beliefs in society- secularisation

describe secularisation in Britain

· This is the decrease of the influence of the church. It is estimated that it is increasing in the UK due to data from census records. Such as

1. Decline in the proportion of the population going to church or belonging to one.

2. Fewer baptisms and church weddings

3. Greater diversity, including more non Christian religions.

4. Increase in the average age of churchgoers

· Wilson argued that western societies had been undergoing secularisation.

describe church attendance today

· The trends Wilson identified have continued. By 2020, about 4% of the adult population attended church on Sundays. Attendances at large organisations such as the Church of England have declined more than small organisations. But the growth of these small organisations has not made up for the decline of large ones - overall the trend is still one of decline

· Similarly, church weddings and baptisms remain more popular than attendance at Sunday services- still declining. Infant baptisms are also falling- the number of catholic baptisms today is under half those in 1964.

· While infant baptisms have declined, those of older children have increased in recent years. This if because many faith schools- often high performing schools will only take baptised children. Therefore, baptisms lose their meaning of Christian commitment.

what is religious affiliation and its trend today

This refers to their membership of or identification with a religion. The evidence indicates a continuing decline of this. For example, between 1983 and 2018 the proportion of adults with no religion rose to just over half

describe religious beliefs today

· Evidence about religious beliefs from 80 years of survey research shows that religious belief is declining along with church attendance and membership.

· For example, the survey shows a decline in a belief in God, and the afterlife.

describe religious institutions today

· Decline in influence: Both religious belief and the social influence of religion have declined in the UK.

· Public life: Although the Church of England still has bishops in the House of Lords, its political influence has decreased since the 19th century.

· Role of the state: Many functions once performed by the church (e.g. education, welfare) are now taken over by the state.

· Privatisation of religion: Religion is now more confined to the private sphere of individuals and families, rather than public life.

describe the churches role in education in the past

· Until the mid-19th century, churches provided education.

· Since then, the state has taken over, though faith schools still exist (but must follow state regulations).

· Schools are legally required to provide collective worship of a broadly Christian nature, but compliance is weak (e.g. BBC survey 2005: over half of Welsh secondary schools failed to meet this requirement).

· The clergy- during the 20th century, the number of clergy fell from 45000 to 34000. The clergy are also an ageing workforce. Woodhead notes that the lack of clergy in local communities means that the day to day influence of churches is reduced.

describe one explanation of secularisation

· A common explanation is modernisation, involving the decline of tradition and its replacement with rational and scientific ways if thinking that undermine religion.

· The secularisation theory also emphasises the effect of social change on religion.

· A major theme in this theory is the growth of social and religious diversity. Not only are people increasingly diverse, but religious institutions are much more varied.

· Secularisation theorists argue that the growth of diversity has undermined both the authority of religious institutions and the credibility of religious beliefs. This has reduced religious practices.

what is rationalisation- weber

· This refers to the process by which rational ways of thinking and acting have come to replace religious ones.

· many sociologists have argued that western society has undergone a process of rationalisation in the last centuries.

· Weber argued that the protestant reformation begun by martin Luther in the 16th century started the process of rationalisation of life in the west.

· This process undermined the religious world view of the middle ages and replaced it with the rational scientific outlook found in modern society.

· For Weber, the medieval catholic worldview that dominated Europe saw the world as an "enchanted garden". God and other spiritual beings were believed to be present and active in the world- changing the course of the world through their supernatural powers.

· Humans could try to influence these beings and forces by means of prayers and pilgrimage to ensure good fortune.

what is disenchantment

· But the protestant reformation brought a new worldview. Protestantism saw God as transcendent- although God created the world, he didn't intervene in it but instead left it to run according to its own laws of nature.

· This meant that events were no longer to be explained as the work of supernatural beings but as the predictable workings of natural forces that could be understood by rationality.

· Using reason and science, humans could discover the laws of nature, how the world works and how to control it by technology.

· In Weber's view, therefore, the protestant reformation begins the disenchantment of the world. This enables science to thrive and provide the basis for technical advances that give humans more power to control nature. In turn this undermines the religious worldview.

describe a technological worldview-

· Bruce argues that the growth of the technological worldview has largely replaced religious explanations for why things happen. Thus it leaves little room for religious explanations in everyday life which only exist in areas where technology provides ineffective explanations.

· Bruce concludes that although scientific explanations don't challenge religion directly, they have greatly reduced the need for religious explanations.

what is structural differentiation

· Parsons defines this as a process of specialisation that occurs with the development of industrial society. Separate, specialised institutions develop to carry out functions that were previously performed by a single institution.

· Parsons sees this as having happened with religion- it dominated pre industrial society, but with industrialisation it has become a smaller and more specialised institution.

describe disengagement and privatisation

Disengagement- according to Parsons, structural differentiation leads to disengagement of religion. Its functions are transferred to other institutions such as the state and it becomes disconnected from wider society.

Privatisation- Bruce agrees that religion has become separated from wider society and that it has lost many of its former functions. It has become privatised- confined to the private sphere of home and the family. Religious beliefs are now largely a matter of personal choice and religious institutions have lost much of their influence on wider society. As a result, traditional rituals and symbols have lost their meaning.

Even when religion continues to perform functions such as education and social welfare, it must conform to the requirements of a secular state.

· But at the same time, church and state tend to become separated in modern society. modern states increasingly accept that religion is a personal choice and therefore that the state shouldn't be identified with one particular faith.

describe social and cultural diversity as a explanation of secularisation- decline of community

· The move from pre industrial to industrial society brings about the decline of community and this contributes to the decline of religion.

