Religiosity and Social Groups

Question 1

Describe the gender differences in religiosity

Answer 1

• Most churchgoers are female and they’re more likely than men to attend church regularly
• More women than (54% vs 41%) say they have a religion
• More women than men (38% vs 26%) say religion is important to them and more women describe themselves as ‘spiritual’
• Fewer women than men are atheists or agnostics
• Miller and Hoffman: women express greater interest in religion and have a stronger personal commitment to it

Question 2

Describe why women are more religious because of gender differences in risk-taking

Answer 2

• By not being religious, people are risking that religion might be right and they’ll be condemned to hell
• As men are less risk averse than women, they’re more likely to take the risk of not being religious
• Davie notes that the virtual disappearance today of the dangers associated with childbirth that women have always faced, means that in Western societies face fewer risks and may be becoming less religious as a result

Question 3

Describe why women are more religious because of socialisation

Answer 3

Women are socialised to be more passive, obedient and caring. These are qualities valued by most religions, so it follows that women are more likely than men to be attracted to religions.

Question 4

Describe why women’s gender role means that they’re more religious

Answer 4

• Miller and Hoffman note that women’s gender roles mean they’re more likely to work part-time or full-time careers, so they have more time to participate in religious activities
• Women are also more likely to be attracted to the church as a source of gender identity and Greely argues that their role in taking care of other family members increases women’s religiosity as it involved responsibility for their ultimate welfare as well as their everyday needs

Question 5

Describe why women are more religious because they’re closer to birth and death

Answer 5

• Davie argues that women are closer to birth and death (child-bearing and caring for the elderly) and this brings them closer to ‘ultimate questions and the meaning of life that religion is concerned with.
• This also fits with differences in the way men and women see God: men are more likely to see a God of power and control, while women tend to see a God of love and forgiveness

Question 6

Describe how the church is becoming feminised

Answer 6

• Men’s withdrawal from religion in the last 2 centuries meant that the churches became feminised spaces that emphasise women’s concerns such as caring and relationships.
• Woodhead argues that this continues to make religion more attractive to women

Question 7

Outline why women are more attracted to NAMs

Answer 7

• NAMs often celebrate the ‘natural’ and involve cults of healing which gives women a higher status and sense of self-worth.
• Bruce argues that women’s experience of child-rearing makes them less aggressive and goal-orientated and more caring, which fits the expressive emphasis of the New Age
• Women are also attracted to NAMs as it emphasises the importance of being ‘authentic’ rather than merely acting out roles (gender roles). Women may be more attracted to this as men are more likely to perceive their roles as restrictive

Question 8

Describe why women are more attracted to religion because it’s in the ‘individual sphere’

Answer 8

• Women in paid work may experience a role conflict (instrumental and expressive role). Woodhead suggests that for these women, New Age beliefs are attractive as they appeal to a third sphere (the individual sphere)
• This sphere is concerned with individual autonomy and personal growth, not role performance. New Age beliefs overcome this role conflict by creating a new source of identity for women based on their ‘inner self’

Question 9

Describe the class differences between women’s religiosity

Answer 9

• Bruce argues that there are class differences in the type of religion that appeal to women.
• While New Age beliefs emphasising personal autotomy and self-development appeal to some MC women, WC women are more attracted to ideas that give them a passive role (an all-powerful God)

Question 10

Describe why women are more likely to be involved in sects

Answer 10

• Stark and Bainbridge argue that people may participate in sects as they offer compensators for organismic, ethical and social deprivation
• Organismic deprivation: stems from physical and mental health problems. Women are more likely to suffer ill health and thus seek the healing that sects offer
• Ethical deprivation: women tend to be more morally conservative. They’re thus more likely to regard the world as being moral decline and be attracted to sects, which often share this view (benefits the family and prevents men cheating)
• Social deprivation: Sects attract poorer groups and women are more likely to be poor

Question 11

Describe why Pentecostalism is attractive to women

Answer 11

• Pentecostalism is regarded as a patriarchal form of religion, despite this, women are are attracted to it and Martin describes this as the ‘Pentecostal gender paradox’
• Brusco’s study of Pentecostals in Colombia found this is because it demands an ascetic lifestyle and insists on a traditional gender division of labour that requires men to provide.
• Pentecostal women can use these ideas to combat machismo in Latin America, where men use 20-40% of their household’s income on alcohol. Pentecostal men are pressured by their pastor to change their ways. So Latin American women can use Pentecostalism to improve their position.

