Religion, Renewal and choice

Question 1

what does Davie argue about the new forms of religion

Answer 1

in todays society there is a major change in religion, away from obligation and towards consumption of choice.

Question 2

what is argued about believing without belonging

Answer 2

Davie
- people no longer feel the obligation to make their religious beliefs public by attending church with others. still hols onto belie but its privatised

Question 3

what does Davie argue about vicarious religion

Answer 3

Although religion is not practised overtly in Europe, people engage vicariously (indirectly) through other people
in Europe, religion is seen as a spiritual health service like the NHS. majority of people use kit when they need it. eg mourning

Question 4

Does various religion show that religion is unimportant

Answer 4

no as people still access religion when they need it. Also it is practised by clergy on the behalf of others. But you could say that it is not as they do not always attend

Question 5

is ‘Silent religion’ as strong as ‘public religion’

Answer 5

‘silent religion’ dont go to church cant measure silent religion (A03) difficult to quantitive data, might be as strong but we dont know

Question 6

what is the A03 for Davie believing without belonging claim

Answer 6

Voas surveys consistently show that church attendance and beliefs are declining together. if Davie were right, we wound expect to see higher levels of belief

Question 7

what is spiritual shopping

Answer 7

religion has become a personal, spiritual journey where we choose the elements we want to explore and the groups we want to join

Nowadays, children decide for themselves what they want to believe. They have become spiritual shoppers.Children have no foxed religion but this does mean that religion has disappeared we just have a DIY religious belief

Question 8

what does Daniele Hervieu - leger

Answer 8

calls spiritual shopping cultural amnesia - the loss of collective memory of what religious traditions and used to be like

children no loner have religion handed down to them from the older generations because fewer children teach their children about religion

Question 9

what are the two new religious types

Answer 9

• pilgrims - follow their own individual path to ‘self discovery’ eg exploring new age spirituality
• converts - join religious groups that offer a strong sense of belonging eg evangelical movements

Question 10

quick definition of post modernists

Answer 10

They reject all embracing theories that claim to have absolute truth such as feminism, functionalists, Marxism, scientific explanation- call them meta analysis - just someone’s version of the truth

Question 11

what is the post modernists view based on

Answer 11

the idea that society is an unstable, fragmented, media saturated global village, where image and reality are indistinguishable.
in a postmodern society we define ourselves by what we consume

Question 12

what does Lyon argue about post modern religion

Answer 12

Globalisation, media and religion ideas and beliefs have moved across national boundaries because of the media saturating us with images and messages from around the globe

Question 13

what is an example of globalisation, the media and religion

Answer 13

the electronic church
Tv programmes/websites that present a preacher and religious service online so that believers need no longer to go church to express their faith they can do it via the media

In the USA there are 1,064 religious radio stations had 25 religious stations and the number continues to grow at about 1 per week

Question 14

How has the media (electronic church) impacted religion

Answer 14

Religion has become disembedded from real local churches to the TV and internet
Religion has become deindustrialised removed from its original location and is floating in cyber space

Question 15

what is the example of David Lynn’s study which shows that people are still spiritual and religious

Answer 15

Towards the end of the second millennium in the Christian calendar, 10000 pilgrims took part in a Harvest Day parade in Disneyland USA. The organisers mission was to bring Gods magical kingdom to the magical kingdom of Disneyland which is a theme of Disneyland

Question 16

what is a ‘religious realm’

Answer 16

Lyon calls this for how faith and spirituality is flourishing in diverse forms

Question 17

what is a effect of religious consumerism

Answer 17

the lose of meta narratives: theories or worldview that claim to have absolute, authoritative truth such as traditional religions

Question 18

what is the re enchantment of the world

Answer 18

Lyon - the decline of traditional churches does not spell the end for religion - religion is simply evolving and taking on new forms - A new age of religion

• contrary to Weber’s view, Lyon argues that society now entering a period of re enchantment - the growth of unconventional beliefs, practices and spirituality

Question 19

what is argued about individualism, self religious and the new age

Answer 19

Christianity is giving way to ‘holistic spirituality’ / ‘holistic milieu’ and the spiritual market eg increased number of self help books alternative therapies ranging from meditation to crystal healing

