Religion and secularization

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Sociology of Industrial Societies

• Religion and secularization

Week 2 HT08
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Religion and secularization

• Lecture plan
• Religion classical sociological conceptions
• Contemporary theorists industrialization ?
  secularization
• Just how secular are contemporary industrial
  societies?
• Some challenges to the secularization thesis
• A golden age of religiosity?
• The rise of new religious movements?
• How to explain American exceptionalism?

Religion and secularization
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Religion classical sociological conceptions

• What is religion? What is its function? Prognosis
  ?
• Outward projection Delusion and
  distraction Religious beliefs will
• of human qualities The opium of the people
  fall away with trans-
• ition to communism
• a unified system of Psychological meaning
  Eternal need for faith
• beliefs and practices Social belonging Cult
  of the individual
• relative to sacred things
• Society worshipping itself
• System of ideas and Protestant work ethic But
  rationalization and
• beliefs internalized by crucial to
  industrialization bureaucratization
• individuals secularizing forces

Karl Marx
Emile Durkheim
Max Weber
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Contemporary theorists industrialization ?
secularization

• Secularization thesis industrial development
  synonymous with religious decline
• the process by which sectors of society and
  culture are removed from the domination of
  religious institutions and symbols (Berger 1967
  107)
• a social condition manifest in
• (a) the declining importance of religion
• for the operation of non-religious roles
• and institutions such as those of the state
• and the economy
• (b) a decline in the social standing of
• religious roles and institutions and
• (c) a decline in the extent to which
• people engage in religious practices,
• display beliefs of a religious kind, and
• conduct other aspects of their lives in a
• manner informed by such beliefs.
• (Bruce 2002 3)
• the process whereby religious thinking,
  practice and institutions lose social
  significance (Wilson 1966 14)

Religion and secularization
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Contemporary theorists industrialization ?
secularization

• Industrialization as a secularizing force
• Rationalization knowledge increasing founded on
  rational scientific principles
• Functional differentiation functions once
  performed by churches now performed by
  specialized secular institutions
• Societalization urbanization means decline of
  localism and community
• Pluralism lack of religious monopoly compromises
  authority
• Declining social significance of religion on
  three levels
• Social structure
• Culture
• Individual behaviours
• beliefs
• See Wilson (1966) Berger (1967) Dobbelaere
  (2002) Norris and Inglehart (2004)

Religion and secularization
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Just how secular are contemporary industrial
societies?

• Throughout Europe, generally high levels of
  belonging to religious denominations

Source World Values Survey
Religion and secularization
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Just how secular are contemporary industrial
societies?

• Throughout Europe, generally high levels of
  belonging to religious denominations
• But also generally the case that few people
  attend church regularly
• Main exceptions are strongly Roman Catholic
  countries
• Otherwise, largely nominal belonging?

Source World Values Survey
Religion and secularization
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Just how secular are contemporary industrial
societies?

• Though low rates of formal religious
  participation, higher rates of private
  religiosity
• and rates of belief in God higher still
• A case of believing without belonging? (Davie
  2002)
• Individual significance of religion, but social
  significance?

Source World Values Survey
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Some challenges to the secularization thesis

• A golden age of faith?
• Secularization theorists mistaken about
  historically high levels of religiosity (Stark
  1999) (Gorski 2000)
• Growth of new religious movements
• Growing membership of non-Trinitarian churches
  (e.g. Christian Scientists, Mormons, Jehovahs
  Witnesses) in Britain from from 71,000 in 1900
  to 537,000 in 2000 (Brierley 1999)
• But growth only one sixth the members lost to
  main Christian churches

Source (Bruce 2001)
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Some challenges to the secularization thesis

• American exceptionalism?
• Religious participation and belief remain high in
  the USA
• with no noticeable decline in decades Bishop
  (1999)
• Despite substantial rationalization, functional
  differentiation, societalization and pluralism

Source World Values Survey
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Some challenges to the secularization thesis

• Religious economies model (Stark and Iannaccone
  1994) (Stark et al 1995)
• Argues that strength of religion in US due to
  pluralism
• Likewise, declining religion participation
• in Europe due to supply-side not
• demand-side factors
• Higher levels of religious participation
• linked to religious economies
• Operating as a free market
• rather than state regulated
• With pluralistic and competitive
• system of religious providers,
• rather than religious monopoly

Source US Census Bureau
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Some challenges to the secularization thesis

• Mixed evidence in relation to the religious
  economies model
• Some researchers find positive effects of
  pluralism, others negative effects (Voas et al
  2002)
• Problems with correlations being at least partly
  statistical artefacts of random variation in the
  size of religious groups across the areas studies
• On a more theoretical level
• if people are picking and choosing from a range
  of competing religious firms, is this the same as
  religion having a social significance?

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Some challenges to the secularization thesis

• Statistical artefact problem arises because
  direction ( or -) of relationship depends on
  whether variability in size is greatest for
  larger (-) or smaller () dominations

• Source Voas et al (2002)

Religion and secularization
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Religion and secularization

• Secularization theorists argue that the
  development of industrial societies itself brings
  about a declining social significance of religion
• Suggestion that in (Protestant) Europe, declining
  social significance of organized religion
• but religion surprisingly widespread in terms of
  individual beliefs
• Other challenges to secularization thesis from
  historic and recent trends in religious
  participation
• and from the religious economies model
  although empirical evidence is mixed to say the
  least
• Perhaps comes down to whether evidence
  challenging the secularization thesis really does
  indicate a continuing social significance?

Religion and secularization
Week 2 HT08