Beliefs in society - Topic 4 (Religion, Renewal and Choice)

What are 2 main alternatives to secularisation theory?

Theories of late modernity and postmodernity
Religious market theory

What do theories of late modernity and postmodernity argue?

Religion isn’t declining but merely changing as society develops

What is religious market theory?

The view that secularisation is only 1 stage of a constant cycle of secularisation, revival and renewal

What does Davie (2013) argue?

In today’s late modern society, we’re seeing a major change in religion away from obligation and towards consumption / choice

What did churches do in the past and how has this changed?

Churches used to oblige ppl to go to church, believe certain things and behave in certain ways but now it’s a matter of personal choice (not imposed).

Give an example of how religion has changed to being a matter of personal choice

In England and France, infant baptism was once seen as an obligatory rite of passage, but now only a minority of babies are baptised. By contrast, there’s been an increase in no. of adults making an individual choice to be baptised

Who believes religion isn’t declining but simply taking a diffferent, more privatised form where people are believing w/o belonging?

Davie

What does Davie mean by a trend towards ‘vicarious religion’?

Religion practiced by an active minority (clergy and regular churchgoers) on behalf of majority (typical of Britain and Northern Europe) where despite low lvls of attendance, many ppl still identify w churches

What are major national churches seen as in Europe?

Public utilities / ‘Spiritual Health Service’ similarly to NHS (there for everyone to use whenever they need to) e.g using chrches as funerals / major national occasions like the public mourning over the death of Princess Diana in 1997

Why does Davie compare vicarious religion to the tip of an iceberg?

Beneath the surface of what appears to be only a small commitment (v few attend church regularly) lies a much wider commitment. Most ppl may not normally go to church / pray but remain attached to church as it provides support when needed

Secularisation theory assumes modernisation affects every society in the same way, causing decline of religion. Why does Davie question this?

She argues that instead of a single version of modern society, there are multiple modernities

Compare and contrast Britain and America (in terms of religion)

Both are modern and accompanied by believing w/o belonging but have v different patterns of religion esp. in relation to church attendance (high in America, low in Britain)

Who argues against Davie?

Voas and Crockett (2005)

What’s evidence against Davie? (statistics)

Evidence from 5,750 respondents shows both church attendance and belief in God are declining together. If Davie were right, we’d expect to see higher lvls of belief

What does Bruce (2011) add to Voas and Crockett;s exp.?

If ppl aren’t willing to invest time in going to church, this reflects the declining strength of their beliefs. When ppl no longer believe, they no longer wish to belong (involvement in religion diminishes)

What is Spiritual shopping?

People today now feel they have a choice as consumers of religion

How is religion now individualised?

We now develop our own ‘DIY’ beliefs that give meaning to our lives and fit in with our interests and aspirations

What has religion become as a result of its individualisation and spiritual shopping?

A personal spiritual journey in which we choos the elemnts we want to explore and groups we wish to join

What does Hervieu-Leger argue?

There’s been a dramatic decline institutional religion in Europe w fewer and fewer ppl attending church in most countries

What’s cultural amnesia?

A loss of collective memory

What’s an example of cultural amnesia?

For centuries, children used to be taught religion in the extended family and parish church. Nowadays, we have largely lost the religion that used to be handed down from gen. to gen as few parents now teach their children abt religion. Instead, they let children decide what to believe

What has the trend towards greater social equality done to the Church?

Undermined its power to impose religion on ppl from above.

What is the result of the Church losing its traditional power to impose religion on ppl?

Young ppl no longer have a fixed religious identity imposed on them through socialisation and are ignorant of trad. religion

What has replaced collective tradition? (of institutional religion)

Individual consumerism

What does Hervieu-Leger argue is the result of religion becoming a personal spiritual journey?

2 new religious types are emerging (pilgrims and converts)

What are pilgrims?

Follow an individual path in a search for self-discovery e.g exploring New Age spirituality by joining groups or through individual ‘therapy’

How is the demand for pilgrims created?

By today’s emphasis on personal development

What are converts?

Re-create a sense of community in a society thats lost many of its religious traditions and join religious groups that offer a strong sense of belonging (usually based on a shared ethnic bg or religious doctrine). For example, evangelical movements and churches of ethnic minorities

What’s the impact of pilgrims and converts on religion?

Religion no longer acts as the source of collective identity it once did but still continues to have some influence on society’s values (Hervieu-Leger).
For example, values of equality and human rights have their roots in religion (can be a source of shared cultural identity and social soldarity even for those not actively involved in religion)

What can Hervieu-Leger’s views be related to?

Late modernity

What’s late modernity?

In recent decades some of the trends within modern society have begun to accelerate e.g decline of tradition and increasing individualism. This explains the weakening of traditional institutions (church) + growing importance of individual choice (in terms of religion)

Who agrees w Davie that believing w/o belonging is increasingly popular?

Lyon (2000)

What does Lyon (2000) argue?

Traditional religion is giving way to a variety of new religious forms that demonstrate its continuing vigour

How does Lyon explain trad. religion is giving way to a variety of new religious forms?

