secularisation (b3)

• defining religiosity


  - in order to judge whether sec is taking place, sociologists need to define and measure key concepts such as religiosity and secularisation itself

  
  

  -> religiosity often refers to numerous aspects of religion including:

  - regular attendance at a place of worship

  - identification with a particular theoretical outlook (islam judsism etc)

  -practices such as prayer, religious rites of passage and commitment to codes of behaviour

  - faith or dedication; strong belief in religious doctrine
• CLEMENTS


  -argues sociologists analyse religiosity and the impact faith has on individuals by looking at the three B's:

  - belonging (identification)

  - behaving (attendance)

  - believing (in god)

  
  

  ->> key characteristics of religiosity have therefore been identified however there remains issues w operationalising the concept for measurement purposes

  -> eg concepts of faith, commitment = subjective

  -> substantive vs inclusivist etc def also raise issues
• Evidence from CLEMENTS - BELONGING

  - BES ( 1963- 2010) & BSA (1983-2012)

  
  

  - 2010: people claiming no religion = 48%

  - 1963: 3.2%
• Evidence from CLEMENTS - BEHAVING

  - Roman Catholic Church att

  -> 80s: 2m

  -> 2005: 893,000
• Evidence from CLEMENTS - BELIEVING (+ WOODHEAD)

  - 1991- 2008 = steady decline in those whose believed in god

  -> differs depending on denomination

  
  

  -> 1/5 of anglicans were v certain that god exists compared w 1/3 of catholics & other Christian's

  
  

  However, WOODHEAD claims that catholics hve higher levels of believing but are turning away from church more bc of catholic stances on moral issues
• CLEMENTS points against sec

  - Islam has steadily increased from 0.6% in 1963 to 6% in 2012
• N.o of ppl going to church stats

  - in 19th cent more than 40% of British pop attended church on Sundays; by 2015 was around 5%
• Weddings and baptisms


  - while church weddings & baptisms remain more popular than attendance at Sunday service, the trends here are in decline too

  
  

  -> level of weddings held in Catholic Churches fell by 3/4 btwn 1965- 2011
• Infant baptisms stats


  - n.o of catholic baptisms is steadily declining

  -> in 2020 performed 2m fewer than in 2013
• Bogus baptism

  Why?

  - while infant baptisms have declined, those of older children have increased in recent years

  
  

  - people may be baptising children despite no strong religious affiliation in order to get them into faith schools ( better performing)
• WILSON


  - argues those who define religiosity in substantive terms are more likely to suggest religion is in decline

  - however, inclusivists will probs disagree
• what % of Americans said that xmas should be more abt jesus?

  what does this show?

  what has xmas arguably become?

  - 65% (2018 lifeway research)

  -> does not support claim that soc is becoming more secular

  - suggests that xmas has arguably become part of a civil religion -> nationalism etc
• what % of us adults used to be christian?

  what has this % dropped to?

  what does this suggest?

  - 78% USED to be

  -63% now are

  -> secularisation
• what has the growth of the muslim population been?

  what does this suggest and is this supported by other research?

  - 2.7mil -> 3.9m in a decade

  -> despite levels of Christianity dropping, other religions are not thus suggesting soc is not becoming sec also supported by pew research centre which claimed that by 2070 US christians may no longer be a majority due to religious switching
• Why might the number of catholics and Muslims have risen btwn 1982- 2014?

  - migration from Eastern European countries + Muslim countries
• The clergy & weakness of the church

  -> number of clergy stats? What does this mean? Age of clergy?

  - during 20th cent, n.o of clergy fell from 45000 to 34000

  
  

  - also an ageing workforce: only 12% of Anglican clergy are under 40
• What does BRUCE predict?


  - if current trends continue, the Methodist church will fold around 2030 and by then COE will merely be a small voluntary org
• WEBER: rationalisation


  - arg that Protestant reform sparked rationalisation

  -> medieval catholic WV that dominated Soc was seen as an enchanted canopy

  -> god was seen as present in this world and could intervene etc

  
  

  ->>> Protestant reformation however undermines religious WV of Middle Ages and replaced it w belief that god was transcendent and could not intervene

  ->>> thus rational thinking had to be used to explain things
• WEBER: disenchantment


  - bc events no longer be explained by unpredictable supernatural circumstances (bc of rationality) reason and science was used to discover laws of nature which govern our world

