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Religion, Renewal and Choice - Coggle Diagram
Religion, Renewal and Choice
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Religious Market Theory
Religious Market Theory (Stark and Bainbridge): compensators, cycle, America vs. Europe, supply-led religion etc.
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America vs Europe
religion thrives in the USA --> no religious monopoly + freedom of religion + separation of the church and the state --> growth of a healthy religious market
secularisation in Europe --> dominated by an official state church + religious monopoly (eg. Church of England) --> no competition, less choice, religious decline
Supply not demand --> participation increases when there is ample supply of religious groups to choose from
supply-led religion (demand for religion influenced --> the quality and variety of religion and its response to people’s needs)
Hadden and Shupe (1988): growth of “televangelism” in America --> religious participation is supply-led --> increase in religious broadcasts in the 1960s --> competition --> evangelical churches thrived from --> televangelism responded to consumer demand by preaching “prosperity gospel” (acquiring wealth through faith --> American Dream)
Finke (1997): increase in Asian immigration into America in 1960s --> Asian religions set up (eg. Hare Krishna and Transcendental Meditation) --> more options
growth of evangelical megachurches in the USA, South Korea --> large congregations + resources + activities (movies, multimedia, songs)--> meet needs of customers.
Stark (1990): Japan --> free market in religion stimulates participation. 1945, Shintoism --> state religion + other religions suppressed. after World War, religion de-regulated + new religions (eg. Soka Gakkai) thrived
Criticisms
Bruce (2011): rejects diversity and competition --> increase the demand for religion --> diversity + religious decline in Europe and America.
Bruce: S+B misrepresent secularisation theory --> no “golden age” of religion or everyone are atheists --> instead, religion is in long-term decline + not universal + only applies to Europe and America.
Norris and Inglehart (2011): high levels of religious participation exist in Catholic countries --> Church has a monopoly (eg. Ireland and Venezuela). countries with religious pluralism (eg. Holland and Australia) have low levels of participation
Beckford: unsociological --> assumes people are “naturally” religious + fails to explain why they make choices
