Seculrisation

Question 1

Explain what the word secular means ?

Answer 1

Secular is a non religious idea that is not concerned with religion

Question 2

Explain what the term secularisation means

Answer 2

Secularisation is the idea the decline in religious ideas and values and there loss of social significance

Question 3

What is meant by secularisation thesis ?

Answer 3

This is the argument that explains that secularisation is happening

Question 4

What theorist argues that religion would eventually disappear and science would dominate ?

Answer 4

COTE

Question 5

What theorist argues that religion is a device that legitimates capitalism and when capitalism is replaced with a communism religion will lose its value ?

Answer 5

MARY

Question 6

Who is the interprevetist who argues that there would be a reduction in the importance of religion because there would be growth on a more rational thinking?

Answer 6

WEBER

Question 7

Who argued that there was something eternal about religion and it would lose its social significance and be replaced by an inter greasing force such as education that would provide the social solidarity

Answer 7

Durkheim

Question 8

What are the views of the founding farthers ?

Answer 8

….

Question 9

What is meant by operationalise ?

Answer 9

Operationalise means that something is measurable

Question 10

What other theorist argues that secularisation is happening ?

Answer 10

Wilson

Question 11

What is meant by religious thinking ?

Answer 11

Religious thinking refers to the influence of religion on peoples beliefs and values such as the importance of religion of their lives eg believing in things such as god and spirits

Question 12

What is meant by religious practices ?

Answer 12

Religious practices refers to things people do to carry out their religious commitment such as the extent to which they participate in religious practices such as attending a mosque or church

Question 13

What is meant by religious institutions?

Answer 13

Religious institutions refer to the extent to which religious institutions have maintained their social influence in wider society

Question 14

What are the two main debated to consider when discussing secularisation?

Answer 14

Secularisation is happening eg the church/religious institutions are in decline or secularisation isn’t happening and religion is just changing/ progressing into new forms

Question 15

What are some stats that suggest secularisation is happening ?

Answer 15

• belief in a personal god has reckoned since 1961 and 2000 from 57% of the population to 26%
• the number of people claiming no religion has grown from 31% in 1983-51% in 2009

Question 16

What are Wilson’s 5 measures of secularisation

Answer 16

1. religious participation and beliefs
2. Religious disengagement
3. Religious pluralism
4. Desacralisation
5. Secularisation or religious institutions

Question 17

Explain Wilson’s idea on religious participation and beliefs give for and against explanations .

Answer 17

Wilson argues that there has been a decline in Britain of church attendance
For arguments
- only 32% of wedding take place in a church and under 20% or babies are baptised
- 1851 40% attended church on a regular basis compared with 2010 that had 6% church attendance
- there has been a decline in religious beliefs eg number of people that identify as religious has declined according to the 2011 census from 72% to 59%

Against argument

• there has been a rise in scared self- links to belief without belonging that has been argued by DAVIE
• comparisons on church attendance is difficult to operationalise because on Victorian Brian people were forced to go to church by employers and social expectations doesn’t truly reflect that a,Lunt of people who actively participated

Question 18

Explain Wilson’s idea on religious disengagement give for and against

Answer 18

• Argument for secularisation
• Wilson argues that there has been a Decline in religious organisational power and wealth this includes the control of education and social welfare this has been replaced by specialist parts of the secular gov
• The church and the state have now become separate which means that the church has less control and influence over law making evidence the same sex marriage act 2014

what are the arguments against wilsons idea of religious disengagement?

• Parsons argues that due to structual diffrentaition religion has become more specialised losing some functions but mainatining others
• The queen is still the head of the church and bishops are still in the house of lords
• even though religion is less influential in mainstream uk society it is significant and influential in other countries and cultures eg the islamic state with sharia law

Question 19

What is meant by disengagement ?

Answer 19

This means that religion is becoming less involved in political and social life. It is the general withdrawing of religious institutions from wider society

Question 20

What is meant by religious pluralism

Answer 20

a belief that one can overcome religious differences between different religions and conflicts within the same religion

Question 21

Explain wilsons argument on religious pluralism. Give for and against.

Answer 21

Wilson argues that religious pluralism means that religion is no longer promoting a value consensus or social solidarity
Arguments for
- religion has lost one of its key functions of bringing people together and uniting members of society
- Bruce also argues that having lost of religion to chose from means that there is competition this in turn means that religion is losing its creditability this is reinforced through the growth of nrms and nams

What are some of the arguments against?
- Davie suggests that even though people are not worshipping collectively they may be doing so privately reinforcing his idea of belief without belonging

Question 22

What is meant by Desacralisation ?

Answer 22

the withdrawl of emotional involvement that is found in the religious scared

Question 23

What is the Kendall project and who talks about it ?

Answer 23

The Kendall project is a study that set out to test the spiritual revolution thesis which was lead by Heelas and Woodhead

Question 24

What were the two trends that were identified by heelas and woodas ?

Answer 24

1. that there is a decline in traditional christianity where god tells people how to live their lives]
2. That there has been a growth in new age spirituality which talks about scared self

Question 25

What did Wilson define secularisation as

Answer 25

The process whereby religious institutions lose their social significance

Question 26

What are can secularisation be measured by ?

Answer 26

Secularisation can be measured through

• belief
• behaviours
• belonging

Question 27

What are some stats that address the three main points if security

Answer 27

Beliefs – an increasing number of people in UK say they don’t believe in God, now up to >30%; younger people less likely to believe in God than older people; also Census belief figures.

Behaviour: <5% of the adult population attend church regularly, only 20% of marriages are church marriages and only 10% of children are baptised.

Belonging: 50% of adults now class themselves as having no religion, almost 75% of 18-24 year olds

Question 28

Hat are some counter stats

Answer 28

_ nearly half a million people have their funeral in a church.
- other religious beliefs have increased over the years eg Islam

Question 29

what is the argument that globalisation has increased religiosity /

Answer 29

globalisation has increased religiosity because it has enabled media and the growth of consumerism to increase changes in religion eg televangelism which has lead followers to express their way.

Question 30

What does bunting describe the increase consumerism ?

Answer 30

• DIY cocktail