Karteikarten
Secularisation
Karten in diesem Stapel (46)
- 1Crockett estimates that in 1851, 40% or more of the adult population of Britain attended church on Sundays, which led some to claim that the 19th century was a 'golden age' of religiosity.Secularisation in Britain
- 2Wilson argues that western societies have been undergoing a long-term process of secularisation, where ' religious beliefs, Practices and institutions lose social significance'.Secularisation in Britain
- 3Only about 6% of the adult population attended church on Sundays in 2005, halving since the 1960's and likely to fall further. Sunday school attendance, Church weddings and baptisms are declining.Secularisation in Britain
(Church attendance today) - 4Overall, religious affiliation is declining. Since 1983, adults with no religion have risen from a third to a half, and those identifying as Christian have fallen by a third.Secularisation in Britain
(Church attendance today) - 5Some small organisations have grown. The number of Catholics has increased slightly, due to East-European immigration. Non-Christian religions have also increased, due to immigration and higher birth rates.Secularisation in Britain
(Church attendance today) - 6Evidence from 80 years of surveys shows a decline in belief in God, in Jesus as the son of God and in Christian teachings about the afterlife and the Bible.Secularisation in Britain
(Religious belief today) - 7Bruce agrees with Wilson that all the evidence on secularisation has shown that 'there is a study and unremitting decline'.Secularisation in Britain
(Religious institutions today) - 8The influence of religion as a social institution is declining. Religion once affected every aspect of life, but now is relegated to the private sphere of individual and family.Secularisation in Britain
(Religious institutions today) - 9The state has taken over many of the functions the church used to perform, e.g. schooling.Secularisation in Britain
(Religious institutions today) - 10The number of clergy fell from 45000 in 1900 to 34000 in 2000, while the population increased in size, reducing the church's local, day-to-day influence. Bruce predicts the Methodist church will fold by 2030 and the CoE will merely be a small voluntary organisation.Secularisation in Britain
(Religious institutions today) - 11Although there is an increasing number of 'faith schools' in the UK - implying continued religious involvement in education - they are mainly state-funded and must conform to the state's regulations.Secularisation in Britain
(Religious institutions today)
Evaluations - 12Religion may have declined in Britain but not necessarily in America or elsewhere, so secularisation may not be universal.Secularisation in Britain
Evaluation - 13Secularisation and the decline of religion have often been linked to major social changes such as modernisation, industrialisation and its effects, and increased social and religious diversity. Sociologists have developed several explanations of secularisation.Explanations of secularisation
- 14This is the process by which rational ways of thinking and acting replace religious ones. Max Weber argues that Western society has undergone this in the last few centuries.Explanations of secularisation
(Rationalisation) - 15The 16th century protestant reformation undermined the religious worldview of the Middle Ages, replacing it with a modern rational scientific outlook.Explanations of secularisation
(Rationalisation) - 16The medieval Catholic worldview saw the world as an 'enchanted garden' in which God, angels etc. Changed the course of events through their supernatural powers and miracle-working interventions.Explanations of secularisation
(Rationalisation) - 17The protestant reformation brought a new worldview that saw God as existing above and outside the world, not as intervening in it. The world had become disenchanted, left to run according to the laws of natureExplanations of secularisation
(Rationalisation)
Disenchantment - 18Events were thus no longer to be explained as the work of unpredictable supernatural beings, but as the predictable workings of natural forces.Explanations of secularisation
(Rationalisation)
Disenchantment - 19This enables science to develop, giving humans more power to control nature, further undermining the religious worldview.Explanations of secularisation
(Rationalisation)
Disenchantment - 20Through reason and Science, humans could discover the laws of nature, and understand and predict how the world works. Religious explanations of the world are no longer needed.Explanations of secularisation
(Rationalisation)
Disenchantment - 21Bruce argues this has largely replaced religious explanations of why things happen. Religious worldviews only survive in areas where technology is least effective, e.g. praying for help if you are suffering from an incurable illness.Explanations of secularisation
(Rationalisation)
A technological worldview - 22Parsons defines structural differentiation as a process that occurs with industrialisation as many specialised institutions develop to carry out the different functions previously performed by a single institution, such as the church.Explanations of secularisation
(Structural differentiation) - 23Religion dominated pre-industrial society, but with industrialisation it has become a smaller and more specialised institution.Explanations of secularisation
(Structural differentiation) - 24Bruce agrees that religion has become separated from wider society and privatised in the home an family. Religious beliefs are now largely a matter of personal choice, While traditional rituals and symbols have lost meaning.Explanations of secularisation
