Secularisation

Question 1

Stats to show secularisation is occurring

Answer 1

Census 2021 - 37% stated they had no religion , only 15% in 2001

Question 2

How does rationalisation cause secularisation?

Answer 2

Weber
- rational ways of thinking replace religious ones
- Protestant reformation initiated the process of rationalisation in the west, which undermined the religious worldview of the Middle Ages and replaced it with rational, scientific thinking
- Protestants viewed God as a watchmaker, he made the world and set it in motion but thereafter let it run according to its own principles
- events were no longer explained as the work of a supernatural force
- Protestant reformation began the ‘disenchantment’ of the world, removes magical and religious ways of thinking

Question 3

How does Structural differentiation cause secularisation?

Answer 3

Parsons
- Process of specialisation that occurs with the development of industrial society
- seperate, specialised institutions develop to carry out functions that were previously performed by a single institution
- religion dominated pre-industrial society, but with industrialisation, religion has become a smaller, more specialised institution
- Structural differentiation leads to the disengagement of religion, its functions are transferred to the state and religion becomes disconnected from society, for example the Church looses its influence over education and the law

Question 4

How has religion became privatised?

Answer 4

Bruce

• confined to the private area of the home and family, a personal choice. Religion has lost its influence on wider society.
• religion has become privatised, confined to the sphere of the home and family
• In modern society religion has become separated from the state, even in religious schools the schools must conform to requirements of the secular state,
• for example all schools are legally required to teach about contraception even if this went against religious teaching.

Question 5

How does religious diversity cause secularisation?

Answer 5

Burger
In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church held absolute monopoly, it had no competitors, as a result everyone lived under s single sacred canopy, a set of beliefs shared by all
This changed after the Protestant reformation, when Protestant churches broke away from the Catholic Church, since the reformation, religious organisations grew, each with their own version of truth
With this religious diversity, no church could claim absolute monopoly over truth
This undermined the plausibility structure of religion, as when people are faced with a variety of versions of the truth, thi erodes the certainties of traditional religion

Question 6

Eval for Sacred canopy

Answer 6

Beckford - Religious diversity can strengthen a commitment to a religion rather than undermining them because opposing views can make people more confident that their own views are true

Question 7

How did Industrialisation cause secularisation?

Answer 7

Bruce
Undermines consensus of religion, caused decline of religion and community
Pre-industrial society, shared values are expressed through collective religious rituals
Industrialisation led to decline in stable, local communities
Plausibility of beliefs is undermined by religious diversity

Question 8

Eval of industrialisation

Answer 8

Aldridge
Religion can be a source of identity, on a worldwide scale true of Jewish, Hindus and Muslim communities
Some religious communities are imagined communities, that interact through the use of global media