Davie on secularisation

Davie on Secularisation:

Davie suggests rather than secularisation there has been a movement towards individual choice in religious
practice
Obligations of the past - usually passed down through socialisation - were replaced with greater choice
Religion is a consumer act
Davie is critical of assumptions of secularisation that all societies act in the same way
Higher levels of commitment in the USA for example, demonstrate multiple understandings of modernity
Despite lower attendance in Britain, belief remains high

Believing without belonging:

Davie suggested that it was difficult to measure religion in terms of church attendance
Religious belief is difficult to quantify through participation
Belief can represent itself in different formats - people can believe without belonging

Vicarious religion:

Davie later suggested that the minority carry out religious acts on behalf of the majority, providing a service
People move towards religion in times of need or celebration
People have a commitment to religious beliefs, but few demonstrate this on a measurable level

Religiosity and Social Groups- Gender:

Priesthoods of most religions are male
Miller and Hoffman (1995) – women express greater interest in religion and attend church

Reasons for differences:

Socialisation and Gender Role:

Miller and Hoffman:
- Women are more religious because they are socialised to be passive, obedient and caring – most religions value these traits
- Women are more likely to work part-time or be housewives and have more time and scope to attend church
Greeley (1992)
- Taking care of other family members increases female religiosity because it involves responsibility for their ultimate welfare as well as their everyday needs
Davie (1994)
- Women’s proximity to birth and death brings them closer to ‘ultimate questions’ on the meaning of life

Women and The New Age:

Women are more associated with nature (childbirth) and healing – which makes them identify with the New Age
Heelas and Woodhead – 80% of participants are women
Bruce – Women are less aggressive and goal-oriented than men and this fits in with new-age ideals – Men wish to achieve and women wish to feel
Callum Brown (2001)
- New age focus on the self gives women a focus so that they can emphasise subjective experiences rather than external authority associated with patriarchy – women can express themselves autonomously in a male-dominated society
- Some women may be attracted to fundamentalism because it embodies traditional prescribed female gender roles

Recent Trends:

Women are leaving the church at a faster rate than men – Brierley (2005): Women aged 30 – 45 dropped 16.4% between 1990 and 2005
This could be because of the pressures of juggling all of the roles that they must play in modern society
Callum Brown (2001) – since the 1960s women have begun to reject traditional gender roles and, thus, traditional religion

Postmodernity and Religion:

Grace Davie (2007) argues against secularisation theory – it is not declining but taking a different, more privatised form – believing without belonging
Vicarious religion – Davie also found that a small number of clergy practice religion on behalf of a large number of people who still believe but don’t attend church other than during rites of passage
Reginald Bibby found similar results in his 1993 study in Canada – 25% attended church but 80% said they had religious views
Modern society has fragmented and people have more choices – multiple modernities exist for example, the US and the UK have different attitudes to religion but both are ‘modern societies’.

Evaluations of Davie:

Bruce argues that a lack of attendance reflects a lack of belief - the church has limited meaning
Day - people identifying as Christian identified this as an identity rather than a belief
Voas and Crocket found correlations between belief and attendance, countering Davie's ideas

0.0(0)

Chat with Kai