Religion secularisation

• Weber - Rationalisation and Disenchantment
• Parsons

  • Structural differentiation
• Wilson

  • Declining influence of the church
• Bruce

  • Increased individualisation and changing world view
• Rationalisation - Weber

  • Changes in wider society have led to religion having less significance in society
  • Process of rationalisation in modern society clashed with faith-based belief systems of religions
  • Greater scientific understanding reduces reliance upon religion for answers
• Disenchantment - Weber

  • Suggested Protestantism removed the mystical qualities of religion
  • Non-intervention by Gods removes the belief in the supernatural and leaves rationality to provide answers
  • Science becomes dominant source of knowledge replacing religion
• Wilson - Declining influence of Church

  • Declining influence of the church in he UK in guiding the moral principles of individuals
  • Identififed decling trend in church attendance and participation in rituals in the post-war era in the UK
  • Superficial nature of religion in the USA - lacked meaning
• Church attendence decreased from 90% in 1951 to 60% in 1961
• Parsons - Structural differentiation

  • Changing structure of society leads to other instituitons fulfilling the functions religion would perform
  • Declining influence in politics, education and welfare
  • Religion becomes disengaged from wider society, having sole functions of fulfillinf spirtual needs
• Bruce - Changing worldview and indivdiualism

  • Decline of close-knit communtieis weakens the ties that religion have to community
  • Increased individualism leads to privatisation of religion, practised at home rather than in public
  • Increased knowledge of science and technology reduced the influence of religion
• Bruce

  • The movement from collectivist to individualist ideas lead to the privitasation of religion
  • Individuals hold religious beliefs but not express them publicly
• Evaluations of Secuularisation Theories

  • Declining attendance in religious ceremonies and rituals - Evidence of Wilson, Parsons , Weber
  • Growth of alternative views of spirtuality- decline religion or movement to other forms
  • Globalisation and technology has seen renewal in some religious practises, while the ability to practise religion has moved into different forms of worship - Renewal of faith however online religion and religion online
• Secularisation - Davie (1995) - The decline of religion in society

  • Rather than secularisation there has been a movement towards individual choice in religious practise
  • Obligations of the past - usually passed down through socialisation - replaced with greater choice
  • Religion is a consumer act
• Davie - Believe without belonging

  • Davie suggested that it was difficult to measure religion in terms of church attendance
  • Religious belief is dificult to quantify through participation
  • Belief can represent itself in different formats- people can believe without belonging
• Davie - Vicarious Religion

  • Davie later suggested that the minority carry out religious acts on behalf of the majority, providing a service - active miniority
  • People move towards religion in times of need or celebration
  • People have a commitment to religious beliefs, but few demonstrate this on a measurable level
• Davie on Secularisation

  • Davie is critical of assumptions of secularisation that all societies act in the same way
  • Higher levels of commitment in the USA for example, demonstrate multiple understandings of modernity
  • Despite lower attendance in Britian, belief remains high
• Evaluations of Davie

  • Bruce argues that a lack of attendance reflects a lack of belief- church has limited meaning
  • Day- People identifying as Christian identified this as an identity rather than a belief
  • Voas and Crocket found correlations between beleif and attendance, countering Davies ideas
• Stark and Bainbridge

  • Secualrisation was a European phenomena and that religious belief was strong in the rest of the world
  • Religion is universal as people need religion to fulfil their basic needs
  • Proposed a religious market theory based upon the needs of humans
• Stark and Bainbridge

  • Religion has importance in peoples lives
  • Constant need for religious belief in people’s lives due to functions it fulfils
  • Humans look to recieve rewards and minimise the costs to them personally
• Religious compensation - Stark and Bainbridge

  • Religion compensates individuals when they’re unable to fulfil their needs
  • Meets supernatural needs to explain what is inexplicable in life
  • Promises rewards for those that are virtous, even when society fails to reward people in this way
• Religion Market Theory

  • Religion operates in a similar way to economic markets
  • As older religions/beliefs fade, new forms of religion/beliefs arise continually evolving to meet individual needs
  • Religious organisations compete with one another in a crowded global marketplace leading to improvements in the services that religion can offer
• Religious market theory

  • Competition brings more choice and innovation
  • Secularisation in Europe a result of dominant one-religion states
  • USA and other e=areas of the world have more choice in beleifs, thus can provide for different needs
• Evaluatinf Religious market theory

  • Greater diversity in global era as edivdenced by other sociologists Berger
  • Higher levels of attendance in the USA but still a long-term decline overtime
  • Some European antions have high levels of church attendance, despite having one dominant religion
  • Alternative forms of beleif meetings the needs of indiviudals rather than religious diversity