Sacred & Secular Religion and Politics Worldwide Pippa

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Sacred SecularReligion and Politics Worldwide

• Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart

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Structure

• Theories of secularization
• Religiosity existential security
• Research design
• Evidence
• Comparisons by type of society
• Failure of religious market theory in
  post-Communist nations
• Demographic patterns religiosity
• Conclusions
• Advanced industrial societies have become
  steadily more secular during the last 50 years
• Yet the world as a whole has more people with
  traditional religious beliefs than ever before

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Book Contents
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ITheories of secularization

• Max Weber Enlightenment Rationality
• The loss of faith
• Emile Durkheim - Functionalism
• The loss of purpose
• Stark and Finke - Religious market theory
• After nearly three centuries of utterly failed
  prophesies and misrepresentations of both present
  and past, it seems time to carry the
  secularization doctrine to the graveyard of
  failed theories, and there to whisper requiescat
  in pace Stark and Finke. 2000. Acts of Faith.
• Public demand for religion is constant
• Supply-side competition among clergy energizes
  religiosity
• Religious participation explained by religious
  pluralism and freedom of religion

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Theory of secularization security
Demographic trends
H5
A1 Societies differ in levels of basic human
security
Religious values Eg Importance of
religion Importance of God
Religious Participation Eg Attend religious
services Daily prayer or meditation
Religious Political Activism Eg Member
religious groups Support religious party
H1
H4
H3
A2 Societies differ in their predominant
religious culture
Religious beliefs Eg Within each religion Moral
attitudes
H2
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II. Research design?
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World Values Survey 1981-2001
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Classification of societies
SourcesType of predominant religion CIA World
Factbook Type of society HDI UNDP
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Measures
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III Evidence
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Measures of religious participation
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Note Religious participation Q185 Apart from
weddings, funerals and christenings, about how
often do you attend religious services these
days? More than once a week, once a week, once a
month, only on special hold days, once a year,
less often, never or practically never. The
proportion who attended Once a week or
more. Source World Values Survey (pooled
surveys, 1981-2001)
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Religiosity by type of society
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Religiosity Development
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Trends in belief in God 1947-2001Ref Gallup
polls WVS
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Trends in European church attendance,
1970-2000 Source Eurobarometer annual surveys
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Religious participation by cohort
Agrarian
Industrial
Postindustrial
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Religion economic inequality
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Religiosity household income, postindustrial
societies Source WVS 1981-2001
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Religion demographic trends
(Source World Bank 2003)
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IV Conclusions
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Conclusions

• Virtually all advanced industrial societies are
  moving towards more secular orientations.
• Yet the world as a whole now has more people with
  traditional religious beliefs than ever before
• The religion gap becomes increasingly salient on
  the global agenda, yet the consequences for
  international conflict remain unclear.
• Further details/chapters www.pippanorris.com

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Religiosity among postindustrial nations
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Failure of market theoryPost-communist societies