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Beliefs in Society - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Sociologists have identified a number of features of fundamentalism:
        
        An authoritative sacred text: For Christian fundamentalists, every word of the Bible is literallv true and eternally valid, with the answers to all life's important questions. They see biblical prophecies being fulfilled in today's world. Fundamentalists are intolerant of all other views and refuse to engage in rational argument.
        
        An 'us and them' mentality: Fundamentalists separate themselves from the rest of the world and refuse to compromise with it. They seek to establish islands of certainty against social and
        cultural chaos.
        
        Aggressive reaction to the threat to their beliefs and values.
        
        Use of modern technology to achieve their aims, e.g. the internet, televangelism and modern weaponry.
        
        Patriarchy Fundamentalists seek to control women's sexuality, reproductive powers, and social and economic roles.
        
        Conspiracy theories: Fundamentalists often believe that powerful, hidden, evil forces are in control of human destiny.
    - - Although fundamentalists appeal to tradition, fundamentalism is different from traditional religion. It arises only where those who hold traditional beliefs and values feel threatened by modernity.
        Davie (2013) thus argues that 'fundamentalists are themselves products of modernity'. The threat may come from outside, e.g. globalisation, or from within, e.g. from liberal attitudes to gender.
        • Cosmopolitanism Giddens (1999) sees fundamentalism as a reaction to modernity, which undermines traditional norms, e.g. about gender and sexuality. He contrasts it with cosmopolitanism - a way of thinking that embraces modernity, is tolerant, open and constantly reflects on and modifies beliefs ('reflexive' thinking).
        • Cosmopolitanism sees lifestyle as a personal choice, not something dictated by an external religious authority. It emphasises the pursuit of personal meaning and self-improvement rather than submission to authoritv.
    - - He is 'fixated on fundamentalism', ignoring other ways that globalisation and modernity affect religion.
        He lumps all types of fundamentalism together, ignoring differences.
        He claims fundamentalism is a reaction against modernity. But 'reinventing tradition', as fundamentalists do, is itself a modern, reflexive activity.
    - - Bruce (2007) sees the main cause of fundamentalism as the perception by religious traditionalists that globalisation threatens their beliefs and lifestyle. This leads them to develop rigid rules about belief and behaviour.
        However, Bruce regards fundamentalism as being confined to monotheistic religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity). Polytheistic religions (e.g. Hinduism) that believe in many gods are unlikely to produce fundamentalism.
    - - Bruce argues that while fundamentalists share the same characteristics such as belief in the literal truth of the sacred text, different fundamentalist movements have different origins.
        
        In the West: fundamentalism is usually a reaction to change within society, e.g. trends towards diversity and choice. So the New Christian Right in America has developed in opposition to family diversity, sexual 'permissiveness', gender equality and secular education
        
        In the Third World, fundamentalism is usually a reaction to changes being thrust on a society from outside, e.g. 'Western' values imposed by foreign capitalism. Here, fundamentalism involves resistance to the state's attempts to reduce the social influence of religion.
    - - Davie (2013) argues we are seeing the rise of secular fundamentalism as a result of changes in the nature of modern society. She distinguishes between two phases of modernity:
        The first phase ran from the time of the 18th century Enlightenment to the 1960s.
        
        The 'Enlightenment project' held an optimistic belief in the certainty of progress based on science and human reason.
        
        This helped to secularise all areas of social life, undermining religious certainties. Religious fundamentalism was one reaction to this secularisation process.
        
        The second phase is giving rise to secular fundamentalism.
        
        Since the 1970s, there has been a growing mood of pessimism, uncertainty and insecurity caused by changes such as globalisation
        
        At the same time, postmodernism emerged, arguing that secular Enlightenment ideologies such as liberalism and Marxism were simply meta-narratives whose belief in progress was unfounded
        
        As a result, these secular ideologies have come under attack and in reaction some people have been attracted to anti-religious fundamentalism, e.g. France has made it illegal to wear the veil in public.
        Ansell (2000) sees such trends as a form of cultural racism that uses the seemingly 'liberal' language of equality and integration. But in reality, it is about legitimating the exclusion of religious or cultural minorities.
        Davie arques that both religious and secular movements can become fundamentalist due to the greater uncertainties of the postmodern world, where reasserting truth and certainty is increasingly attractive.
  - - - Religion has been at the centre of a number of recent global conflicts, e.g. the '9/11' Islamist attacks in the USA
        
        Huntington (1993), an American neo-conservative, claims these conflicts have intensified since the collapse of communism in 1989 and are symptoms of a wider 'clash of
        -* He identifes seven divisations: Western, Latin American, Confucian (China), Japanese, Islamic, Hindu and Slavic Orthodox
        
        Each civilisation has common cultural background and is closely identified with one of the worlds great religions
        
        Since the fall of communism, religious difference have become a major source of identity. Globalisation also makes nation-states less important as a source of identitly and make, contact between civilisations easier, increasing the likelihood of old conficts re emerging
        
        Religious differences are creating a new set of hostile 'us and them' relationships, with increased competition between civilisations for economic and military power.
        Huntington sees history as a struggle of progress against barbarism' and predicts growing conflict between 'the West and the rest'.
    - - World Values Survey data indicates that the issue dividing the West from the Muslim word wot democracy but sexuality. Support for democracy is high in both the West and the Muslim world, but there are great differences in attitudes to divorce, abortion, gender equality and gay rights.
        While Western attitudes have become more liberal, in the Muslim world they remain traditional.
  - - - Bruce (2002) sees one function of religion as cultural defence - religion unites a community against an external threat and this often gives it a prominent role in politics. Religion has special significance for its followers because it symbolises the group or society's collective identity.
        Poland From 1945 to 1989, Poland was under communist rule imposed from outside by the Soviet Union. Although the Catholic Church did not always challenge the communist regime openly, it served as a popular rallying point for opposition, e.g. actively supporting the Solidarity free trade union movement that contributed to the fall of communism
        Iran Western capitalist powers and oil companies had long had influence in Iran, installing a pro-Western regime headed by the Shah. During the 1960s and 70s, his successor embarked on a policy of rapid modernisation and Westernisation. Islam became the focus for resistance to change and to the Shah. The 1979 revolution brought the creation of the Islamic Republic, in which clergy held state power and were able to impose Islamic Shari' a law.
  - - - According to secularisation theory, development undermines religion: modern science and technology destroy belief in the supernatural.
        
