Unit free Flashcards
(21 cards)
Asceticism
Abstinence and self discipline. Calvinists introduced it in terms of this world whereas previous denominations of Christianity focused on other worldly. They believed work glorifies God.
Churches
Large bureaucratic organisations often with millions of members run by a formal hierarchy, and claiming a monopoly of truth. Aim to include everyone but tend to attract the higher classes as they’re conservative.
Civil Religion
Attaches sacred qualities to society itself and makes the nation state the object of religious or quasi-religious worship. Promotes social solidarity e.g. America.
Compensators
(Stark and Bainbridge) When real rewards are unobtainable, religion compensates by offering supernatural ones. Non-religious ideologies such as communism and humanism don’t provide these. Only religious ones do.
Cults
Loose knit and usually small religious and spiritual groups. Lack a sharply defined belief system and are tolerant of other beliefs. Often led by one who claims to have special knowledge. Many are world-affirming.
Cultural Defence
Where religion provides a focal point for the defence of national, ethnic, local or other group identity in a struggle against an external force e.g. Catholicism was a source of identity in Poland when under the communist regime. May explain extremism (reaction to globalisation).
Cultural Transition
The process of moving from one culture to another. Bruce argues that religion plays an important role in cultural transition for minority ethnic groups who find themselves in a new culture, by providing support and a sense of community in a different country or culture.
Denominations
Religious organisations that lie midway between churches and sects e.g. Methodism. Like churches they broadly accept society’s values but aren’t linked to the state. They impose restrictions on members (e.g. alcohol with Methodists) but are not as strict as sects. Unlike churches and sects (but like cults) they are tolerant of other beliefs and don’t claim a monopoly of truth.
Disenchantment
The process whereby magical and religious ways of thinking are replaced by a rational mode of thought. Explanations move away from supernatural forces and instead move to scientific laws. Weber saw the Protestant Reformation as the start of this.
Existential Security Theory
The feeling that survival is secure enough that it can be taken for granted. This is based on the idea that religion arises where people lack economic security. Explains why religion has declined in most affluent societies where there is welfare provision, and why religion remains popular in poor societies.
Falsificationism
A good theory stands up to attempts at proving it to be incorrect, unlike religion which rejects opposing views as it is a closed belief system.
Fundamentalism
Religion based on unquestioning belief in the literal truth of a sacred text. Fundamentalists believe there is one true view of the world and it is revealed through the sacred texts in which they believe.
Knowledge Claim
A claim made by a belief system to know about the world, what it is like and sometimes how it ought to be and how we ought to act. Science, political ideologies and religions make knowledge claims. Science doesn’t make ought statements though, unlike religion.
New Age Spirituality
Includes a very diverse range of beliefs and practices that have grown rapidly since the 1980s which reject external authority and traditional sources of religion such as churches, priests and sacred texts. Spirituality refers to personal and subjective aspects of religion and the supernatural. The New Age holds the view that we can discover the truth for ourselves through experience, by following a personal spiritual path and exploring ones inner self, e.g. Astrology and Zen Buddhism.
New Religious Movements
Have grown since the 60s e.g. Moonies, Scientology etc. Wallis distinguishes between 3 types of NRM depending on their attitudes towards the world: world-rejecting, world-accommodating and world-accepting. They have grown because of the marginality of some groups and individuals, relative deprivation and rapid social change.
Pluralism
A society with many different cultures, religions or political parties. Berger sees religious pluralism as undermining religion’s plausibility or credibility due to competing versions of the truth, creating scepticism. Contrasts nowadays to Middle Ages when Catholicism had a monopoly and dominated society which lived under a sacred canopy.
Rationalisation
The process by which rational and scientific ways of thinking and acting gradually replace magico-religious ones. Weber argued that the protestant reformation in the 16th century started this process, and it played a key role in the emergence of capitalism and modern society.
Religious Market Theory
Compares religious organisations with businesses competing for customers. Less popular religions decline while others grow by offering what people want. However the overall demand for religion remains constant because in this view, people are naturally religious. Secularisation is seen in this view as one stage in a cycle of religious decline and renewal.
Sects
Small, exclusive religious groups that expect strong commitment from members. They vary considerably in terms of organisation and aims. They are often hostile towards society and draw members from the poor and oppressed. Many are led by a charismatic leader, and like churches they often claim a monopoly of truth.
Secularisation
The decline of religion; the process whereby religious beliefs, practices and institutions lose their importance or influence e.g. fewer marry in church, homosexual marriage is legal etc.
Spiritual Shopping
Seen by some as a new pattern of religious participation found in late modern or postmodern society, where there is a spiritual market in which individual consumers ‘pick and mix’.