· Wilson argues that in pre industrial communities, shared values were expressed through collective religious rituals that integrated individuals and regulated their behaviour.

· But when religion lost its basis in stable local communities, it lost its vitality and hold over individuals.

describe social and cultural diversity as a explanation of secularisation- industrialsiation

· Bruce sees industrialisation as undermining the consensus of religious beliefs that hold small communities together.

· Small close knit rural communities give way to large loose knit urban communities with diverse beliefs and values.

· Social and geographical mobility not only breaks up communities but brings people together from many different backgrounds, creating even more diversity.

describe the diversification of occupations, cultures and lifestyles that undermine religion

· Even when people continue to hold religious beliefs, they cannot deny that others around them hold different beliefs.

· Bruce argues that the plausibility of beliefs is undermined by alternatives. It is also undermined by individualism as the plausibility of religion depends on the existence of a practising community of believers.

· In the absence of a practising religious community that functions daily, both religious beliefs and practices decline.

criticism of social and cultural diversity in secularisation

· The view that the decline in community causes the decline of religion has been criticised. Aldridge points out that a community doesn't have to be in a particular area

· Religion can be a source of identity on a worldwide scale- this can be true of all religions

· Some religious communities are imagined communities that interact through the use of global media.

· Pentecostal and other religious groups often flourish in supposedly "impersonal" urban areas.

what is religious diversity

· According to Berger, another cause of secularisation is the trend towards religious diversity where there are many interpretations of belief.

what is a sacred canopy

Berger- · In the middle ages, the European catholic church held a monopoly and as a result everyone lived under a sacred canopy of shared beliefs by all. This gave the beliefs greater plausibility as they had no challenge and the church's views were unquestioned.

· This changed with the protestant reformation, when protestant churches and sects broke away from the catholic church in the 16th century. Since the reformation, the number and variety of religious organisations has continued to grow. With this arrival of this religious diversity, no church can now claim an unchallenged monopoly of the truth.

· Society is thus no longer unified under the single sacred shared canopy provided by one church.

· Instead, religious diversity creates a plurality of life worlds, where people's perception of the world varies and there are different interpretations of the truth.

what is a plausibility structure

· Berger argues that this creates a crisis of credibility for religion. Diversity undermines religion's "plausibility structure".

· When there are alternative versions of religion to choose from, people are likely to question all of them which erodes the certainties of traditional religion.

· Religious beliefs become relative rather than absolute.

criticism of religious diversity as an explanation of religious diversity

· Berger now criticises his own view and suggests that diversity and choice actually stimulate interest and participation in religion.

· Beckford agrees with the idea that religious diversity will lead to some questioning or abandoning religion altogether, but it isn't inevitable. Opposing views can have the effect of strengthening a religious group's commitment to its existing beliefs rather than undermining them.

describe cultural defence and transition

Cultural defence and transition

· Bruce identifies 2 counter trends that seem to go against the secularisation theory. Both are associated with higher-than-average levels of religious participation.

Cultural defence

· When religion provides a focal point for the defence of national, ethnic, local or group identity in a struggle against an external force such as a hostile foreign power.

Cultural transition

· When religion provides support and a sense of community for ethnic groups such as migrants to a different country and culture.

· Herberg describes this in his study of religion and immigration to the USA.

But Bruce argues that religion survives in such situations only because it is a focus for group identity. thus these examples don't disapprove secularisation but show that religion is most likely to survive where it performs functions other than relating individuals to the supernatural.

describe secularisation in America

1962- Wilson found that 45% of Americans attended church on Sundays but argued that church going in American wasn't a reflection of religious beliefs but the "American way of life"

Wilson claimed that America was a secular society as religion had become superficial

Bruce shares this view and declining church attendance, secularisation from within and trends to diversity support it.

describe declining church attendance in America

Opinion polls suggested around 40% of Americans attended church since the 1940s.

Hadaway (1993) tested this in Ohio by comparing surveys with actual headcounts.

Found that people exaggerated attendance - interviewees claimed 83% higher attendance than observed.

This shows an "attendance gap": people say they go to church more than they really do.

By 1996, exaggeration had risen: e.g. Catholic Mass attendance in San Francisco was exaggerated by 47% in 1972 but 101% in 1996.

Bruce's conclusion: the apparent stability (40%) is misleading - actual attendance is declining, but people still report going because it's seen as socially desirable or normative.

describe secularisation from within- secularisation in america

Bruce argues that the way American religion has adjusted to the modern world amounts to secularisation within.

The emphasis on traditional Christian beliefs and glorifying God has declined in America and religion has been "psychologised" or turned into a form of therapy. This change has enabled it to fit in with a secular society.

The purpose of religion has changed from seeking salvation in heaven to seeking personal improvement in this world. This decline can be shown in people's attitudes and lifestyles. Churchgoers are now much less strict

describe religous diveristy in America

Churchgoers are also becoming less dogmatic in their views.

Bruce identifies a trend towards practical relativism among American Christians which involves an acceptance of the view that others are entitled to hold beliefs that are different to one's own.

The counter to practical relativism is the erosion of absolutism- we now live in a society where many people hold views that are different to ours which undermine our assumption that our own views are absolute

criticism of secularisation theory

Religion isn't declining, just changing form (e.g. privatised or new movements).

Theory is one-sided - focuses only on decline, ignores revivals and new religions.

Falling church attendance ≠ falling belief - some believe but don't attend.

Secularisation isn't universal - strong in Europe, less so globally.

The past wasn't a "golden age" of faith - so the present isn't necessarily a major decline.

Religious diversity boosts participation by offering choice - no single downward trend, but different patterns