Sociology-beliefs-religion, renewal and choice Flashcards

Question

What is globalisation a result of?

Answer 1

It is due to the central role played in postmodern society by the media and information technology, which saturate us with images and messages from around the globe, compressing time and space to give us instantaneous access to the ideas and beliefs of previously remote places and religions

Answer 2

They have become 'disembedded'-the media lift them out of physical churches and move them to a different place and time. For example, the 'electronic church' and televangelism disembed religion from real, local churches and relocate it on the internet, allowing believers to express their faith without physically attending church-an example of how the boundaries between different areas of social life become blurred in postmodern society

Answer 3

Religion become de-institutionalised. It becomes detached from its place in religious institutions, floating in cyber-space. Removed from their original location in the church, religious ideas become a cultural resource that individuals can adapt for their own purposes

Answer 4

The internet creates a range of opportunities for religious organisations and individuals to exploit. Helland distinguishes between two kinds of internet activity, which he calls religion online and online religion

Answer 5

A form of top-down communication where a religious organisation uses the internet to address members and potential converts. There is no feedback or dialogue between the parties. This is an electronic version of the traditional, hierarchical communication of churches to their members, communicating only the officially approved ideas

Answer 6

A form of 'cyber-religion' that may have no existence outside the internet. It is a 'many-to-many' form of communication that allows individuals to create non-hierarchical relationships and a sense of community where they can visit virtual worship or meditation spaces, explore shared interests and provide mutual support. Eg the Pagans studied by Cowan gained a sense of self-worth from feeling they belonged to a global network

Answer 7

While postmodernists may see online religion as a radical new alternative that may be replacing religion, evidence from Hoover et al shows that for most users, it is just a supplement to their church-based activities rather than a substitute for them

Answer 8

The growth of consumerism, and especially the idea that we now construct our identities through what we choose to consume

Answer 9

Argues that the growth of consumerism is also true of religion, where we act as 'spiritual shoppers', choosing religious beliefs and practices to meet our individual needs, from the bast range available in the religious marketplace. We no longer have to sign up for any specific religious tradition; instead we can pick and mix elements of different faiths to suit our tastes and make them part of our identity-until something more fashionable or attractive comes along

Answer 10

Religion has relocated to the sphere of consumption. While people may have ceased to belong to religious organisations, they may have not abandoned religion. Instead they have become 'religious consumers' making conscious choices about which elements of religion they find useful, as shown by Ammerman's study

Answer 11

The American Christian fundamentalists in her study made use of a number of churches without giving strong loyalty to any of them. One family attended services at a Methodist church and bereavement counselling at a Baptist church, while taking their children to another church for day care

Answer 12

One effect of this is a loss of faith in 'meta-narratives'. These are theories or worldviews that claim to have the absolute, authoritative truth. These include the traditional religions

Answer 13

People now have access to wide range of different contradictory religious beliefs. As Berger notes, this weakens traditional religions that claim a monopoly of the truth and that try to oblige people to believe them. This is because exposure to many competing versions of the truth make people sceptical that any of them is really or wholly true. Thus previously dominant religious institutions such as traditional mainstream churches lose their authority and decline

Answer 14

The decline of traditional churches does not spell the end of religion. In their place, he argues, many new religious movements are now springing up that the religious consumer can 'sample and from which he or she can construct their own personal belief system. In this view, religion and spirituality are not disappearing: they are simply evolving, taking on new forms that fir the consumerist nature of postmodern society

Answer 15

New age beliefs and practices. New Age spirituality rejects the idea of obligation and obedience to external authority found in traditional religions. Instead it emphasises the idea of life as a journey of discovery, personal development, autonomy and connecting with one's 'inner self'. The key idea linking all these features is individualism

Answer 16

The notion that every individual is free to decide what is true for him or her, for example by engaging in spiritual shopping, picking and mixing ideas found online and so on. For this reason, New Age beliefs and practices have been called 'self-spirituality' or 'self-religion'

Answer 17

For assuming that religion is declining and being replaced by a rational scientific worldview. Contrary to Weber's prediction of increasing rationalisation and disenchantment of the world, Lyon argues that we are now in a period of re-enchantment, with the growth of unconventional beliefs, practices and spirituality

