Postmodernism (beliefs)

Question 1

Davie

Answer 1

• religion isn’t declining but taking a more privatised manner where attendance is a matter of personal choice
• result is that people start to have believing without belonging- have beliefs but don’t go to church
• vicarious religion

Question 2

Hervieu Leger

Answer 2

• people today feel they have a choice as consumers of religion and have become ‘spiritual shoppers
• develop their own ‘do it yourself’ beliefs

Question 3

Lyon

Answer 3

• religions are disembedded- media lift them out of their original local contexts and move them to a different place and time
• loss of faith in Meta Narratives and wakening occurs as people are exposed to many competing versions of the truth

Question 4

Stark and Bainbridge

Answer 4

• religious market theory; propose a cycle of religious decline, revival and renewal- when some religions decline others grow attracting new members
• argue that competition between different religions leads to improvements

Question 5

Norris and Inglehart

Answer 5

• existential security theory; variation in religion due to different degrees of religious choice but difference in existential security
• religion meets a need for security and therefore societies where people feel secure have a low level demand for religion