        However, religion may also contribute to development, e.g. Weber's claim that the Protestant ethic helped bring about modern capitalism.
        
        More recently, sociologists have examined the role religion plays in development in testays globalising world.
    - - Globalisation has brought rapid economic growth in India and rising prosperity to a new middle class. Nanda (2008) examines the role of Hinduism, the religion of 85% of the population, in legitimating the rise of a new Hindu 'ultra-nationalism' and the prosperity of the Indian middle class.
    - - According to secularisation theory, the prosperous, scientifically educated, urban middle class are precisely the people who will be the first to adopt a secular worldview. Yet surveys show that Indians are becoming more religious and that urban, educated Indians are more religious than rural, less literate Indians
        Nanda argues that this increasing religiosity is the result of the middle class's ambivalence about their newfound wealth, stemming from a tension between their new prosperity and the traditional Hindu belief in renouncing materialism.
        
        This is resolved by the modern holy men and tele-gurus who preach the message that desire is not bad, but a manifestation of divinity that motivates people to do things.
        
        These business-friendly versions of Hinduism legitimate the position of the middle class and allow them to adjust to globalised consumer capitalism.
        
        Hinduism also legitimates a triumphalist version of Indian nationalism. Politicians and the media constantly promote the view that India's success in the global market is due to the superiority of 'Hindu values'.
        
        Hinduism has also penetrated public life and the supposedly secular state; e.g. 'Hindu sciences' such as astrology are being taught as academic subjects in public universities and being used supposedly to predict natural disasters.
  - - - Berger (2003) argues that Pentecostalism in Latin America acts as a 'functional equivalent' to Weber's Protestant ethic, encouraging the development of capitalism in the same way as Calvinism did in 16th century Europe.
        
        Like Calvinism, Pentecostalism demands an ascetic (self-denying) way of life emphasising personal discipline and hard work. This encourages its members to prosper and become upwardly mobile.
        
        For Berger, something like Protestantism is necessary to promote economic development and raise a society out of poverty. This can be led by an active minority with an ethic of this-worldly asceticism, such as the Pentecostalists.
    - - In the last five centuries, Christianity has globalised itself by expanding into South America and Africa. Lehmann (2002) suggests the first phase of this was through colonisation, with Christianity being imposed on the indigenous populations by conquest.
        
        In the second phase, over the last century, it has spread because it gained a popular following from below, mainly through Pentecostalist and similar charismatic movements.
        
        Pentecostalism creates new local religious forms, incorporating existing local beliefs (e.g. spirit possession), rather than replacing them with ones imposed from outside.
        
        In Africa, this has led to the 'Africanisation' of Christianity rather than the total disappearance of indigenous religions.
- - - - Religion can be seen as a conservative force in two different senses:
        
        Conservative in the sense of 'traditional', e.g. defending traditional customs, institutions, or moral views.
        
        Conservative because it functions to conserve or preserve things as they are, maintaining the status quo.
    - - Most religions have traditional conservative beliefs about moral issues and oppose changes that allow individuals more freedom; e.g. the Catholic Church forbids divorce, abortion and artificial contraception.
        -Most religions uphold 'family values', supporting a traditional patriarchal domestic division of labour; e.g. Hinduism endorses the practice of arranged marriage.
    - - Religion is also conservative in the second sense of the word - functioning to conserve or preserve things as they are. This view of religion is held by functionalists, Marxists and feminists. In different ways, they each argue that it contributes to social stability.
    - - Functionalists see religion as a conservative force maintaining social stability and preventing disintegration, e.g. promoting social solidarity by creating value consensus and helping individuals deal with disruptive stresses.
        Marxists and feminists see religion as an ideology that supports the existing social structure and as a means of social control in the interests of the powerful:
        
        Religion and capitalism Marx sees religion as a conservative ideology preventing social change. By legitimating or disguising inequality, it creates false consciousness in the working class and prevents revolution.
        
        Religion and patriarchy Feminists see religion as a conservative force because it legitimates patriarchal power and maintains women's subordination in the family and society.
  - - - Weber (1905) in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism arques that the religious beliefs of Calvinism helped to boring about major social change - the emergence of modern capitalism in Northern Europe.
        
        Modern capitalism is unique because it is based on the systematic, efficient, rational pursuit of profit for its own sake, rather than for spending on luxuries. Weber calls this the spirit of capitalism.
        This spirit has unconscious similarity to the Calvinists beliefs and attitudes. Calvinism had several distinctive beliefs
    - - Predestination: God predetermines who will be saved - 'the elect' - and individuals can do nothing to change this.
        
        Divine transcendence: God is so far above and beyond this world that no human being could possibly claim to know his will - leaving the Calvinists to feel 'an unprecedented inner loneliness". This creates what Weber calls a salvation panic among Calvinists.
        
        Asceticism: Abstinence, self-discipline and self-denial.
        
        The idea of a vocation or calling to serve God - but in the everyday world of work, not in a monastery. Calvinism invented this-worldly asceticism, where a vocation means constant, methodical work in an occupation
        Calvinists led an ascetic lifestyle shunning all luxury, working long hours and practising rigorous self-discipline. As a result:
        
        Driven by their work ethic, they systematically accumulated wealth but did not spend it on luxuries (asceticism), instead reinvesting it in their businesses to produce further profit.
        
        They prospered and came to see this as a sign of God's favour and their salvation.
    - - Weber argued that Calvinist beliefs were only one of capitalism's causes. Certain material or economic factors were necessary, e.g. natural resources, trade, a money economy, towns, a legal system etc.
        There have been other societies with some of these factors, but where capitalism did not take off, due to the lack of a religious belief system like Calvinism. For example:
        
        Hinduism in ancient India was an ascetic religion, but was other-worldly - directing followers towards the spiritual world.
        
