Secularisation Flashcards
Secularisation definition
decline in the importance of religion
Secularisation - statistics
Crockett (1851) - 40% attended church on Sunday
since then:
1. decline in proportion of population going to church
2. increase in average age of churchgoer
3. fewer baptisms and church weddings
4. increased non - Christian religion
Secularisation - Wilson
West has gone through process of secularisation
Church attendance today
by 2015, about 5% attended church on Sunday (halved since Wilson in 1966)
English church census
attendance at large organisations have declined more than small (which remain stable/have grown)
Weddings and baptisms
remain popular (30% today)
infant baptisms - fallen to under half of those in 1964
bogus baptisms - those of older children have increased (often because faith schools require baptisms)
Statistics - evaluation
- figures may not be valid in showing religiosity
2. Church weddings may have decreased for different reasons e.g. cost
Religious affiliation today
Those with no religion rose from a third to a half
fall was sharpest for Anglicans - more than halved
those belonging to non - Christian religion increased (immigration)
Religious institutions today
influence of church as social institution has declined
some influence - 26 CofE bishops in house of lords
religion is confined to private sphere now (used to provide education)
Clergy
during 20th century - fell from 45,000 to 34,000
if it kept up with population growth should be 80,000
ageing workforce - only 12% under 40
new ordinations are 10% of 1965
Weber’s rationalisation
science replaces religious thought
protestant reformation in 16th century started this process
undermined religious worldview
medieval worldview - world was ‘enchanted garden’ (god, devil and spiritual beings are present and active in world)
Weber - disenchantment
God as transcendent (world left to run by laws of nature)
reformation - began ‘disenchantment’ (allowed science to thrive and provide a basis for humans to control nature
Weber - technological worldview
growth of this replaced religious explanations (reduce its scope)
Explanations - structural differentiation
Parsons - process of specialisation that happens in industrial societies
separate institutions develop to carry out functions previously done by one (happened to religion)
1. disengagement - religion becomes disconnected from society (so has less influence over policy or law)
2. privatisation - religion is confined to private sphere of home and family, becoming a matter of personal choice
Social and cultural diversity - decline of community
move towards industrialisation causes this
Wilson - in pre industrial society, shared values are expressed through religious rituals
Social and cultural diversity - industrialisation
Bruce - industrialisation undermines consensus of religious beliefs that hold communities together
close - knit gives way to loose knit communities with diverse beliefs and values
Social and cultural diversity - diversity of occupations, cultures and lifestyles
even where people have religious beliefs, there is an awareness that others don’t
plausibility
Social and cultural diversity - religious diversity
Sacred canopy - in middle ages, church had monopoly
all lived under same set of beliefs - gave plausibility
changed with reformation - many versions of the truth
Plausibility structure
- Berger says this creates a ‘crisis of credibility’
- diversity undermines plausibility
- erodes certainty of religious
- what is the truth becomes an opinion
Bruce - trend toward religious diversity as important cause of secularisation
Cultural defence - against secularisation
where religion provides focal point for defence of identity against an external force e.g. Islam in Iran
Cultural transition - against secularisation
where religion provides support and sense of community for a group e.g. migrants
religion only survives because it is a focus for group identity
Explanations - evaluation
- Aldridge points out that ‘community’ doesn’t have to be local e.g. identity on a worldwide scale
- Berger now argues that diversity and choice stimulate interest in a religion e.g. New Christian Right
- opposing views can strengthen belief
Secularisation in America - statistics
Wilson - in 1962, 45% of Americans attended church on Sunday (but more of an expression of Americanism than actual religious belief)
Bruce - declining church attendance (secularisation from within) and trend towards religious diversity
Secularisation in America - declining church attendance
opinion poll about church attendance puts attendance at 40%
Hadaway - worked with researchers and found figure doesn’t match (if 40% attended, churches would be full)
- studied church attendance in Ashtabula county (head counts then interviews)
- level of attendance claimed was 83% higher than researcher estimates
- tendency to exaggerate churchgoing is recent (until 1970s, statistics matched
Bruce - religion is socially desirable
Secularisation in America - secularisation from within
Bruce - US religion has adjusted with modernisation
- emphasis on traditional Christian beliefs has declined
US religion has become more popular by being less religious
Purpose of religion - seeking salvation vs. personal improvement
Secularisation in America - religious diversity
churchgoers are less dogmatic in their views
Bruce - trend towards ‘practical relativism’ (acceptance of others holding different beliefs)
Lynd and Lynd - in 1924, 94% believed Christianity is ‘true’ religion and all should be converted (but only 41% in 1977)
Counterpart to this is ‘erosion of absolutism’
Secularisation in America - evaluation
- religious diversity leads to more choice
- secularisation is not universal
- ignores religious revivals
- religions simply changes its form
