Secularisation Flashcards
Define secularisation
Wilson argues it is the decline in religion, a process where religious beliefs, practices and institutions lose their significance/influence.
What has happened to church attendance in the UK?
-Crockett argues there has been a decline in the proportion of the populating going to Church.
-In 1851, 40% of adults
regularly attended church, in the 1960’s this was around 10-15% and by 2015 about only 5% of the adult population attended church on Sundays.
What are ‘bogus baptisms’ according to Wilson?
Whilst the baptisms of infants have declined, those of older children have increased due to many high performing faith schools only accepting baptised children.
What has happened to religious affiliation?
Decline in the number of people who are affiliated to a religion.
British Social Attitudes survey revealed that between 1983 and 2014 the number of adults with no religious affiliation rose from about 1/3 to about 1/2.
EVAL: Number of Catholics have increased due to migration from Eastern Europe + Islam increased due to immigration
What has happened to religious institutions today according to Bruce?
In the Middle Ages the Church was central to society and exercised real power over secular matters such as education, law making and social welfare.
However, in modern society religious institutions have become more marginalised and religion has been confined to the private sphere as the state has taken over many of the functions the church used to perform.
How can we evaluate these arguments about the increase in secularisation?
- Davies: talks about belief without belonging. Religious belief has become more privatised but this doesn’t mean there has been a decline in personal religious belief. The nature of religious activity has changed and people are believing without having to belong to a congregation.
- Hellend: people can be religious without having to attend a place of worship, the internet has changed the way people can interact with the religious community
1) Religion Online when religious movement use the internet to communicate messages to their followers
2) Online religion where like minded people interact in forums and discuss their beliefs in an unstructured way.
What is Weber’s explanation for secularisation?
Weber argued that the Protestant Reformation, begun by MLK in the 16th century, started a process of rationalisation in the West. Rationalised undermined the religious world view and replaced it with a rational scientific outlook found in modern society.
What is disenchantment according to Weber?
When the role of religion, magic, mystery and superstitions became less prominent in society and are replaced by more rational motives for acting.
Through reason and science humans can understand how the world works, this enables science to thrive and provides a basis for technological advances that give humans more power to control nature, this undermines the religious worldview.
What is the technological worldview according to Bruce?
The growth of a technological worldview has replaced religious explanations of why things happen.
EG: A plane crash is unlikely to be God’s punishment so we look for scientific explanations.
However, Bruce does say that religion is still the last resort when science and tech fail, ie cancer.
What is structural differentiation according to Parsons?
Separate, specialised institutions are developed to carry out functions that were previously performed by a single institution (religion).
- From this disengagement occurs as the functions of religion were passed to institutions like the state, therefore religion became disconnected from society (the church lost influence over education, law and social welfare)
- Privatisation is another result of this, as religion has become confined to the private sphere, religious beliefs are more personal and so religious institutions have lost much of their influence on wider society.
What is the impact of social and cultural diversity on religion?
- A decline in community is a result of moving from a pre-industrial society to an industrial one. Wilson argues when religion lost its hold over society, we became more individualistic
- Bruce argues that industrialisation has undermined the consensus of religious beliefs that hold small rural communities together. Social and geographical mobility caused by industrialisation has brought people from different backgrounds together.
- This diversity of occupations and culture undermines religion. This is because the believability of a religion is undermined by the thousands of other beliefs someone faces in a diverse society.
How can we evaluate the view that a decline of community causes the decline of religion?
Aldridge points out that a community doesn’t have to be concerned with a particular area as religion can be a source of identity on a worldwide/global scale.
For example, muslim communities.
What does Berger argue about religious diversity?
The many conflicting views of religion in a single society is another cause of secularisation.
- In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church held an absolute monopoly and so everyone lived under a single sacred canopy (set of beliefs shared by all). This gave their beliefs greater plausibility as the Church’s version of the truth was unquestioned.
- This changed with the Protestant Reformation (protestant churches and sects broke away from the Catholic Church), this meant society was no longer unified under a single sacred canopy.
- This brought varied interpretations of what was the truth, which created the crisis of credibility for religion. So many versions of religion meant people questioned what was true which eroded the absolute truth held by traditional religions.
How does cultural defence go against the secularisation theory according to Bruce?
Bruce argues cultural defence means religion provides a focal point for the defence of national, ethnic, local or group identity in a struggle against a hostile foreign power/environment
How does cultural transition go against the secularisation theory according to Bruce?
Bruce argues cultural defence is where religion provides support and a sense of community for ethnic groups such as migrants who moved to a different country and culture.
EG: building religious communities, Hindus build temples and Muslims build mosques to ease their way into their new home.