Question 20

summarise the main arguments against secularisation

Answer 20

• new age spirituality= rejects the idea of obligation but emphasises the idea of discovery and personal development
• Davie and vicarious religion= religion produced by an active minority on behalf of majority
• lyon and post modern religion = we are going through re enchantment

Question 21

what is a spiritual revolution

Answer 21

some sociologists argue that this is taking place today in which traditional Christianity is giving way to ‘holistic spirituality’ that emphasise personal development

Question 22

what are the key differences between religion and spirituality

Answer 22

religion- 
line of duty 
self sacrifices 
traditional family values are respected 
spirituality-
 life is a journey and discovery 
personal development

Question 23

what is the Kendal project by Heelas and Woodhead

Answer 23

aim of study- map patterns of religion and spirituality in Kendal and exploring issues eg the meaning and significance of religion - they distinguished between two groups congregational domain and holistic milieu
- in a typical week 7.9% of the pop attend the church, 1.6% took part in activities of holistic milieu- they said this shows its growing

Question 24

what was Heelas and Woodhead method for their kendal study

Answer 24

telephone interviews
questionnaires
participant observations

Question 25

what are the results for Heelas and Woodhead kendal study

Answer 25

traditional churches (congregational domains) were losing support, whereas evangelical churches were holding their own holistic milieu are slowly increasing

Question 26

what is Heelas and Woodhead’s explanation for their study

Answer 26

churches are declining because they demand obedience and duty, whereas people want to explore their own paths

Question 27

what are the weaknesses of the new age

Answer 27

Bruce makes the following points against the view that religion is not declining but changing form
- the problem of scale= even if New age forms of individuals religion are springing up, this would have to be on a much larger scale if it is to fill the gap left by the decline of traditional religions
socialisation of the next generation= for a belief system to survive, it must be passed down to the next generation.

Question 28

what do stark and Bainbridge mean by saying that secularisation theory is Eurocentric

Answer 28

focuses on the decline in Europe but fail to explain continuity vitality in america and eslewhere

Question 29

explain how the cycle of renewal is an alternative theory to the secularisation theory

Answer 29

Stark and Bainbridge have a concept of a cycle of decline, revival and renewal. They describe a cycle throughout history with some religions declining and others growing + attracting new members

Question 30

according to stark and Bainbridge how do churches operate like compensators, selling goods

Answer 30

argue that competition leads to improvements in the quality of religious goods on offer. The churches which make products attractive will succeed in attracting new ‘customers’. churches which are not responsive to customers will decline

Question 31

why do stark and Bainbridge say there’s no ‘golden age’ of religion in the past

Answer 31

They claim secularisation theory implies, nor is it realistic to predict a future end point for religion when everyone will be atheist

Question 32

what is a compensator - why is religion attractive

Answer 32

when real rewards are scarce, religion compensates by promising supernatural ones which makes it attractive eg the after life

Question 33

why is secularisation theory one-sided

Answer 33

it sees the decline, but ignores the growth of new religions and religious revivals

Question 34

why is religion thriving in the USA according to stark and bainbridge

Answer 34

there has never been religious monopoly there. In USA the constitution guarantees freedom of religion. There has always been a variation of denominations to choose from. This has encourraged the growth of a healthy religious market where religions grow or decline according to consumer demand

Question 35

how does the growth of televangelism show the growth of religion is ‘supply led’

Answer 35

Hadden and Shupe - think because they are not a monopoly and people do not have to commit

Question 36

what are the criticism of religious market theory

Answer 36

• Bruce rejects the view that diversity and competition increases the demand for religion. Stats show religious decline has occurred in Britain and USA
• Beckford says that RMT is not sociological as it assumes people are naturally religious and fails to explain why people make the choices they do

Question 37

what do Norris and Inglehart argues about the existential security theory

Answer 37

reject the RMT as they say it fails to explain the variations in religiosity between societies
reasons for variations in religiosity is due to different degrees of existential security. (feeling survival is secure enough that it can be taken for granted)

religion meets the needs for security so when security is high religion is low

Question 38

how di Norris and Inglehart compare societies

Answer 38

religion meets the needs for security so when security is high religion is low
poor societies - where people are experiencing life threatening risks eg famine, high levels of insecurity so high levels of insecurity
rich societies - where people have higher levels of living and less risk and greater security have lower levels of religiosity