        Confucianism in ancient China, although a this-worldly religion that directed its followers towards the material world, it was not ascetic
  - - - The NCR is a politically and morally conservative, Protestant fundamentalist movement.
        It has gained prominence since the 1960s.
        
        The NCR's aims are to make abortion, homosexuality and divorce illegal and take the USA
        'back to God', turning the clock back to a time before the liberalisation of American society.
        
        The NCR believes in traditional family and gender roles, campaigns for the teaching of
        'creationism' and wants to ban sex education in schools.
        
        The NCR uses televangelism, where church-owned TV stations raise funds and broadcast programmes aimed at making converts.
        
        The Moral Majority, a right-wing Christian pressure group and part of the NCR, became the focus for political campaigning and for influencing the Republican Party.
        Bruce argues that the NCR has been largely unsuccessful because it has never had the support of more than 15% of the population at most. The democratic values of American society mean most Americans are comfortable with legalising activities such as abortion and homosexuality.
    - - The black civil rights movement of the 1950s/60s attempted to end racial segregation as blacks were denied legal and political rights in many Southern states; e.g. schools were segregated, inter-racial marriages forbidden and blacks often excluded from voting.
        
        The movement began in 1955 and direct action through protest marches, boycotts and demonstrations followed until, in 1964, segregation was outlawed.
        
        The black clergy led by Dr Martin Luther King were the backbone of the movement, giving support and moral legitimacy to activists. They shamed whites into changing the law by appealing to their shared Christian values of equality.
        Bruce sees religion in this context as an ideolodical resource - beliefs that protesters could draw on for motivation and legitimation. Religious organisations are well equipped to support protests and contribute to change, e.g. by:
        
        Taking the moral high ground
        
        Channeling dissent
        
        Acting as an honest broker
        
        Mobilising public opinion
  - - - Marxists are often thought of as seeing religion as an entirely conservative ideology - a set of ruling-class ideas that legitimate class inequalities.
        However, Marxists recognise that ideas, including religious ideas, can have relative autonomy - they can be partly independent of the capitalist economic base of society.
        Thus religion can have a dual character, sometimes being a force for change as well as stability.
    - - The Marxist Bloch (1959) sees religion as having a dual character. He accepts that religion often inhibits change, but argues that it can also inspire protest and rebellion. Religion is an expression of 'the principle of hope' - our dreams of a better life, containing images of utopia.
        
        Images of utopia can sometimes deceive people - e.g. promises of rewards in heaven - but they may also help people to create a vision of a better world and strive for social change.
    - - For centuries the Catholic Church in Latin America had been a very conservative institution encouraging acceptance of poverty and supporting wealthy elites.
        
        LT is a movement that emerged within the Catholic Church in Latin America in the 1960s, with a strong commitment to the poor and opposition to the military dictatorships that then ruled most of the continent.
        
        LT emerged because of the growth of rural poverty and urban slums throughout Latin America, and human rights abuses following military take-overs.
        
        LT emphasises 'praxis' - practical action guided by theory; e.g. priests leading literacy programmes and raising political awareness. Some priests actively resisted state terror.
        
        However, in the 1980s the Church's official attitude changed, the conservative Pope John Paul II condemning LT as being akin to Marxism.
        
        However, LT played an important part in resisting dictatorship and bringing about democracy in Latin America.
        
        The Pentecostal challenge LT now faces competition from Pentecostalism, which has made big inroads among the poor. While LT offers a radical solution: collective improvement through political action, Pentecostalism's solution is conservative: individuals must pull themselves out of poverty by changing their personal behaviour.
    - - Millenarian movements are an example of the desire to change things here and now, to bring about the kingdom of God on earth. Worsley (1968) argues that they expect the total and imminent transformation of this world by supernatural means, creating heaven on earth.
        
        They appeal mainly to the poor because they promise immediate improvement, and they often arise in colonial situations. European colonialism shattered the traditional tribal social structures and cultures of the colonised peoples.
        
        Worley studied the cargo cults - millenarian movements in Melanesia, where islanders felt deprived when 'cargo' (material goods) arrived in the islands for the colonists.
        
        Cargo cults asserted that the cargo had been meant for the natives but had been diverted by the whites for themselves, and that this was about to be overturned. These movements often led to widespread unrest.
    - - Gramsci (1971) is interested in how the ruling class maintain their control over society through ideas rather than simply through coercion (force).
        
        Hegemony - ideological domination or leadership of society - is the way the ruling class are able to use religion to maintain control; e.g. in Italy in the 1920s/30s, the conservative ideological power of the Catholic Church helped to win support for the fascist regime.
        
        However, in some circumstances religion can challenge the ruling class; e.g. it may help
        the working class to see through the ruling-class hegemony and some clergy may act as organic intellectuals - leaders who can support working-class organisations.
    - - Billings (1990) applies Gramsci's ideas in a case study comparing class struggle in two communities - coalminers and textile workers. Both were working-class and evangelical
        Protestant, but the miners were much more militant, struggling for better conditions.
        
        The differences in levels of militancy can be understood in terms of hegemony and the role of religion. The miners benefited from the leadership of organic intellectuals - miners who
        were also lay preachers.
- - - - For Durkheim, the key feature of all religions is a fundamental distinction between the sacred and the profane.
        
        The sacred are things set apart and forbidden, inspiring feelings of awe, fear and wonder, with taboos and prohibitions
        
        The profane are ordinary things that have no special significance
        Rituals A religion is more than a set of beliefs: it has sacred rituals or practices and these rituals are collective - performed by social groups.
        
        Durkheim argues that sacred things create powerful feelings in believers because they are symbols representing something of great power, and this thing can only be society.
        
        When people worship sacred symbols, they are worshipping society itself. For Durkheim, sacred symbols perform the essential function of uniting believers into a single moral community.
        
