7.1.3: Religion and different social groups

social class and religiosity

• different types of religion appeals to different social classes

• marxist theories of social class and religion:

  • religious participation and social class are closely linked

  • marx

  • as the subject clas develops greater class consciousness they could lose some religious beliefs

  • possbility of higher classes becoming more religious than subject classes

• Weber, class and religious beliefs:

  • weber

• social class and social mobility:

  • hunt

  • lower social classes = feel excluded and support sects offering religious compensation for low status and reject mainstream norms and values

• social class and religious organisations;

  • churches

    • aspire to include members from all social classes

    • upper classes likely to join because churches closely connected to established political order

  • denominations

    • slightly anti-establishment

    • broke away from religious mainstream

    • wallis

    • not identified with upper class

  • sects

    • have traditionally recruited the most disadvantaged people in society

    • require members to give up their previous life

    • those with much to lose are unlikely to join

    • appeal to deprived because membership offers a way of coping with disadvantage

    • for people to find meaning and self-worth within the sect

    • wallis

  • world-affirming new religious movements

    • positive about mainstream society

    • religious practices facilitate social and economic success

    • client cults offer services but require little commitment

    • appeal to successful and affluent wanting to become more successful

  • cult movements

    • involve followers fully

    • oppose mainstream society

    • attract disadvantaged or deprived

  • new age movements

    • heelas

  • evaluation:

    • difficult to assess accuracy of claims and religiosity because of lack of detailed data on class, belief and participation

    • claims should be treated as hypotheses rather than well-supported theories

    • class intersects with other social divisions

gender and religiosity

• women are more religious than men

• pew research center

• miller and hoffman - risk and religion

• evaluation:

  • idea of women having more time than women is debatable because women spend a lot of time on childcare and housework

  • rates of female participation in the labour force are high in nations such as US and UK

• Bruce - religion and secularisation

  • bruce

  • WC women tend to retain belief in passive religions (fortune telling, superstition)

  • MC women follow religions allowing individual autonomy (new age beliefs)

• woodhead - female religiosity and secularisation

  • woodhead

  • religion and different spheres of life:

    • married women turned to the labour force after industrialisation and were exposed to the rationalized culture

    • this led to a rapid decline in churchgoing women

religion and ethnicity

• members of minority ethnic groups in western countries more likely to see themselves as religious

• bird - explanations for high levels of religiosity

  • bird

• Bruce - cultural defence and cultural transition

  • bruce

  • vitality of religion is a response to the social situation of minority ethnic groups rather than religious commitment

  • mcguire

• decline or revival in ethnic minority religions?

  • bruce

  • chryssides

age, generation and religiosity

• evidence of the young being less religious than the old

• world values survey

• reasons for age differences in religiosity

  • voas and crockett

  • evidence: voas and crockett

    • examined data from British social attitudes survey to consider which theory was most plausible

    • found little evidence suggesting that people became more religious with age or that specific cohorts were becoming less religious

    • change had occurred because each generation had entered adulthood less religious than its predecessors (lesser socialisation into religion)

    • may not apply to all types of religious and spiritual beliefs

      • heelas et al.