Secularisation

Question 1

What are the 3 main arguments against secularisation?

Answer 1

1. Religious thinking and belief
2. Religious practice
3. Religious institutions

Question 2

What are the arguments within religious thinking and belief?

Answer 2

1. Many people still show signs of religiosity (Eurobarometer)
2. Secularisation and Resacralisation (the reorientation of religious belief) (Heelas et al and the Kendal Project)

Question 3

What are the arguments within religious practice?

Answer 3

1. Belonging without believing
2. Believing without belonging (fuzzy fidelity and the privatisation of religious practice) (Bellah et al, Davie, Voas)
3. Not all denominations and faiths are declining (Christian Research statistics)

Question 4

What are the arguments within religious institutions?

Answer 4

1. The institutional power of churches remains (C of E)

2. Religious institutions remain very influential in education in Britain

Question 5

What is the definition of secularisation and which sociologist introduced it?

Answer 5

‘The process whereby religious thinking, practice and institutions lose social significance’ as given by Wilson

Question 6

What are the 3 main arguments for secularisation?

Answer 6

1. The decline of religious thinking and belief
2. The decline of religious practice
3. The decline of religious institutions

Question 7

What are the arguments within the decline of religious thinking and belief?

Answer 7

1. Declining religious belief and the desacralisation of consciousness (Bruce)
2. The marginalisation of religious belief (Bruce)
3. The decline of metanarratives and the growth of do-it-yourself spirituality in postmodern societies (Lyotard)

Question 8

What are the arguments within the decline of religious practice?

Answer 8

1. Declining membership and declining attendance

3. The myth of belief without belonging (Bellah et al)

Question 9

What are the arguments within the decline of religious institutions?

Answer 9

1. Religious education in schools is more like personal development or social studies and Sunday schools are at the verge of extinction
2. Religious institutions have ‘disengaged’ (Martin) from society
3. The church is no longer closely associated with the state and the church has little influence over social policies
4. Ceremonies can now be performed without a religious ceremony of any kind and at any location

Question 10

What is religious market theory?

Answer 10

The theory suggests that religious organisations are like businesses that compete in the spiritual marketplace for customers

Question 11

What is existential security theory?

Answer 11

The feeling that survival is sufficiently secure for it to be taken for granted

Question 12

What sociologists are dominant in the religious market theory?

Answer 12

Stark and Bainbridge

Stark and Finke

Question 13

What sociologists are dominant in the existential security theory?

Answer 13

Norris and Inglehart

Question 14

What does Stark et al argue about religious market theory?

Answer 14

There is a basic and constant demand for religion as people have an essential need for certain compensators and rewards that only religion can provide e.g. the promise of life after death

Question 15

What are the 2 things ‘customers’ analyse when ‘buying’ religion?

Answer 15

Costs and benefits

Question 16

What is meant by costs?

Answer 16

Financial donations, time commitment and any tensions with wider society

Question 17

What is meant by benefits?

Answer 17

Rewards or compensators e.g. spiritual fulfilment

Question 18

What does Stark and Finke argue religious pluralism does?

Answer 18

Underlies high levels of religious participation in any society

Question 19

What conclusion did Stark and Finke reach?

Answer 19

Secularisation is not occurring in Europe and that people still have religious beliefs

Question 20

What is different about European societies than the US?

Answer 20

In European societies, one religion tends to be highly favoured by governments and protected through legislation e.g. Church of England

Question 21

What are the criticisms of the religious market theory?

Answer 21

1. Sharot–> the theory makes little references to religions other than mainstream Christianity and it only applies to the USA, and is unable to account for levels and patterns of religiosity elsewhere, especially in non-Western societies
2. Norris and Inglehart–> it fails to explain variations in religiosity between different societies
3. There is no evidence of any link between religious choice and religious participation as there continues to be high levels of religious participation even where there is a limited supply and little choice of religious organisations e.g. Greece and the Orthodox Christianity

Question 22

What does Norris and Inglehart argue?

Answer 22

The reason for variations in religiosity between societies is not due to different degrees of religious choice but different degrees of existential security

Question 23

What impact does religion have in different societies?

Answer 23

In poor societies, people face life-threatening risks and have high levels of insecurity and thus high levels of religiosity e.g. Chad, Rwanda and Mali
In rich societies, people have a high standard of living and are at less risk, thus they have a greater sense of security and lower levels of religiosity e.g. Denmark and Norway

Question 24

What is the anomaly of the US compared to Europe?

Answer 24

Western European societies have well developed welfare states which offer comprehensive health care, social services and pensions which reduces poverty and protects those at the bottom from insecurity
The US, however, is the most unequal of the rich societies with an inadequate safety-net and individualistic ‘dog eat dog’ values which creates high levels of poverty and insecurity, creating a greater need for religion

Question 25

What does Gill and Lundergaarde say?

Answer 25

The more a country spends on welfare, the lower the level of religious participation

Question 26

What is the evaluation of the existential security theory?

Answer 26

1. Vasquez–> Norris and Inglehart use only quantitative data about income levels and they don’t examine people’s own definitions of ‘existential security’
2. Norris and Inglehart see religion as a negative response to deprivation while ignoring the positive reasons people have for religious participation and the appeal that some types of religion have for the wealthy