        Durkheim believed the essence of all religion could be found by studying its simplest form, in the simplest type of society. Thus he used studies of the Arunta, an Aboriginal Australian tribe with a clan system
        
        Among the Arunta, bands of kin come together to perform ritual worship of a sacred totem. The totem is the clan's emblem, such as an animal or plant that symbolises the clan's identity. The totemic rituals venerating it reinforce the group's solidarity and sense of belonging
        
        For Durkheim, when clan members worship their totem, they are in reality worshipping power of the group society - the totem inspires awe in the clan's members precisely because it represents the power of the group
    - - For Durkheim, the sacred symbols represent society's collective conscience or consciousness - the shared norms, values and beliefs that make cooperation between individuals possible.Without these, society would disintegrate.
        
        Regular shared religious rituals reinforce the collective conscience and maintain social integration.
        
        Rituals also remind individuals of the power of society - without which they themselves are nothing, and to which they owe everything.
        
        Thus, religion also performs an important function for the individual. By making us feel part of something greater than ourselves, it strengthens us to face life's problems.
    - - Functionalists see society as like an organism, with basic needs that it must meet to survive. Each institution performs certain functions to maintain the social system by meeting a need.
        
        Society's most basic need is for social order and solidarity. For functionalists, what makes order possible is value consensus - a set of shared norms and values for people to follow
        
        Durkheim (1915) argues that religious institutions play a central part in creating and maintaining value consensus, order and solidarity.
    - - Durkheim sees religion as also being the source of our cognitive capacities - our ability to reason and think conceptually
        
        In order to think at all, we need categories such as time, space etc
        
        Religion provides the concepts and categories we need for understanding the world and communicating with others. Durkheim and Mauss (1903) argue that religion provides basic categories such as time, space and causation - e.g. with ideas about a creator bringing the world into being at the beginning of time. For Durkheim, religion is the origin of human thought, reason and science.
    - - Malinowski (1954) argues that religion promotes solidarity by performing psychological functions for individuals, helping them cope with emotional stress that would undermine social solidarity. There are two situations where it perfroms this role:
        
        Where the outcome is important but uncontrollable and uncertain In his study of the Trobriand Islanders, Malinowski contrasts lagoon and ocean fishing. Lagoon fishing is safe but ocean fishing is dangerous and uncertain, so it is always accompanied by 'canoe magic' - rituals to ensure a safe expedition. This gives people a sense of control, which eases tension, gives them confidence to undertake hazardous tasks and reinforces group solidarity.
        
        At times of life crises Events such as birth, puberty, marriage and especially death are potentially disruptive changes. Malinowski argues that death is the main reason for the existence of religious belief.
    - - Parsons (1967) identifies two other essential functions of religion in modern society:
        
        It creates and legitimates society's basic norms and values by sacralising them (making them sacred). This promotes value consensus and social stability.
        
        It provides a source of meaning, answering 'ultimate' questions about life, e.g. why good people suffer. These may undermine our commitment to society's values.
        By answering such questions, religion helps people to adjust to adverse events and maintains stability
    - - Bellah (1970) argues that religion unifies society, especially a multi-faith society like America.What unifies American society is an overarching civil religion - a belief system that attaches sacred qualities to society itself. Civil religion is a faith in 'the American way of life'.
        
        Civil religion integrates society in a way that individual religions cannot. American civil religion involves loyalty to the nation-state and belief in God, both of which are equated with being a true American. It is expressed in various rituals, symbols and beliefs, e.g. the pledge of allegiance to the flag.
        
        It sacralises the American way of life and binds together Americans from many different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
  - - - For Marxists, ideology is a bellet system that distorts people's perception of reality in the interests of the ruling class.
        
        The class that controls economic production also controls the production and distribution of ideas, through institutions such as religion and the media.
        
        In Marx's view, religion operates as an ideological weapon used by the ruling class to legitimate (Justify) the suffering of the poor as something inevitable and god-given.
        Religion misleads the poor into believing they will be rewarded in the afterlife.
        
        Such ideas create a false consciousness - a distorted view of reality that prevents the poor from acting to change their situation.
        
        Lenin (1870-1924) describes religion as 'spiritual gin' that confuses the working class and keeps them in their place. The ruling class use religion to manipulate the masses and keep them from attempting to overthrow capitalism by creating a 'mystical fog' that obscures reality.
        
        Religion also legitimates the power and privilege of the dominant class by making their position appear divinely ordained. Disobedience is not just illegal, but a sinful challenge to God's authority.
    - - Marx (1844) also sees religion as the product of alienation - becoming separated from or losing control over something that one has produced or created.
        
        Under capitalism, workers are alienated because they do not own what they produce, have no control over the production process and in the factory-based division of labour, the worker endlessly repeats the same monotonous task.
        
        In these dehumanising conditions, religion is a form of consolation - it is 'the opium of the people. It is the sigh of the oppressed creature'.
        
        Religion acts as an opiate to dull the pain of exploitation. Its promises of the afterlife distract attention from the true source of the suffering, namely capitalism.
        
        However, some Marxists, such as Althusser (1971), reject the concept of alienation as unscientific. This would make the concept an inadequate basis for a theory of religion.
    - - Unlike functionalists, Marxists see all societies as divided into two classes, one of which exploits the labour of the other. In modern capitalist society, the capitalist class who own the means of production exploit the working class.
        This creates class conflict. Marx predicted that the working class would ultimately become aware of their exploitation and overthrow capitalism, leading to a classless society and an end to exploitation.
  - - - Woodhead (2002) argues that although much traditional religion is patriarchal, this is not true of all religion. There are 'religious forms of feminism' - ways women use religion to gain greater freedom and respect.
        
        While Western feminists often see the hijab (veil) worn by Muslim women as a symbol of oppression, to the wearer it may symbolise resistance to oppression: a symbol of liberation that enables her to enter the public sphere without losing her culture and history.
        