(Structural differentiation) - 25Even where religion is involved in education or welfare education or welfare, it must conform to secular controls; e.g. teachers in faith schools must hold qualifications recognised by the state.Explanations of secularisation
(Structural differentiation) - 26Church and state are usually separate in modern society, so the church loses political power.Explanations of secularisation
(Structural differentiation) - 27Wilson argues that in pre-industrial society, local communities shared religious rituals that expressed their shared values, but industrialisation destroys these stable local communities and so destroys religion's base.Explanations of secularisation
(Social and cultural diversity) - 28Bruce sees industrialisation creating large, impersonal, loose-knit urban centres with diverse beliefs, values and lifestyles. This diversity undermines the believe-ability of religion.Explanations of secularisation
(Social and cultural diversity) - 29The rise of individualism leads to a decline in community-based religious belief and practice.Explanations of secularisation
(Social and cultural diversity) - 30Aldridge points out that a community does not have to be in a particular locality. Religion can be a shared source of identity on a worldwide scale, e.g. Jewish communities. Also, Pentecostal and other groups often flourish in supposedly 'impersonal' urban areas.Explanations of secularisation
(Social and cultural diversity)
Evaluation - 31Berger argues that another cause of secularisation is the trend towards religious diversity.Explanations of secularisation
(Religious diversity) - 32In the middle Ages, the Catholic Church held an absolute monopoly and had no challengers. Since the 16th century Protestant Reformation, the number and variety of religious organisations has grown, each with a different version of the truth.Explanations of secularisation
(Religious diversity) - 33Berger argues that this religious diversity undermines religion's 'plausibility structure' - its believability. Alternative versions of religion enable people to question all of them and this erodes the absolute certainties of traditional religion.Explanations of secularisation
(Religious diversity) - 34Bruce sees the trend towards religious diversity as the most important cause of secularisation, because it is difficult to live in a world containing a large number of incompatible beliefs without concluding that none of them is wholly true.Explanations of secularisation
(Religious diversity) - 35Cultural defence: Religion provides a focus for the defence of national or ethnic group identity in a struggle against external force, e.g. Catholicism in Poland before the fall of Communism.Explanations of secularisation
(Cultural defence and cultural transition)
Bruce counter-trends - 36Cultural transition: Religion Provides a sense of community for ethnic groups living in a different country and culture.Explanations of secularisation
(Cultural defence and cultural transition)
Bruce counter-trends - 37Bruce argues that cultural defence/transition don't contradict secularisation theory, since religion only survives in these situations as a focus for group identity and not as an expression of religious faith; e.g. once communism had fallen in Poland, church attendance fell.Explanations of secularisation
(Cultural defence and cultural transition)
Bruce counter-trends Evaluation - 38In 1962, Wilson found that 45% of Americans attended church on Sundays, but this was more an expression of the 'American way of life' than of religious beliefs. For Wilson, America is a secular society, because religion the has become superficial.Secularisation in the USA
- 39Opinion Polls asking people about church attendance suggest it has been stable at about 40% of the population since 1940. However, this figure may well be an exaggeration.Secularisation in the USA
(Bruce's evidence)
Declining Church attendance - 40Hadaway et al found that in one county in Ohio, the attendance level claimed in opinion polls was 83% higher than researchers actually counted going into church. Evidence suggests this tendency to exaggerate churchgoing is a recent development.Secularisation in the USA
(Bruce's evidence)
Declining Church attendance - 41Bruce argues that in America, the emphasis on traditional Christian beliefs and glorifying God has declined. Instead, religion has become 'psychologised' - a form of therapySecularisation in the USA
(Bruce's evidence)
Secularisation from within - 42American religion has remained popular by becoming less religious - it has become secularised from within. Its purpose has changed from seeking salvation in heaven to seeking personal improvement in this world.Secularisation in the USA
(Bruce's evidence)
Secularisation from within - 43Bruce identifies practical relativism among American Christians - i.e. accepting that others are entitled to hold beliefs different to one's own.Secularisation in the USA
(Bruce's evidence)
Religious diversity and relativism - 44Lynd and Lynd found in 1924 that 94% of churchgoing young people agreed with the statement 'Christianity is the one true religion'. By 1977 only 41% agreed.Secularisation in the USA
(Bruce's evidence)
Secularisation from within - 45Absolutism has been eroded -we now live in a society where many people hold views that are completely different to ours, Undermining our assumption that our own views are absolutely true.Secularisation in the USA
(Bruce's evidence)
Secularisation from within - 46—
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- Beschreibung
- A2 Sociology (Beliefs in Society) Karteikarten am Secularisation, erstellt von James Dobson am 29/05/2017.
- Erstellt von
- James Dobson
- Aufrufe
- 20
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