Answer 18

Although traditional forms of religion have declined, especially in Europe, Lyon points to the growing vitality of non-traditional religion in the West and its resurgence elsewhere in the world

Answer 19

Some sociologists argue a 'spiritual revolution' is taking place today, in which traditional Christianity is giving way to 'holistic spirituality' or New Age spiritual beliefs and practices that emphasise personal development and subjective experience

Answer 20

In the growth of a 'spiritual market', with an explosion in the number of books about self-help and spirituality, and the many practitioners who offer consultations, courses and 'therapies', ranging from meditation to crystal healing

Answer 21

Life as duty vs life as discovery, self-sacrifice vs personal development, deference vs autonomy, conformity with external authority vs connecting with inner self, family life=traditional values and discipline vs family life=emotional bonds and self-expression, employment=service to an organisation vs employment=professional growth, future of religion=out of step and losing ground vs future of spirituality=growing and gaining ground

Answer 22

In their study of Kendal, Heelas and Woodhead investigated whether traditional religion has declined and, if so, how far the growth of spirituality is compensating for this. They distinguish between two groups-the congregational domain and the holistic milieu

Answer 23

The congregational domain of traditional and evangelical Christianity

Answer 24

The holistic milieu of spirituality and the New Age

Answer 25

In 2000, in a typical week, 7.9% of the population attended church and 1.6% took park in the activities of the holistic milieu

Answer 26

Within the congregational domain, the traditional churches were losing support, while evangelical churches were holing their own and faring relatively well. Although fewer were involved in the holistic milieu, it was growing. Heelas and Woodhead offer an explanation for these trends

Answer 27

New Age spirituality has grown because of a massive subjective turn in today's culture. This involves a shift away from the idea of doing your duty and obeying external authority, to exploring your inner self by following a spiritual path

Answer 28

As a result traditional religions, which demand duty and obedience are declining. As Heelas and Woodhead put it, 'religion that tells you what to believe and how to behave is out of tune with a culture which believes it is up to us to seek out answers for ourselves'

Answer 29

Evangelical churches are more successful than the traditional churches. They both demand discipline and duty, but the evangelicals also emphasise the importance of spiritual healing and personal growth through the experience of being 'born again'

Answer 30

In the spiritual marketplace, therefore, the winners are those who appeal to personal experience as the only genuine source of meaning and fulfilment, rather than the received teaching and commandments of traditional religion

Answer 31

Bruce, who criticises the problem of scale, socialisation of the next generation, weak commitment and structural weaknesses

Answer 32

Even if New Age forms of individualised religion are springing up, this would have to be on a much larger scale if it is to fill the gap left by the decline of traditional institutionalised religions. Eg in Kendal, in 1851 about 38% of the population attended church every Sunday. To match that today, there would need to be 14,500 churchgoers, instead of the 3,000 who actually attend church. The 270 people involved in the holistic milieu in the town centre come nowhere near making up the shortfall

Answer 33

For a belief system to survive it must be passed down to the Next Generation. However in Kendal only 32% of Parents who were involved in new age said their children shared their spiritual interests. To maintain the same number of believers in the next generation a couple with two children would have to socialise both of them into New Age views. However, women in the holistic milieu I'm more likely to be childless. In at least three quarters of marriages, with a woman in the holistic milieu, The husband does not share his wife's beliefs reducing the likelihood of transmitting them to their children

Answer 34

Glendinning and Bruce found that although many people dabbled in medication, alternative medicine, astrology, horoscopes etc, serious commitment to new-age beliefs and practices was very rare. Even among those who describe themselves as 'Spiritual', very few said that such practices were important in their lives. Bruce notes that 'most people in every demographic category show no interest in alternative spirituality'

Answer 35

New age spirituality is the cause of secularisation because it is subjective individualistic nature (it is based on the idea there is no higher authority than the self). Unlike traditional religion, New Age lack external power to extract commitment from participants against their wishes, cannot achieve consensus about beliefs as everyone is free to believe what they want to it lacks cohesion as a movement, and cannot evangelise as it believe enlightenment comes from within not from someone else. These make New Age structurally weak and unlikely to fill the gap left by the decline of traditional institutional religion