        Rinaldo (2010) argues that even in conservative religions, women may use religion to gain status and respect for their roles within the home and family; e.g. a strongly held belief among Pentecostal and evangelical Christians is that men must respect women.
        
        The position of women in liberal Protestant organisations is often more equal, e.g. since 1992, the Church of England has admitted women to the priesthood; about a fifth of its priests are now female. Other Protestant denominations, Reform Judaism and Sikhism all allow women priests.
    - - Religious organisations are mainly male-dominated; e.g. Orthodox Judaism and Catholicism forbid women from becoming priests. Armstrong (1993) sees women's exclusion from the priesthoods of most religions as evidence of their marginalisation.
        
        Places of worship often segregate the sexes and marginalise women in acts of worship, e.g. not being allowed to preach or to read from sacred texts. laboos that see menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth as polluting may also prevent participation.
        
        Sacred texts largely feature the doings of male gods and prophets and often reflect anti-female stereotypes, e.g. Eve who, in the Judaeo-Christian story of Genesis, caused humanity's fall from grace and expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
        
        Religious laws and customs often give women fewer rights than men, e.g. in access to divorce, dress codes etc. they may also lead to unequal treatment, e.g. genital mutilation, punishment for sexual transgressions. Many religions legitimate and regulate women's traditional domestic and reproductive role, e.g. the Catholic Church bans abortion and artificial contraception.
- - - - Crockett (1998) estimates that in 1851, 40% or more of the adult population of Britain attended church on Sundays, which led some to claim that the 19th century was a 'golden age' of religiosity.
        
        Wilson (1966) arques that Western societies have been undergoing a long-term process of secularisation, where 'religious beliefs, practices and institutions lose social significance'
        
        It is certainly the case that there have been some major changes in religion in the UK since the 19th century: a fall in the proportion of the population attending church, an increase in the average age of churchgoers, and greater religious diversity.
    - - Only about 6% of the adult population attended church on Sundays in 2005, halving since the 1960s and likely to fall further.
        
        Sunday school attendance, church weddings and baptisms are declining.
        
        Overall, religious affiliation (membership) is declining. Since 1983, adults with no religion have risen from a third to a half, and those identifying as Christian have fallen by a third.
        
        Some small organisations have grown. The number of Catholics has increased slightly, due to East European immigration. Non-Christian religions have also increased, due to immigration and higher birth rates.
    - - •Evidence from 80 years of surveys shows a decline in belief in God, in Jesus as the son of God and in Christian teachings about the afterlife and the Bible.
    - - Bruce (2002) agrees with Wilson that all the evidence on secularisation has shown that 'there is a steady and unremitting decline'.
        
        The influence of religion as a social institution is declining. Religion once affected every aspect of life, but now is relegated to the private sphere of individual and family.
        
        The state has taken over many of the functions the church used to perform, e.g. schooling.
        
        The number of clergy fell from 45,000 in 1900 to 34,000 in 2000, while the population increased in size, reducing the church's local, day-to-day influence.
        
        Bruce predicts that the Methodist Church will fold by 2030 and the Church of England will be merely a small voluntary organisation with a large amount of heritage property.
  - - - Rationalisation is the process by which rational ways of thinking and acting replace religious ones. Max Weber (1905) argues that Western society has undergone a process of rationalisation in the last few centuries.
        
        The 16th century Protestant Reformation undermined the religious worldview of the Middle Ages, replacing it with a modern rational scientific outlook.
        
        The medieval Catholic worldview saw the world as an 'enchanted (or magical) garden' in which God, angels etc. changed the course of events through their supernatural powers and miracle-working interventions.
        
        Disenchantment: The Protestant Reformation brought a new worldview that saw God as existing above and outside the world, not as intervening in it. The world had become disenchanted, left to run according to the laws of nature.
        
        Events were thus no longer to be explained as the work of unpredictable supernatural beings, but as the predictable workings of natural forces.
        
        Through reason and science, humans could discover the laws of nature, and understand and predict how the world works. Religious explanations of the world are no longer needed.
        
        This enables science to develop, giving humans more power to control nature, further undermining the religious worldview.
        A technological worldview: Bruce argues that a technological worldview has largely replaced religious explanations of why things happen. Religious worldviews only survive in areas where technology is least effective, e.g. praying for help if you are suffering from an incurable illness.
    - - Parsons (1951) defines structural differentiation as a process that occurs with industrialisation as many specialised institutions develop to carry out the different functions previously performed by a single institution, such as the church.
        
        Religion dominated pre-industrial society, but with industrialisation it has become a smaller and more specialised institution.
        
        Bruce agrees that religion has become separated from wider society and privatised in the home and family. Religious beliefs are now largely a matter of personal choice, while traditional rituals and symbols have lost meaning.
        
        Even where religion is involved in education or welfare, it must conform to secular controls; e.g. teachers in faith schools must hold qualifications recognised by the state.
        
        Church and state are usually separate in modern society, so the church loses political power.
    - - Wilson argues that in pre-industrial society, local communities shared religious rituals that expressed their shared values, but industrialisation destroys these stable local communities and so destroys religion's base.
        
        Bruce sees industrialisation creating large, impersonal, loose-knit urban centres with diverse beliefs, values and lifestyles. This diversity undermines the believability of religion.
        
        The rise of individualism leads to a decline in community-based religious belief and practice.
    - - Berger (1969) argues that another cause of secularisation is the trend towards religious diversity.
        
        In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church held an absolute monopoly and had no challengers.
        
        Since the 16th century Protestant Reformation, the number and variety of religious organisations has grown, each with a different version of the truth.
        
        Berger argues that this religious diversity undermines religion's 'plausibility structure' - its believability. Alternative versions of religion enable people to question all of them and this erodes the absolute certainties of traditional religion.
        
        Bruce sees the trend towards religious diversity as the most important cause of secularisation, because it is difficult to live in a world containing a large number of incompatible beliefs without concluding that none of them is wholly true.
    - - Bruce identifies two counter-trends that seem to contradict secularisation theory:
        
        Cultural defence Religion provides a focus for the defence of national or ethnic group identity in a struggle against an external force, e.g. Catholicism in Poland before the fall of communism.
        