Question 12

Outline the ethnic differences in religiosity

Answer 12

• There are 63% of the population that identify as Christian. There are significant numbers of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, almost all belonging to minority ethnic groups originating in the Indian, while many Christians are of Black African or Caribbean origin
• Bierley found that Black people are 2x likely to attend church as White people. Muslims, Hindus and Black Christians are also more likely than White Christians to see their religion as important to attend a place of worship every week.
• Modood found a decline in the importance of religion for all ethnic groups and that fewer were observant, especially among the 2nd generation.

Question 13

Outline why ethnic minorities are more likely to be religious

Answer 13

• Most ethnic minorities originate from poorer countries with traditional cultures, both which produce higher labels of religious belief.
• On arrival in the UK, they and their children maintain the pattern they brought with them from their country of origin.
• However this disregards the impact of their experiences as immigrants and as minorities in a new society, and how this many give religion a new role as cultural defence and cultural transition.

Question 14

Describe how cultural defence is a reason for ethnic minorities to be more religious

Answer 14

• Bruce argues that religion offers a support and a sense of cultural identity in a hostile environment
• Bird notes religion among minorities can be a way of preserving one’s culture and language, and a way of coping with oppression in a racist society.
• e.g. Black African and Caribbean Christians found that White churches in the UK didn’t welcome them and some turned to founding or joining Black-led churches
• Brierly shows a significant growth of new churches in London catering for specific languages and nationalities as a result of recent immigration

Question 15

Describe how cultural transition is a reason for ethnic minorities to be more religious

Answer 15

• Religion can be a means of easing the transition into a new culture by providing and a sense of community for minority groups.
• Herberg argues that there’s high levels of religious participant among 1st generation immigrants in the USA. But once a group has made the transition into the wider society, religion may lose its role and decline in importance

Question 16

Give an example of cultural transition being a reason for religiosity

Answer 16

• Pryce’s study of the African Caribbean community shows both cultural defence and transition have been important
• He argues that Pentecostalism is a highly adaptive ‘religion of the oppressed’ that provided migrants with values appropriate to the new world in which they found themselves.
• Pentecostalism helped African Caribbeans to adapt to British society, gave them mutual support and hope of improving their situation

Question 17

Describe age differences in religious participation

Answer 17

• The older a person is, more likely to attend religious services, but the under 15s are generally more likely to go to church to (they have less choice)
• But the overall trend is for any given age group, apart from those aged 65 and over, there’s a fall in church attendance, and the fall is sharpest among the young
• By 2030, 15-19 year olds will be a mere 2% of all churchgoers

Question 18

What are the 3 reasons for age differences in religiosity?

Answer 18

• The ageing effect: the view that people turn to religion as they get older. e.g. Heelas argues that people become more interested in spirituality as they age. As we approach death, we ‘naturally’ become more concerned about spiritual matters and the afterlife, so we’re more likely to go to church
• The period or cohort effect: people born during a particular period may be more or less likely to be religious because of the particular events they lived through, such as rapid social changes
• Secularisation: As religion declines in importance, each generation becomes less religion than the 1 before it.

Question 19

Why is secularisation the main reason for age differences in religiosity?

Answer 19

• Voas and Crockett argue that secularisation is the main reason why younger people are less religious than older people. They found that in each succeeding generation, only half as many people are religious compared with the previous generation
• This is because of what Arweck and Beckford describe as the ‘virtual collapse of religious socialisation’. e.g. traditional Sunday schools have all disappeared.