As a postmodernist, he explains this in terms of a shift in recent decades from modern to PM society. PM society has a no. of features that are changing the nature of religion

What are 3 features of PM society that are changing the nature of religion?

Globalisation, increased importance of the media and the growth of consumerism

What is globalisation?

The growing interconnectedness of societies which has led to greatly increased movements of ideas and beliefs across national boundaries

How has globalisation led to increased sharing of ideas across national boundaries?

Media and informational tech has saturated us w images n messages from around the globe, compressing time and space to give instantaneous access to ideas and beliefs of previously remote places and religions

What has happened to religious ideas as a result of globalisation?

They’ve become ‘disembedded’

How has the media caused religion to become ‘disembedded’?

Lifted them out of physical churches and moved them to a diff. place and time

What is an example of religion becoming ‘disembedded’?

‘Electronic church’ and televangelism disembed religion from real, local churches and relocated it on the internet, allowing believers to express their faith w/o physically attending church - ex. blurring boundaries b/w diff areas of social life in PM society

What is the result of religion becoming ‘disembedded’?

Religion becomes de-institutionalised

What does it mean for religion to become de-institutionalised?

Detached from its place in religious institutions, floating in cyber-space

What has happened to religious ideas as a result of globalisation?

Removed from original location in the church and become a cultural resource that individauls can adapt for their own purposes

What is the impact of internet on religion?

Creates a range of opportunities for religious organisations and individuals to exploit

What are the 2 kinds of internet activity (Hellend [2000])

Religion online
Online religion

What is Religion online?

A form of top-down communication
(Electronic version of the trad. hierarchical comm. of churches to their members, communicating only officially approved ideas)
Religious org. uses internet to address members and potential converts (no feedback or dialogue b/w parties)

What is Online religion?

A form of ‘cyber-religion’ that may have no existence outside the internet
A ‘many-to-many’ form of communication that allows individuals to create non-hierarchical relationships and a sense of community where they can visit virtual worship / meditation spaces + explore shared spiritual interests and provide mutual support

What’s an example of Online religion?

The Pagans (gained a sense of self-worth from feeling they belonged to a global network)

Who studied the Pagans?

Cowan (2005)

How does evidence from Hoover et al (2004) critique online religion as an alt. to religion?

For most users, it’s just a supplement to their church-based activities rather than a substitute for them

What is Religious consumerism?

We construct our identities through what we choose to consume (acting as spiritual shoppers)

How do people act as spiritual shoppers?

Choosing religious beliefs and practices from the vast range available in the religious marketplace

What is pick-and-mixing in terms of Religion?

Pick and mixing elements of diff. faiths to suit our tastes and make them part of our identity until something more fashionable or attractive comes along

Where has religion been relocated to (in Lyon’s view)

The sphere of consumption

How have people become ‘religious consumers’?

Ceased to belong to religious org. and instead make conscious choices abt which elements of religion they find useful

Who conducted a study on religious consumption?

Ammerman (1987)

What’s an example of religious consumption?

American Christian fundamentalists making use of a no. of churches w/o giving strong loyalty to any.
1 family attended services at a Methodist church and bereavement counselling at a Baptist church while taking their children to another church for day care

What’s 1 impact of having a great variety of religious products to choose from?

A loss of faith in ‘meta-narratives’

What are meta-narratives?

Theories / worldviews that claim to have the absolute, authoritative truth

What’s the effect of ppl now having access to a wide range of diff. and contradictory religious beliefs according to Berger?

This weakens trad. religions that claim a monopoly of the truth and try to oblige ppl to believe them

Why does having access to a wide range of diff. religious beliefs weaken trad. religions?

Exposure to many competing ver. of the truth makes ppl skeptical that any of them is rly true
Thus, prev. dominant religious institutions (trad. mainstream churches) lose their authority and decline

Who argues the decline of trad. churches doesn’t spell the end of religion?

Lyon

What does Lyon say abt new religious movements?

Many are now springing up that the religious consumer can ‘sample’ and use to construct their own personal belief system

What does Lyon believe about religion and spirituality?

They aren’t disappearing but simply evolving and taking on new forms that fit consumerist nature of PM society

What are the new forms of religion that Lyon refers to?

New Age beliefs and practices

What’s New Age spirituality?

Emphasises the idea of life as a journey of discovery, personal development, autonomy and connecting w one’s ‘inner self’

What does New Age spirituality reject?

The idea of obligation and obedience to external authority found in trad. religions

What’s another name for New Age beliefs and practices?

Self-spirituality / self-religion

Why have New Age beliefs and practices been referred to as self-spirituality and self-religion?

Due to individuality and spiritual shopping linking w personal development and autonomy

Why does Lyon criticise secularisation theory?

For assuming religion is declining and being replaced by a rational, scientific worldview

Contrary to Weber’s prediction of increasing rationalisation and disenchantment of the world, what does Lyon argue?