        Cultural transition Religion provides a sense of community for ethnic groups living in a different country and culture.
  - - - Opinion polls asking people about church attendance suggest it has been stable at about 40% of the population since 1940. However, this figure may well be an exaggeration
        
        For example, Hadaway et al (1993) found that in one county in Ohio, the attendance level claimed in opinion polls was 83% higher than researchers actually counted going into church.
        
        Evidence suggests that this tendency to exaggerate churchgoing is a recent development.
    - - Bruce argues that in America, the emphasis on traditional Christian beliefs and glorifying God has declined. Instead, religion has become 'psychologised' - a form of therapy.
        
        American religion has remained popular by becoming less religious - it has become secularised from within. Its purpose has changed from seeking salvation in heaven to seeking personal improvement in this world.
    - - Bruce identifies practical relativism among American Christians - i.e. accepting that others are entitled to hold beliefs different to one's own.
        
        Lynd and Lynd (1929) found in 1924 that 94% of churchgoing young people agreed with the statement 'Christianity is the one true religion'. By 1977 only 41% agreed.
        
        Absolutism has been eroded - we now live in a society where many people hold views that are completely different to ours, undermining our assumption that our own views are absolutely true.
    - - In 1962, Wilson found that 45% of Americans attended church on Sundays, but this was more an expression of the 'American way of life' than of religious beliefs. For Wilson, America is a secular society, because religion there has become superficial.
        Bruce (2002) shares Wilson's view. He uses three sources of evidence to support his claim that America is becoming increasingly secular:
- - - - Grace Davie (2007) argues that religion is not declining but simply taking a different, more privatised form.
        
        People no longer go to church because they feel they have to, so although churchgoing has declined, this is because attendance is now a matter of personal choice rather than an obligation.
        
        We now have believing without belonging - people hold religious beliefs but don't go to church. Thus, the decline of traditional religion is matched by the growth of a new form of religion.
        
        There is a trend towards 'vicarious religion', where a small minority practise religion on behalf of a much larger number of people.
        
        In societies like Britain, despite low attendance, many people still use the churches for rites of passage - baptisms, weddings and funerals. They are a 'Spiritual Health Service', available for everyone to use when they need it.
        
        Davie rejects secularisation theory's assumption that modernisation affects every society in the same way. Instead there are multiple modernities; e.g. Britain and America are both modern societies, but with very different patterns of religion - high church attendance in America, low in Britain, but accompanied by believing without belonging.
    - - Danielle Hervieu-Léger (2000) supports the theme of personal choice and believing without belonging.
        
        There has been cultural amnesia - a loss of collective memory. People have lost the religion that used to be handed down from generation to generation through family and church.
        
        Greater equality has undermined the traditional Church's power to impose religion from above, so young people no longer inherit a fixed religious identity.
        
        However, while traditional institutional religion has declined, religion continues through individual consumerism. People have become spiritual shoppers. Religion is now individualised - we now develop our own 'do-it-yourself' beliefs.
        Hervieu-Léger argues that two new religious types are emerging:
        
        Pilgrims: follow an individual path in a search for self-discovery, e.g. New Age or through
        individual 'therapy'
        
        Converts join religious groups that offer a strong sense of belonging. This re-creates a sense of community, e.g. evangelical movements and ethnic minority churches.
    - - Lyon (2000) argues that postmodern society has several features that are changing the nature of religion - globalisation, the increased importance of the media and consumerism. As a result, traditional religion is giving way to new religious forms and these demonstrate its continuing strength.
        The relocation of religion: As a result of globalisation, there is increased movement of religious ideas across national boundaries, often via online religion.
        
        The media now saturate us with images and messages from around the globe, giving us instant access to the ideas and beliefs of previously remote religions.
        
        These ideas are 'disembedded' as the media lift them out of their local contexts and move them to a different place and time; e.g. televangelism relocates religion to the internet and TV, allowing believers to express their faith without attending church.
        
        So religion becomes de-institutionalised - its signs and images become detached from their place in religious institutions, floating and multiplying on TV and in cyber-space, a cultural resource that individuals can adapt for their own purposes.
        
        Religious consumerism: Postmodern society involves the idea that we now construct our identities through what we consume
        
        This is also true of religion: we are 'spiritual shoppers', choosing religious beliefs and practices to meet our individual needs, from the vast range on offer in the religious marketplace.
        
        We can pick and mix elements of different faiths to suit our tastes and make them part of our identitv.
        
        In Lyon's view, religion has relocated to the sphere of consumption. People may have ceased to belong to religious organisations, but have not abandoned religion. They have become 'religious consumers", making conscious choices about which elements of religion they find useful.
        
        One effect of having access to a great variety of different beliefs is loss of faith in 'meta-narratives' (worldviews that claim to have the absolute, authoritative truth, such as the traditional religions) because people become sceptical that any one of them is really true.
        Previously dominant organisations and traditions thus lose their authority and decline. In their place, many new movements spring up that consumers can 'sample'.
        Religion and spirituality are not disappearing; they are simply evolving into new forms that fit the consumerist nature of postmodern society.
        Re-enchantment of the world: Lyon sees recent decades as a period of re-enchantment, with the growth of unconventional beliefs and practices
        
        Although traditional religion has declined in Europe, Lyon points to the growth of non-traditional religion in the West and elsewhere.
    - - Many new forms of religion are New Age beliefs and practices. The New Age rejects obligation and obedience to external authority found in traditional religions. Instead it emphasises personal development, autonomy and one's 'inner self'.
        
        Its key idea is individualism: evervone is free to decide for themselves what is true. This is why New Age beliefs have been called 'self-spirituality' or 'self-religions'
    - - Some sociologists argue that a 'spiritual revolution' is taking place, with traditional Christianity giving way to a New Age spirituality that emphasises personal development and experience.
        
