PolSci 303 Exam 1 Term IDs

Essentially Contested Concept

Cavanaugh

a term whose proper definition inevitably involves disputes among users

Substantivist Definition

Cavanaugh

defines religion by the content/subtsance of beliefs and practices (belief in God, transcendence)

Functionalist Definition

Cavanaugh

defines religion based on how it functions in human life, matters of ultimate concern, the sacred (Ex. civil religion or free markets or patriotism)

Myth of Religious Violence

Cavanaugh

claim that religion is inherently more divisive or violent than secular actors or systems—serves a political purpose by constructing an Irrational Other to justify Western power, military expenditure or secular authority

Doctrine and Infrastructure

Cammett and Jones

Infrastructure is the social organization (elites, institutions, actors) that separates religion from other aspects of social and political life—it can provide a technology of mobilization, as under state repression. Doctrine does not mobilize itself. Infrastructure is key to understand why, when, where religion can enact force

Multivocal and Multi-praxis

Cammett and Jones

Doctrine is multivocal and multi-praxis, meaning there are many voices under the umbrella of every religion and many practices like everyone does not follow the same rules or follow them in the same way

Religion as Social Identity

Cammett and Jones

Communal bond formed by shared social organization and practices—distinct from personal religiosity—it is doctrine + social organization which shapes behavior even when doctrine adherence varies

Opium of the People

78 Notions-Marx

views religion as providing illusory happiness, pain relief, comfort to compensate for real world political and economic oppression

Wish Fulfillment/Illusion

78 Notions-Freud

views religion as an attempt to master fear and control nature by constructing an imaginary world governed by a protective parent figure

Sacred vs Profane

78 Notions-Durkheim

views religion as strict distinction between sacred and profane (routine, everyday life) which united adherents into a single moral community

Religious Conflict vs. Conflict with Religious Dimensions

Johnson

religious conflict implies religion is the primary driving cause of violence, obscuring economic/political factors, but religious dimensions frame religion as one factor among many intertwined with social, political, material grievances

Religion of the Gaps Explanation

Johnson

Flawed approach of labeling a conflict religious or irrational simply because nonreligious motivations are overlooked or hard to measure

Generalizing Stances

Brubaker

subsumes religion under broader categories like ethnicity or ideology viewing it as functionally equivalent—religion on its own is a problematic category that produces problematic analyses

Qualified Particularizing Stance

Brubaker

Religion is not completely unique but has particular features that require special analysis distinct from other factors in conflicts—religion has distinctive features that require attention on their own merits, religion has a normative ordering power

Hypercommitted Selves

Brubaker

religion can produce people unconditionally committed to a religious cause as absolute, non negotiable which leads them to disregard personal costs or political trade offs

Translocal Expandability

Brubaker

capacity of localized conflicts to draw in external actors bound by a sense of duty to defend a global religious community (foreign fighters)

Secularization Thesis the Orthodox Model

Wallis and Bruce

Social significance of religion diminishes in response to 3 salient features of modernization (social differentiation, Societalization, rationalization)

Societalization

Wallis and Bruce

life is organized by large scale communities, the local is increasingly subordinated to the central or national—shrinking importance of small groups

Social Differentiation

Wallis and Bruce

new roles and institutions take over functions previously done by religious institutions

Rationalization

Wallis and Bruce

Increasing dominance of science, technology has changed the way people think and act

Cultural Defence and Cultural Transitions

Wallis and Bruce

TWO EXCEPTIONS: religion can provide resources for defence and negotiating transitions

Cultural Defence where challenges arise to a group’s culture, identity, sense of worth

Cultural Transitions where identity may be threatened in the course of major cultural transitions

The authors use these to highlight the instances within modernization in which religion may remain extremely important.

Existential Security/Security Axiom

Norris and Inglehart

absence of human security is critical to religiosity—more insecure, more religion for vulnerable populations, more existential=secularization

Cultural Traditions Axiom

Norris and Inglehart

historical religious traditions leave lasting cultural footprints—path dependent that shape secular norms even after formal religion fades, norms spread through education/media as opposed to religious institutions

Demographic Hypothesis

Norris and Inglehart

advanced industrial nations become more secular, the world becomes more religious because poorer, insecure nations have much higher birth rates—secularization in advanced countries and a more religious world

Secularity 3/Conditions of Belief

Taylor

Faith in God is no longer the default or axiomatic but one option among many—there are alternatives to belief in God, conditions under which people experience and search for the spiritual

Subtraction Stories

Taylor

Stories we tell about secularization is about loss of something, if we view this way, we miss that there are more options available—individual fulfillment not available in the past

Exclusive Humanism

Taylor

human flourishing and moral meaning entirely within human realm without reference to God or transcendence

Secularism as ideology

Draaisma and Wilson

two assumptions—religion is clearly distinguishable from politics, economics and the rest of human life/activity AND religion must be subordinated to the rational secular political realm

Secularism as ontology

Draaisma and Wilson

secularism but not consciously articulated, often implicit common sense or conventional wisdom

Assumptions about the nature of religion and religious actors often shape agendas of international agencies, NGOs, humanitarian organizations (both positive and negative)

Passive vs Active Secularism

Draaisma and Wilson

Passive Secularism: remains neutral toward religion and acknowledges potential benefits in public life (North America)

Active Secularism: views religion as potentially dangerous or disruptive in public life (France)

Secular Surge

Layman, Campbell, Green

Expanding size, increased political engagement, emerging identity of secular Americans—decline in religious affiliation, more active in lawsuits over church/state issues, forming community groups

Personal Nonreligiosity

Layman, Campbell, Green

Passive absence of religious belief “The Nones”—non religionists as civic dropouts

Personal Secularism

Layman, Campbell, Green

nonreligious but active, positive embrace of secular beliefs, identities, political commitments and progressive attitudes (potential integration into Dem party)

Secular Governance as Operation of Power

Mahmood

Secularism is not a state retreat from religion but an active state power that regulates, reorders, and remakes religious life and interfaith dynamics (Ex. Egypt). Modern secular governance contributes to the exacerbation of religious tensions, hardening interfaith boundaries and polarizing religious differences

Individual/Minority Group Rights

Mahmood

Structural tensions between secular constitutions granting equality/religious liberty to some and minority religious communities demanding autonomy to preserve way of life

Counter Secularization/Mea Culpa

Berger

Processes or movements that resist, reverse, or respond to secularizing pressures. Berger argues that modernity can produce religious movements that challenge the expectation of inevitable religious decline. Demonstrates that modernization can produce religious resurgence as well as secularization, complicating the orthodox model.

Uncertainty and Modernity

Berger

Modernization undermines traditional certainty + movements that promise to restore certainty find a large, eager market among populations unsettled by modernization can appeal and gain power

Adaptation and Rejection

Berger

Religious movements can respond to modernity through rejection or adaptation. religious revolutions and other movements may signal a rejection OR religious adaptations and subcultures to preserve tradition in a particular community (Ex. Amish)

Exceptions to Berger’s Argument

Berger

Western Europe is very secular, along with an international subculture composed of elite, educated like humanities and social sciences

Desecularization

Karpov

process of counter secularization in which religion reasserts its societal influence in reaction to or co-occuring secularizing processes

Five components of desecularization

Karpov

Reconciliation of institutions, popular resurgence, deprivatization, cultural revival (ex., arts), substratum changes (E. high fertility as religious practice)

Desecularization from Below/Above

Karpov

grassroots vs leadership led, high level of religious adherence, resources, voluntary association

Desecularizing Activists

Karpov

Key actors, organizations, and interest groups emerged in mobilizing resources to re establish religions influence in social and political institutions