Answer 36

Stark and Bainbridge, who are very critical of secularisation theory, as they see it as Eurocentric (it focuses in the decline of religion in Europe and fails to explain its continuing vitality in America and elsewhere. They also believe it puts forward a distorted view of the past and future, and argue there was no ‘golden age’ of religion in the past, nor is it realistic to predict a future end-point for religion when everyone will be an atheist

Answer 37

Religious market theory which is based in two assumptions. People are natural,y religious and religion meets human needs (therefore the overall demand for religion remains constant, even though the demand for particular types of religion may vary), and it is human nature to seek rewards and avoid costs (when people make choices, they weigh up the costs and benefits of the different options available)

Answer 38

Because it provides us with compensators. When aids are scarce or unobtainable, religion compensates by promising supernatural ones

Answer 39

Immortality is unobtainable, but religion compensates by promising life after death. Only religion can provide such compensators. Non-religious ideologies such as humanism and communism do not provide credible compensators because they do not promise supernatural rewards

Answer 40

As an alternative to secularisation theory, which sees a one-way process of continuous decline, Stark and Bainbridge put. Forward the concept of a cycle of religious decline, revival and renewal. They describe a perpetual cycle throughout history, with some religions declining an others growing and attracting new members

Answer 41

When established churches decline, they leave a gap in the market for sects and cults to attract new followers. From this point of view, secularisation theory is one sided: it sees the decline, but ignores the growth of new religious and religious revivals

Answer 42

According to Stark and Bainbridge, churches operate like companies selling goods in a market. Where secularisation theory sees competition between different religious organisations as undermining religion, religious market theorists take the opposite view. They are competition leads to improvements in quality of religious ‘goods’ on offer. Churches that name their product attractive will succeed in attracting more ‘customers’. Meanwhile churches that are not responsive to the needs of their members will decline

Answer 43

When there are different sorts to choose from, because consumers can find one that meets their needs. By contrast, when there is a religious monopoly (one church with no competition) it leads to decline. This is because without competition, a church has no incentive to provide people with what they want

Answer 44

Because there has never been a religious monopoly there. The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and the separation of church and state, and there has always been a great variety of denominations to choose from. This has encouraged the growth of a healthy religious market where religions grow or decline according to consumer demand

Answer 45

The situation in Europe is entirely different. Most European countries have been dominated by a official state church which had a religious monopoly, such as the Church of England. Competition has been held back and the lack of choice has led to a decline

Answer 46

The main factor in influencing the level of religious participation is not the demand for religion, as secularisation theory suggests, but the supply. Participation increases when there is an ample supply of religious groups to choose from, but declines when supply is restricted. Also based on their comparison of America and Europe, Stark and Bainbridge argue that the decline of religion is not a universal trend happening in all societies as some versions of secularisation theory suggest

Answer 47

Hidden and Shute, Finke, evangelical mega churches, and Stark

Answer 48

That the growth of ‘televangelism’ in America shows that the level of religious participation is supply-led. When commercial funding of religious broadcasts began in the 1960s, it opened up competition in which evangelical churches thrived. As a commercial enterprise, televangelism responded to consumer demand by preaching a ‘prosperity gospel’

Answer 49

That the lifting of restrictions on Asian immigration into America in the 1960s allowed Asian religions such as Hare Krishna and Transcendental Meditation to set up permanently in the USA, and Asian faiths become another option that proved popular with consumers in the religious marketplace

Answer 50

Most are in the United States but they are also found in South Korea and elsewhere. With such large congregations, they have lavish resources and are able to offer a vast range of activities to meet the diverse needs of their members. Miller compared them with hyper markets

Answer 51

Japan is another society where a free market in religion has stimulated participation. Until 1945, Shintoism was the state religion and other religions were suppressed. However, after WW2, religion was de-regulated, creating a market in which new religions such as Soka Gakkai (type of Buddhism) have thrived. Japan’s experience contrasts with that of post-war Germany, where religion was closely regulated by the state and as a result declined

