Postmodernism

• Trends


  > traditional religion in decline

  > greater individualism

  > greater choice

  > greater consumption
• Davie (believing without belonging)


  People no longer go to church out of personal choice but are still religious

  > vicarious religion - active minority practice on behalf of majority

  Church = ‘spiritual health service” for weddings and funerals + in tragedy (deaths of royals)
• Lyon (Jesus in Disney)


  Religion = disembedded (taken out of original location/context) ‘de-institutionalised‘

  > due to globalisation - instant access online

  Jesus in Disney - harvest festival held in Disney not church

  Meta-Narrative - one big way of explaining things

  > each religion is a diff meta-narrative - exposure to competing versions of truth

  > sceptical if any are true

  = re-enchantment - unconventional beliefs + spiritual shopping
• Hervieu-Leger (spiritual shopping)


  Personal choice = decline in institutional religion

  “cultural amnesia” - loss of collective memory

  > nowadays parents allow kids to decide for themselves

  > no longer inherit a fixed religious identity

  Consumerism - now have a choice so are ‘consumers of religion’

  > ’spiritual shoppers’ - individualised DIY beliefs to fit interests chosen from ‘spiritual marketplace’
• Stark and Bainbridge (religious market theory)


  Cycle of religious decline, revival and renewal

  > when some religions decline others grow and attract

  > leads to improvements in quality of religious goods on offer

  ie demand for religion increased when there are diff sorts to choose from

  > USA - never been a religious monopoly, constitution guarantees freedom for a healthy religious market
• Norris and Inglehart (existential security theory)


  the more secure you feel in life (how safe), the less religious you are likely to be

  eg war torn countries, illness, poverty - more likely to be religious to seek comfort and peace
• Heelas and Woodhead

  Spiritual revolution - Christianity replaced by holistic NAMs

  > growth in spiritual market