secularisation Flashcards
BRYAN WILSON
defining secularisation
“the process whereby religious thinking, practices and institutions lose social significance”
splitting his definition up:
- level of participation in organised religion
- level of religious belief in a society
- how far religious institutions have maintained their social significance in wider society
how you might measure secularisation:
- members of a religion
- attend a place of worship
- say prayers at home
- think their lives are guided by holy scriptures
- believe in heaven (or equivalent)
interpreting religious evidence
qualitative data and qualitive data
counting ‘bums on pews’ (church attendance) may indicate decline, however qualitive data may reveal how people think and feel about religion which reflects something very different
problems with measuring secularisation
- historical records are hard to verify
- different definitions of membership and attendance
- some religious organisations do not keep records
problems with statistics on religious practices
- hard to obtain
- what counts as ‘practicing’ may vary between individuals / religious
- information on sects and cults may be hard to obtain or are inaccurate/exaggerated
- religious practicies may not be recorded at all e.g. the growing ‘house church’ movement
UK religious statistics (2011 census)
2011 uk religious population:
sikh: 0.8%
jewish: 0.5%
hindu: 1.5%
christian: 59.3%
muslim: 4.8%
no religion: 25.1%
- 6% of the uk goes to church regularly (twice a month or more)
- the average age of a churchgoer is 61
- 1650 churches closed between 1970 and 2002
- 42% uk citizens said that they pray
- Islam is the fastest growing religion in the UK
decline in religious participation
- by 1960s church attendance had fallen from 40% (1851 census) to 10-15%, by 2015 it had halved again to 5%
- decline in religious ceremonies e.g. church marriages down to 30% in 2012
- catholic baptisms are half the number 1964
- increase in cohabitation and children born outside of marriage = evidence of decline of religious influence on peoples lives
arguments against secularisation…
- decline in christianity but growth of other religions (islam)
- people still turn to religion in times of grief
- religion is still important to ethnic minorities and those born outside the UK
religious affiliation and belief
- refers to a membership or identification with a religion
- evidence shows a decline in religious affiliation and belief
- between 1983 and 2014 those stating ‘no religion’ rose from around a third to almost half of british population (social attitudes survey 2015)
- 2021 census shows 1 in 3 of us have no religious beliefs
religious institutions
- the influence of religion has also declined as the state has taken over many of the functions of the church since the 19thC
- however, 26 bishops sit in the house of lords and have some impact on law making
- the number of the clergy is declining - and this affects influence of church on local communities
- the number of catholic priests fell by 1/3 between 1965 and 2011
- clergy are an ageing workforce
sociological reasons for secularization
societal/cultural diversity
- industrialization and the decline of community has contributed to secularization
- small communities that were held together by religion have declined
sociological reasons for secularization
religious diversity
- diversity of religious institutions undermines the authority and creditability of religious beliefs
- religious pluralism has led to a crisis of credibility
- society is no longer unified under one ‘sacred canopy’
sociological reasons for secularization
DAVID LYON - disneyfication
- religion is still alive as it is made more appealing
- diminishes religion by trivializing/simplifying it
- religion markets and packages itself, through simplifying itself, to appeal to customers
sociological reasons for secularization
STEVE BRUCE - privatized religious belief
- STEVE BRUCE does not believe that people have become more secular
- instead, he thinks religion has become separated from wider society
- its become more privatised - confined to the home and family
- religious beliefs are private/individual choice
- decline in collectivism / increase in indvidualism
sociological reasons for secularization
STEVE BRUCE / POSTMODERNISTS - technological worldview
- people now seek scientific answers / evidence to explain tragedy e.g. a plane crash is due to failed technology rather than evil spirits
- however, when science cannot solve a problem (e.g. incurable illness) we may still pray for help
- postmodernists argue metanarratives like religion have lost their power to explain the world, as people are less willing to be told religious theories
