view that the decline of community causes the decline of religion been criticised?

A

Aldridge says a community doesn’t have to belong to a particular area:
- religion can be a source of identity on a worldwide scale e.g. Jewish and Muslim communities
- some religious communities are imagined communities that interact through the use of global media
- Pentecostal and other religious groups often flourish in ‘impersonal’ urban areas.

57
Q

Why does Bruce argue Cultural defence and transition support the secularisation thesis?

A

Shows religion is more likely to survive where it performs functions other than relating individuals to the supernatural, it is a focus for group identity.

58
Q

Who put forward Religious Market Theory

A

Stark and Bainbridge

59
Q

Why are Stark and Bainbridge critical of secularisation theory?

A

They see it as only applying to Europe and not the USA.

60
Q

According to Stark and Bainbridge, why is religion attractive?

A

because it provides us with compensators. When real rewards are scarce or unobtainable, religion compensates by promising supernatural ones.
E.g. immortality is unobtainable, but religion compensates by promising life after death.

61
Q

What do Stark and Bainbridge say about religion?

A

They say religion isn’t in decline but rather that as one type of religion declines (e.g. Churches) others take their place (sects and cults). This is known as a cycle of religious decline, revival and renewal.

62
Q

Why does religion thrive in the USA according to Religious Market Theory but not the UK?

A

Religion does well in the USA because there are lots of competing faiths trying to attract ‘customers’ like a business. There is a healthy religious market place. Also, there has never been a religious monopoly there.

By contrast, the UK has the Church of England and there is less competition.
Most European countries have been dominated by an official state church which had a religious monopoly.

63
Q

What do Stark and Bainbridge conclude about RMT?

A

The main factor influencing religious participation is the supply. Participation increases when there are lots of religious groups to choose from and declines when choice is restricted.
(supply led religion)

64
Q

Why is RMT useful?

A

It highlights the supply side of religion and consumer choice, and can be useful for understanding the growth of new religions

65
Q

How does Hadden and Shupe’s study support religious market theory?

A

The growth of televangelism in America shows religion is supply-led.

66
Q

Give some criticisms of Religious Market Theory

A

Stats show that diversity has been accompanied by religious decline in Europe and America. Thus, diversity and competition don’t increase the demand for religion.

It assumes that people are naturally religious and fails to explain why.

Bruce argues that S+B misinterpret the secularisation theory as the theory doesn’t claim there is a ‘golden age’ of religion or that it is universal.

67
Q

Why do Norris and Inglehart reject religious market theory?

A

It only applies to America not the whole world.

68
Q

What theory did Norris and Inglehart create to explain secularisation?

A

Existential Security Theory

69
Q

What does Existential Security Theory / Norris and Inglehart argue?

A

People turn to religion for support and security.

People in poor countries are face life-threatening risks e.g. famine + disease. Poor people have high levels of insecurity so are more religious as they have less of a welfare state to help them.

70
Q

Why are rich people less religious?

A

People in rich societies who have high standards of living and less risk have a greater sense of security and thus lower levels of religiosity.

71
Q

Why is Sweden, Norway, Western Europe, UK becoming more secular according to this theory?

A

because they are wealthy countries with good welfare state so people don’t need to be religious.

72
Q

How does this theory explain why USA is religious?

A

The USA is only religious because it is so unequal with a limited welfare state.

73
Q

Give positives of existential security theory

A

(+) Gill and Lundegaarde found that the more a country spends on welfare, the lower the levels of religious participation. European countries, of whom spend more than the USA are also more secular than the USA.

74
Q

Give some criticisms of existential security theory

A

(-) Vasquez argues that Norris and Inglehart only use quantitative data about income levels, and they don’t examine people’s own definitions of ‘existential security’, he argues that qualitative data is also needed.

(-) Vasquez also says Norris and Inglehart only see religion as a negative response to deprivation. They ignore the positive reasons people have for religious participation, and the appeal some types of religion have for the wealthy.

(-) Doesn’t explain why rich people are religious

75
Q

Explain religious beliefs in India

A

India has brought rapid economic growth and a new middle class to India. Whilst the secularisation theory predicts these are the first to abandon religion in favour of a secular world, Namda found Indians are actually becoming more religious with only 5% saying their religiosity has declined in the last 5 years. Namda argues increasing religiosity is the result of their ambivalence about their new found wealth. Modern men and telegurus say desire isn’t bad but motivated people to do things. They also say the middle class can pay for rituals to prevent guilt. Modern versions of Hinduism therefore legitimate the position of the middle class and allow them to adjust to globalised consumer capitalism.

76
Q

What has globalisation brought to India?

A

Wealth.

77
Q

Has India become secular as it has become more prosperous and ‘westernised’?

A

No. You can be a rich Indian hindu according to holy men and telegurus as long as you spend it on rituals that please the Gods.

78
Q

Explain how religious beliefs in East Asia have lead to their success in the global economy. (capitalism)

A

Their ‘post-Confucian’ values encourage hard work, self discipline and commitment to education and self improvement. This leads to economic productivity and the accumulation of capital.

79
Q

How does Pentecostalism encourage capitalism in Latin America?

A

Pentecostalism demands a self denying way of life that emphasises personal discipline, hard work and abstinence from alcohol. Thus it encourages its members to prosper and become upwardly mobile.

80
Q

Give 2 examples of religion as a cultural defence from the late 20th century

A

Iran and Poland

81
Q

Describe how Iran has used cultural defence

A

Modernisation meant that in Iran, the gap between the rich and poor grew. Cleric Ayatollah Khomeini, promised the return to traditional religious values. He declared an Islamic republic, and was appointed Iran’s political and religious leader.

Haynes argues that the Iranian Revolution was not typical of politics in the Middle East. In some other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, the religious leadership is closely tied to the local elite.

82
Q

Describe how Poland is an example of cultural defence

A

Poland was under communist rule by the Soviet Union. Although the church did not always challenge the communist rule openly, it served as a popular rallying point for opposition to the Soviet Union and the Polish communist party.

83
Q

How did the Church help the Polish?

A

It lent its active support to the Solidarity free trade union movement in the 1980’s that brought about the fall of communism. The church regained a central role and has significant influence on Polish politics since.

Beliefs in society (14 decks)

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