Explanations of Secularisation Flashcards
(15 cards)
Describe the 2 themes of explaining secularisation
- Modernisation, involving the decline of tradition and its replacement with rations and scientific ways of thinking that undermine religion.
- The growth of social and religious diversity. People are more diverse in their occupation and culture and religious institution are more varied which undermines the authority of religious institutions and the credibility of religious beliefs
What is rationalisation?
Refers to the process by which rational ways of thinking and acting come to replace religious one.
Give an example of rationalisation in modern society
Weber argued that the Protestant Reformation begun my Martin Luther started the process of rationalisation of like in the West.. This undermined the religious worldview of the Middle Ages
Describe the religious worldview of the Medieval era
- For Weber, the medieval Catholic worldview that dominated Europe saw the world as an ‘enchanted garden’. God and other spiritual beings were present in this world, changing the course of events through their supernatural powers.
- Humans could influence these beings by magical means like prayers and pilgrimages etc, to ensure a good harvest or protect against disease etc.
Describe how disenchantment of the world led to rationalisation
- Protestantism saw God as transcendent, where God was nothing more than a creator of the world and then let it run its natural course, without intervening.
- This means there was no longer a need for religious explanation of the world as events weren’t explained through the work of the supernatural.
- This led to ‘disenchantment’ where religious ways of thinking decline and rationalisation begins. This enables science to thrive and provide the basis for technological advances
Describe the technological worldview
- Bruce argues the growth of a technological worldview has replaced religious explanations of events.
- A technological worldview leaves little room for religious explanations in everyday life, and only survive in areas where technology is least effective, e.g. praying when there’s no cure to an illness
- Bruce concludes while scientific explanations don’t challenge religion directly, they have greatly reduced the scope for religious explanations
What is structural differentiation?
- Parsons defines structural differentiation as a process of specialisation that occurs with the development of industrial society.
- Specialised institutions develop to carry out functions that were previously performed by 1 institution (e.g. religion)
How does structural differentiation led to disengagement?
Parsons argues this is because its functions are transferred to other institutions (the state) and it becomes disconnected from wider society. e.g. education
How does structural differentiation led to privatisation?
As religion has become separate from wider society, it has become privatised (confined to the private sphere of the family).
- Religious beliefs are now a matter of personal choice and religious institutions have lost much of their influence on wider society.
How does a decline of community undermine religion?
- Wilson argues that in pre-industrial communities, shared value were expressed through collective religious rituals that integrated individuals and regulated their behaviour
- But when religion lost its basis in stable local communities, it lost its vitality and its hold over individuals
How does industrialisation undermine religion?
- Bruce sees industrialisation as undermining the consensus of religious beliefs that hold small rural communities together.
- Social and geographical mobility breaks up communities and brings people together from different backgrounds, creating more diversity
Give criticisms of the claim that the decline of community causes the decline of religion
- Religion can be a source of identity on a worldwide scale
- Some religious communities are imagined communities that interact through sicial media
- Pentecostal and other religious groups often flourish in ‘impersonal’ urban areas
Describe how the decline of the sacred canopy has led to a decline of religion due to religious diversity
- In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church held an absolute monopoly so everyone lived under a scared canopy (set of beliefs)
- But since the Protestant Reformation, the number and variety of religious organisation has continued to grow, and no church can claim the truth
- Society is now no linger unified by 1 scared canopy. Religious diversity created a plurality of life worlds, where people perceptions of the world vary
Describe how the religious diversity has undermined the plausibility structure
- Berger argues diversity undermines religion’s ‘plausibility structure’ (its credibility)
- When there are many versions of religion to choose between, people question them all which erodes the absolute certainties of traditional religions. Religious beliefs then becomes a personal point of view
What are two counter-trends that go against secularisation theory identified by Bruce?
- Cultural defence: is where religion provides a focal point for the defence of national, ethnic, local or group identity in a struggle against an external force
- Cultural transition: is where religion provides support and a sense of community for ethnic groups such as migrants to a different country and culture
Bruce argues that religion scurvies in these situations as it’s a focus for group identity, which doesn’t disprove secularisation.