Answer 52

It is the approach adopted by most American sociologists of religion. It highlights the side of religion and consumer choice, and can be useful for understanding the growth of new religions

Answer 53

Bruce’s criticisms, Norris and Inglehart’s criticism, and Beckford’s criticism

Answer 54

Rejects view that diversity and competition increase demand for religion. Statistics show diversity has been accompanied by religious decline in both England and America. Bruce also argues Stark and Bainbridge misrepresent secularisation theory. The theory does not claim there as a past ‘golden age’ of religion, or that everyone will,, become atheists. It simply claims religion is in long term decline. Nor does it claim secularisation is universal-just that it applies to Europe and America

Answer 55

Shoe that high levels of religious participation exist in catholic countries where the church has a near monopoly, such as Ireland and Venezuela. By contrast, countries with religious pluralism, such as Holland and Australia, often have low levels of participation. This contradicts Stark and Bainbridge’s theory

Answer 56

Criticises it as unsociological because it assumes people are ‘naturally’ religious and fails to explain why they make the choices they do

Answer 57

On the grounds that it only applies to America and fails to explain the variations in religiosity between different societies. Eg international studies of religion have found no evidence of the link between religious choice and religious participation that Stark and Bainbridge claim exists

Answer 58

They argue it is not different degrees of religious choice, but different degrees of existential security

Answer 59

The feeling that survival is secure enough that it can be taken for granted. Religion meets a need for security and therefore societies where people already feel secure have a low level of demand for religion

Answer 60

Poor societies where people face life-threatening risks such as famine, disease and environmental disasters, have high levels of insecurity and thus high levels of religiosity. Poor people who live in rich societies also face greater insecurity and therefore are more religious than rich people in those societies

Answer 61

Rick societies, where people have a high standard of living and are at less risk, have a greater sense of security and thus lower level s of religiosity

Answer 62

Demand for religion is not constant, as Stark and Bainbridge claim, but varies both within and between societies. Demand is greatest from low-income groups and societies, because they are less secure. This explains why poor developing countries remain religious, while prosperous Western countries have become more secular

Answer 63

They note that global population growth undermines the trend towards secularisation. Rich, secure, secular Western countries have low levels of population growth, whereas poor, insecure, religious countries have high rates. As a result, while rich counties are becoming more secular, the majority of the world is becoming more religious

Answer 64

In Western Europe the trend towards increasing secularisation. Norris and Inglehart argue that this is not surprising, because these societies are among the most equal and secure in the world, with well developed welfare states offering comprehensive health care, social services and pensions. This reduces poverty and protects those at the bottom from insecurity

Answer 65

US remains much more religious. Norris and Inglehart argue this is because America is also the most unequal of the rich societies, with an inadequate welfare safety-net and individualistic ‘dog eat dog’ values. This creates high levels of poverty and insecurity, which creates a greater need for religion

Answer 66

Although America is more religious than Europe, this is explained by Norris and Inglehart’s general theory of religiosity as the result of insecurity. For example, they point out that although America is religious by standards of other rich nations, it is less religious than poor ones

Answer 67

Gill and Lundegaarde, who found that the more a country spends on welfare, the lower the level of religious participation, thus European countries which spend more than the USA, are also more secular than the USA

Answer 68

Note that in the past religious used to provide welfare for the poor, and still does so in poorer countries. However from the 20th century, the state in the West began to provide welfare and this contributed to religion’s to religions decline. Nevertheless, they do not expect religion to disappear completely, because although welfare provision meets need for security, it does not answer ‘ultimate questions’ about meaning of life, unlike religion, thus although availability of welfare reduce need for religion, it doesn’t eliminate the need completely

Answer 69

Accepts that Norris and Inglehart offer a valuable explanation of different levels of religious participation not only in Europe and the USA, but globally, however he makes two criticisms

Answer 70

They use only quantitative data about income levels; they don’t examine people’s own definitions of ‘existential security’. Vásquez argues that qualitative research is also needed

Answer 71

They only see religion as a negative response to deprivation. They ignore the positive reasons people have for religious participation and the appeal that some types of religion have for the wealthy