        The 'spiritual market' is growing, e.g. the huge number of books about self-help and spirituality and the many 'therapies', from meditation to crystal healing.
        Heelas and Woodhead studied Kendal to investigate whether traditional religion has declined and how far the growth of spirituality is compensating for this. They distinguish between:
        
        The congregational domain of traditional and evangelical Christian churches.
        
        The holistic milieu of spirituality and the New Age.
        
        They found that in a typical week in 2000, 7.9% of the population attended church (the congregational domain), and 1.6% took part in spiritual activities (the holistic milieu).
        
        Within the congregational domain, the traditional churches were losing support, while evangelical churches were holding their own. Although fewer people were involved in the holistic milieu, it was growing.
        
        Heelas and Woodhead explain these trends as follows:
        
        New Age spirituality has grown because of a massive 'subjective turn' in today's culture - a shift towards exploring your inner self by following a spiritual path. As a result, traditional religions, which demand duty and obedience, are declining.
        
        Evangelical churches are more successful than the traditional churches because they emphasise the subjective aspects: spiritual healing and growth through the personal experience of being 'born again'.
        
        In the spiritual marketplace, therefore, the winners are those who appeal to personal experience as the only genuine source of meaning and fulfilment, rather than the received teachings and commandments of traditional religion.
    - - Bruce argues that the New Age is too weak to fill the gap left by the decline of traditional religion:
        
        Scale: The growth of New Age religions would have to be on a much larger scale to fill the gap left by the decline of traditional religions.
        
        Socialisation: A belief system can only survive if it is passed down to the next generation. Yet in the Kendal study, only a minority of New Agers' children shared their parents' beliefs.
        
        Weak commitment: Serious commitment to New Age beliefs is rare.
        
        Structural weakness: New Age spirituality is a cause of secularisation because of its individualism. It lacks cohesion because everyone is free to believe whatever they wish.
  - - - Demand for religion increases when there is a choice, because consumers can find one that meets their needs. In the USA, religion is strong because a healthy market exists where religions grow or decline according to consumer demand. But where there is a religious monopoly, as in most European countries (e.g. the Church of England), lack of choice has led to decline.
    - - Stark and Bainbridge (1985) advocate religious market theory (also called rational choice theory).
        They criticise secularisation theory for its 'distorted view of the past and future: there was no past'golden age' of religion, nor is it likely that everyone will be an atheist in the future.
        Stark and Bainbridge base religious market theory on two assumptions:
        
        People are naturally religious and religion meets human needs.
        
        People make rational choices based on the costs and benefits of the available religious options
        
        Religion is attractive because it provides us with supernatural compensators when real rewards are unobtainable; e.g. immortality is unobtainable, but religion compensates By promising life after death.
        
        Only religion can provide such compensators, because only it can promise supernatural rewards
        
        Historical cycle: Stark and Bainbridge suggest there is a historical cycle of religious decline, revival and renewal: as established churches decline, they leave a gap in the market for new sects and cults.
        Competition Religious: market theorists argue that competition leads to improvements in the quality of the religious 'goods' on offer. Churches that make their product attractive will succeed in attracting more 'customers'
  - - - Norris and Inglehart (2004) reject religious market theory on the grounds that it only applies to America and fails to explain the variations in religiosity between societies.
        They argue that the reason for such variations is not different degrees of religious choice, but different degrees of existential security - 'the feeling that survival is secure enough that it can be taken for granted'.
        
        Religion meets a need for security, and so groups and societies where people feel insecure have a high level of demand for religion. These tend to be low-income groups and societies.
        
        This explains why poor Third World countries - and poor people in rich countries - remain religious, while people in prosperous Western countries are more secure and have become more secular.
    - - Western Europe is becoming more secular because these societies are relativelv equal and secure, with well developed welfare states which reduce insecurity among the poor, whereas the USA remains religious.
        Similarly, Gill and Lundegaarde (2004) argue that the more a country spends on welfare, the lower its level of religious participation
- - - - Troeltsch distinguished between two main types of organisation - church and sect.
        
        Churches are large, with millions of members, place few demands on members, have a bureaucratic hierarchy, claim a monopoly of truth and are universalistic, ideologically conservative and linked to the state
        
        Sects are small, exclusive groups demanding real commitment from members, are hostile to wider society, recruit from the poor and oppressed, often have charismatic leadership and believe they have a monopoly of religious truth.
    - - Niebuhr (1929) identifies denominations (e.g. Methodism) as midway between churches and sects. Membership is less exclusive, they broadly accept society's values, are not linked to the state and impose some minor restrictions, but are not as demanding as sects and are tolerant of other religions.
        Cults are the least organised of all religious organisations. They are highly individualistic, small, loose-knit groupings without a sharply defined belief system. Many are world-affirming.
    - - Since the 1960s, there has been a big increase in NRMs, e.g. the Moonies; Scientology. Wallis
        (1984) categorises NRMs into three groups based on their relationship to the outside world:
        
        World-rejecting NRMs (e.g. Moonies; Branch Davidian; the People's Temple) have a clear notion of God, are highly critical of the outside world and expect radical change. Members must break with their former life, live communally and have restricted contact with the outside world. The movement controls all aspects of their lives.
        
        World-accommodating NRMs (e.g. neo-Pentecostalists; Subud) are often breakaways from existing churches. They neither accept nor reject the world, focusing on religious rather than worldly matters. Members tend to lead conventional lives.
        
        World-affirming NRMs (e.g. Scientology; TM; Human Potential) often lack some of the conventional features of religion. They offer followers access to spiritual or supernatural powers and accept the world as it is, promising followers success in their goals. Followers are often customers rather than members
    - - Stark and Bainbridge (1985) arque that just one criterion is needed to distinguish between religious organisations - the degree of tension between the group and wider society. Two kinds of organisation are in conflict with wider society - sects and cults:
        
        Sects result from splits in existing organisations breaking away and offering other-worldly benefits to those suffering economic or ethical deprivation.
        
