topic 3 secularisation

• whats secularisation according to wilson?

  the process whereby religous beleifs practices and institutions lose social significance
• how many churches closed between 1970 and 2002?

  1650
• give three changes to religon in the uk since 1851

  1. decline in people attending church
  2. increase in the age of church goers
  3. fewer church weddings
• how has modernisation affected religous belief?

  decline in tradition and rise of scientific explanations
• what effect has industrialisation had on small communities?

  breaks them up as they were united by religous beliefs
• whats rationalisation according to weber?

  the process where rational ways of thinking replace religous ones
• whats the medevil catholic worldview?

  god and spiritual beings could change the corse of events through their supernatural powers
• how did the protestant worldview differ from that of catholcism?

  belived god created the world however he is transcendent and did not intervene but instead left it to the laws of nature
• what did the protestant worldview mean?

  events were no longer explained by unpredictable supernatural but by predictable workings of natural forces and rationality
• whats disenchantment?

  stops magical and religous ways and leads to rational mode of thought
• in webers view what does the protestnt reformation start?

  the disenchantment of the world
• what does rationality allow for?

  science to thrive and humans have more control of nature which further undermines the religous worldview
• who came up with the technological worldview?

  bruce 2011
• what is the technolical worldview? use example

  when a plan crashes we are unlikley to believe that it is the work of evil sprits istaed we look for scientific explantions
• what is the impact of the technological wordlview according to bruce?

  reduced the scope for religous explnations which results in people taking religon less seriously
• whats structural differentation?

  seperate specialised institutions carry out a function that was previously done by a single institution
• who came up with structural differentation?

  parsons
• whats disengagement according to parsons?

  religous functions are transfered to other institutions such as the state
• whats an example of disengagement?


  church loses power it once had over education and the law
• according to parsons structural differentaion leads to what?

  disengagemnt of religon
• according to bruce in what sense has religon become privatised?

  religous belifs are mainly down to personal choice and religous insitutuions have lost their influence on wider societey
• how does bruce see industrailisation as resulting in a decline in religous beleifs?

  small close knit communities give way to larger ones undermining consensus of religous beliefs to diverse beliefs and values
• whats the role of social and geographical mobility in secularisation?

  breaks up religous communites however brings people together from different backgrounds creating more diversity
• why does beckford criticse the view that decline in community results in secularisation?

  religous diversity will lead to people abandoning religous belifs but this is not inevitable opposing views can strengthen a groups commitment to religon