We’re now in a period of re-enchantment

What does Lyon mean by re-enchantment?

Growth of unconventional beliefs, practices and spirituality

Who points to the growing vitality of non-trad religion in the West and its resurgence elsewhere in the world?

Lyon

What is a ‘spiritual revolution’?

Trad. Christianity giving way to ‘holistic spirituality’ / New Age spiritual beliefs and practices that emphasise personal development and subjective exp.

How can an increased interest in spirituality be seen?

In the growth of a ‘spiritual market’ w an explosion in books abt self-help and spirituality + meditation

What did Heelas and Woodhead (2005) investigate?

Whether trad. religion has declined and if so, how far the growth of spirituality is compensating for this

What 2 groups do Heelas and Woodhead distinguish b/w?

The congregational domain of traditional and evangelical Christianity
The holistic milieu of spirituality and the New Age

What did Heelas and Woodhead find?

In 2000, in a typical week, 7.9% of the pop. attended church and 1.6% took part in activities of the holistic milieu

What are trends in the congregational domain and evangelical churches?

Trad. churches lost support while fewer evangelical churches were involved in the holistic milieu but still faring relatively well

What 3 exp. do Heelas and Woodhead offer for the trends in congregational domain and evangelical churches?

1. New Age spirituality has grown due to a massive subjective turn in today’s culture (involves a shift away from the idea of doing your duty and obeying external authority to exploring your inner self by following a spiritual path)

2. Trad. religions are declining due to New Age spirituality

3. Evangelical churches are more successful than trad. They both demand discipline and duty but evangelicals emphasise importance of spiritual healing and personal growth through the experience of being ‘born again’

Who are the winners in the spiritual marketplace?

Those who appeal to personal exp. as the only genuine source of meaning and fulfilment, rather than the received teachings and commandments of trad. religion

Who challenges the claim that religion isn’t declining but changing form?

Bruce

What points does Bruce make abt the weakness of the New Age?

The problem of scale
Socialisation of the next gen.
Weak commitment
Structural weakness

What does Bruce mean by the problem of scale? (in relation to the weakness of the New Age)

Even if New Age forms of individualised religion are springing up, it’d have to be on a much larger scale to fill the gap left by the decline of trad. institutionalised religions

What does Bruce mean by socialisation of the next gen? (in relation to the weakness of the New Age)

For a belief system to survive, it must be passed down to the next gen.

What does Bruce mean by Weak commitment? (in relation to the weakness of the New Age)

Although many ppl dabbled in meditation, alt medicine, astrology, horoscopes and so on, serious commitment to New Age beliefs and practices was v rare.
Even among those who described themselves as ‘spiritual’, v few said such practices was important

What does Bruce mean by Structural weakness? (in relation to the weakness of the New Age)

New Age spirituality is itself a cause of secularisation due to its subjective, individualistic nature (based on the idea there’s no higher authority than the self)

What 3 things does the New Age lack in comparison to trad. religion?

An external power (such as the church hierarchy) to extract commitment from New Age ps against their wishes
Consensus as everyone is free to believe what they wish, so it lacks cohesion
Evangelism (persuading others of the truth) as it believes enlightenment comes from within, not someone else

Who are the main advocates of religious market theory?

Stark and Bainbridge (1986)

What do Stark and Bainbridge see secularisation theory as?

Eurocentric (focuses on decline of religion in Europe and fails to explain its continuing vitality in America and elsewhere)

What do Stark and Bainbridge argue?

There was no ‘golden age’ of religion in the past, as secularisation theory implies and it’s unrealistic to predict a future end-point for religion

What 2 assumptions is Religious market theory based on?

1. Ppl are naturally religious and religion meets human needs. Therefore, overall demand for religion remains constant even if the demand for particular types varies

2. It’s human nature to seek rewards and avoid costs as ppl weigh up costs and benefits of diff. options available

Why is religion attractive to Stark and Bainbridge?

It provides us w compensators (promises supernatural rewards when real ones are unobtainable)

What’s an example of religion providing us w compensators?

Immortality is unobtainable but religion compensates by promising LAD

What 2 concepts do Stark and Bainbridge put forward as an alt. to secularisation theory?

Cycle of renewal
Religious competition

What’s the cycle of renewal?

Perpetual cycle throughout history w some religions declining and others growing and attracting new members

What’s an example of the cycle of renewal?

When established churches decline, they leave a gape in the market for sects and cults to attract new followers. Therefore, sec. theory is one-sided as it sees decline but ignores growth of new religions

What’s Religious competition?

Churches operate like companies selling goods in a market. Where sec. theory sees comp. b/w diff. religious orgs. as undermining religion, religious market theorists take the opp. view n argue comp. leads to improvements in quality of the religious ‘goods’ on offers.
The churches that make their product attractive will succeed in attracting more ‘customers’. Meanwhile, churches that aren’t responsive to the needs of their members will decline

What’s a religious monopoly?

1 church w no competition

How does a religious monopoly lead to decline?

w/o competition, a church has no incentive to provide ppl w what they want