  ->> developed through tech advances

  ->>> prot ref sparked disenchantment and allowed science and reason to thrive ->> discredits religious WV
• BRUCE: technological worldview


  - develops Weber and claimed that progress of tech has helped disenchantment

  ->> eg plane crashing ≠ spirits working etc, now an explainable failure of smth

  
  

  - claims that although scientific explanations DO NOT DIRECTLY CHALLENGE RELIGION, they have reduced scope of religious explanations
• PARSONS: structural differentiation


  - process of specialisation that occurs with the development of industrial Soc

  -> separate, specialised inst develop to carry out functions performed by one prev institution

  ->> happening w religion bc of industrialisation
• PARSONS: disengagement + example


  - structural differentiation leads to disengagement

  -> religious functions transferred to other institutions such as state

  ->> eg: until mid 19th century the churches provided education

  ->> although there are still faith schools, they still have to comply w states rules
• BRUCE: privatisation


  - argues religion has become sep from wider Soc and lost many former functions

  -> it is confined to private sphere of home and family

  -> religious beliefs now largely a matter of private choice , as a result, trad rituals etc have lost meaning
• WILSON: decline of community


  - pre industrial Soc -> industrial Soc = decline of community and thus decline of religion

  -> in pre industrial socs, shared values = expressed through religious rituals -> integration & regulation

  -> when religious community gets lost -> religion loses vitality
• ALDRIGE


  - Wilson eval

  -> community does not have to be localised to a particular area

  -> religion can be a source of identity on a worldwide scale eg global Muslim communities

  ->> some religious communities are imagined communities that interact through use of global media

  
  

  - Pentecostal and other religious groups flourish in impersonal urban areas
• BRUCE: industrialisation & diversity


  - similar to Wilson

  -> industrialisation = growth of small impersonal communities w/ diverse values

  -> social & geographical mobility indust allows = breaks up community and creates diversity

  ->>>> diversity = plausibility of other beliefs which undermines an individuals belief
• BERGER: religious diversity


  - in Middle Ages, catholic church held an absolute monopoly -> everyone shared beliefs -> greater plausibility to beliefs

  
  

  - however, tbis changed with prot reform when Protestant churches and sects broke away from Catholic Church

  ->> no church can now claim an unchallenged monopoly of truth

  ->>> crisis of credibility
• BERGER changed view


  - provides eval for his own theory

  -> beliefs changed and claimed that diversity can ac stimulate interest and participation in religion
• BECKFORD


  - eval for diversity causing crisis of credibility

  -> claim's diversity can strengthen own beliefs bc other beliefs do not make sense to individual
• BRUCE: cultural defence


  - against sec

  -> CD occurs when religion provides the focal point for the defence of a national, ethnic, local group identity in a struggle against external forces

  -> eg popularity of Catholicism rose in Poland b4 fall of communism
• BRUCE: cultural transition


  - when religion provides sense of support/ community for ethnic groups such as immigrants

  -> when religion has a function it thrives
• WILSON: sec in America


  - 1962 found that 45% of Americans attended church on Sundays

  -> however argues that churchgoing was an 'American way of life' instead od a deeply held religious belief

  ->> claimed that America is a sec Soc bc of this; religion there is largely superficial

  ->>> arg a civil religion (BELLAH)
• HADAWAY & BRUCE explanation


  - opinion poll asking people abt church attendance suggests that is has been stable at abt 40% since 1940

  -> however hadaway found this figure did not match churches own attendance stats

  
  

  - BRUCE explains this by saying it is bc of social desirability and how ppl may be ostracised if they do not attend church, thus they lie in self reports
• BRUCE: secularisation from within

  - argues the way American religion has adjusted to modern world amounts to secularisation from within

  -> emphasis on traditional Christian beliefs and glorifying god has declined and religion in America has been 'psychologised'

  -> American religion has remained popular by becoming less religious
• BRUCE: practical relativism

  & LYND& LYND's support


  - identifies trend of PR among American Christian's

  - L&L found that in 1924 94% of churchgoing people agreed that Christianity is the only religion and that everyone should convert to it

  >> by 1977 41% agreed

  
  

  ->>> erosion of absolutism
• criticism regarding sec being myopic?

  - it focuses on decline and ignores religious revivals and the growth of new religions
• what does evidence of falling church attendance miss?

  - those who believe but dont go to church
• secularisation being western crit?


  - religion may have declined in europe but not globally

  -> pew research centre (2021) 79.8% of indias population are hindu

  -> few are atheists