bruce- secularisation

• Steve Bruce


  Key figure in the debate on secularization in society, has written extensively on the topic
• Steve Bruce's secularization paradigm


  • Outlines 3 key social changes that occurred with the Protestant Reformation and how they influenced levels of religious belief in society
• Steve Bruce's secularization paradigm


  1. Growth of individualism as an alternative to the collective ideals of religious practice

  2. Impact of the Protestant work ethic and how it drove economic changes in society

  3. Development of rationality and how it led to the rejection of faith and the acceptance of science
• Individualism


  Growth of individualism with the Protestant Reformation led to a loss of collectivism as people moved from Catholicism to Protestantism, which was centered more on the actions of the individual than the collective
• Growth of individualism and privatization of religious functions


  Led to an increase in the role of commercial organizations, the growth of capitalism, and an increased role for centralized bureaucracies such as the state, which removed some of the functionality of religion and led to schisms in what people believed
• Schisms in beliefs and growth of sects and denominations

  Led to a further loss of solidarity as people no longer congregated together to worship one universal truth, but rather chose their own belief, thus leading to more individualized belief systems
• Protestant work ethic


  Based on the ideas of Weber, helped fuel the growth of capitalism as hard work and investment became seen as virtues in Protestant societies, which in turn fueled economic growth and the process of industrialization
• Economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization


  Brought with it economic migration to meet the demands of a growing economy, which led to greater cultural and religious diversity, thus changing the monopolies of more established religions and leading individuals to question the religious doctrines they've been socialized into
• Economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization

  Many of the functions that religion used to perform became privatized, and religion was reduced to having a primary spiritual function, one that was challenged by the growth of rationality
• Rational thinking


  Fueled by the idea of God not intervening in the realm of man, led people to discover solutions to problems they had long believed to be a test of faith, and the subsequent development of scientific thinking provided many solutions, leading to the development of a technological worldview that no longer saw religion as the answer to many of life's questions
• Religious doctrine was no longer seen as God's will but rather the beliefs of the church and based upon ideology and control
• Despite evidence of secularization in Western Europe, the process of globalization has revealed that secularization may be confined to those particular societies, with increased fundamentalism in the East and the USA often seen as a Eurocentric view that secularization has taken place
• Despite a decline in the influence of religion in daily life, it's difficult to measure how much influence religion has in public life, with values associated with religious beliefs still promoted throughout society
• Davie is critical of the view of secularization put forward by Bruce, arguing that it is possible for individuals to still believe without the necessity of attending church services, calling into question how we measure religious belief in contemporary society