        Cults are new religions (e.g. Scientology) or ones that have been imported (e.g. TM).
        They offer this-worldlv benefits to individuals suffering psychic or health deprivation.
        Stark and Bainbridge subdivide cults according to how organised they are.
        
        Audience cults - the least organised, with no formal membership and little interaction between members.
        
        Client cults - a consultant/client relationship, with 'therapies' promising personal fulfilment.
        
        Cultic movements - more organised, exclusivist, requiring high levels of commitment, claiming to meet all their members' religious needs.
  - - - Weber (1922) argued that sects appeal to disprivileged groups who are marginal to society
        
        Sects offer a solution to their lack of status by offering their members a theodicy of disprivilege - a religious explanation of their disadvantage.
        
        Many sects and millenarian movements have recruited from the marginalised poor.
    - - It is possible for someone who is quite privileged nevertheless to feel deprived compared with others; e.g. some middle-class people may feel spiritually deprived. People may then turn to sects for a sense of community. Stark and Bainbridge argue that it is the relatively deprived who break away from churches to form sects.
    - - Wilson (1970) argues that periods of rapid change undermine established norms, producing anomie (normlessness). Those most affected may turn to sects, e.g. Methodism during the industrial revolution. Social change may also stimulate the growth of NRMs today:
        
        World-rejecting NRMs (WRNRMs) Social changes from the 1960s gave young people freedom, enabling an idealistic counter-culture to develop, while the growth of radical political movements offered alternative ideas about the future. WRNRMs were attractive because they offered a more idealistic way of life
        
        World-affirming NRMs (WANRMs) have grown in response to modernity. Modernity brings the rationalisation of work, which ceases to be a source of identity, and the need to achieve.
        WARMs provide both a sense of identity and techniques promising worldly success.
    - - How do sects and NRMs change over their 'lifetime'?
        Denomination or death Niebuhr (1929) argues that sects are world-rejecting organisations that come into existence by splitting from an established church. Within a generation, they either die out or compromise with the world, abandoning their extreme ideas to become a denomination.
        The sectarian cycle Stark and Bainbridge (1985) see religious organisations moving through a cycle: schism (splitting from a church); initia/ fervour and charismatic leadership; denominationalism and cooling of fervour; establishment, as the sect becomes world-accepting; further schism.
        Established sects Wilson (1966) argues that not all sects follow this pattern - it depends on how the sect answers the question, 'What shall we do to be saved?
        
        Conversionist sects, whose aim is to convert large numbers of people, are likely to grow rapidly into larger denominations.
        
        Adventist sects keep themselves separate from the corrupt world, which prevents them from compromising and becoming a denomination.
        
        Established sects Some sects survive for many generations, e.g. Amish and Mormons.
    - - Heelas (2008) estimates that audience or client cults in the UK cover about 2,000 activities and 146,000 practitioners. They are extremely diverse, including belief in UFOs, astrology, crystals, alternative medicine, yoga, meditation etc. Heelas (1996) suggests two common themes among the New Age:
        
        Self-spirituality New Agers seeking the spiritual have turned away from traditional
        'external' churches and instead look inside themselves to find it.
        
        De-traditionalisation The New Age rejects the spiritual authority of external traditional sources such as priests and instead values personal experience.
    - - Drane (1999) argues that New Age appeal is part of a shift towards postmodern society. air People have lost faith in experts (e.g. scientists) and are disillusioned with the churches' failure to meet their spiritual needs.
        The New Age and modernity Bruce (1995) argues that the growth of the New Age is a feature of the latest phase of modern society, not postmodernity
        
        Modern society values individualism (a key principle of New Age beliefs), which is also an important value among those in the 'expressive professions' concerned with human potential, e.g. social workers, artists.
        
        New Age eclecticism ('pick and mix spiritual shopping') is typical of late modern society, reflecting consumerism.
      - Heelas (1996) sees the New Age and modernity as linked in four ways:
        
        A source of identity In modern society, the individual has a fragmented identity. New Age beliefs offer a source of 'authentic" identity
        
        Consumer culture creates dissatisfaction. The New Age offers an alternative way to achieve perfection.
        
        Rapid social change in modern society creates anomie. The New Age provides a sense of certainty and truth
        
        Decline of organised religion leaves the way open to the New Age as an alternative.
  - - - More women than men believe in God, sin etc and participate in religious activities. In 2005, 1.8 million women were churchgoers as against 1.36 million men.
        
        Bruce (1996) estimates twice as many women as men are involved in sects. Heelas and Woodhead (2005) found 80% of the holistic milieu in Kendal were female.
        Socialisation and gender role Miller and Hoffman argue women are more religious because they are socialised to be more passive, obedient and caring - qualities valued by most religions.
        
        Davie (1994) argues that women's closer proximity to birth and death brings them closer to 'ultimate' questions about life that religion is concerned with.
        Paid work Bruce (2011) argues that women's greater religiosity is a result of their lesser involvement in paid work, which is a secularised sphere.
        Women and the New Age As women are more often associated with a healing role, they may be more attracted than men to New Age movements.
        
        Bruce argues child-rearing makes women less aggressive and more cooperative and caring fitting the expressive emphasis of the New Age
        
        Brown (2009) argues that New Age religions appeal to women's wish for autonomy. They may be attractive because they emphasise being 'authentic'. Woodhead (2001) suggests they appeal to the 'individual sphere' of women's inner self rather than acting out restrictive social roles. However, others may be attracted to fundamentalism because of the certainties of a traditional gender role that it prescribes.
        
        Bruce (2011) points out that there are class differences in the New Age beliefs that appeal to women. Those emphasising personal autonomy appeal to some middle-class women; working-class women are more attracted to fatalistic ideas such as horoscopes.
        
        Compensation for deprivation Glock and Stark argue that deprivation is more common among women. This explains their higher level of sect membership:
        
        Organismic deprivation Women are more likely to suffer ill health and seek healing.
        
        Ethical deprivation Women are more morally conservative and thus attracted to the conservatism of some sects.
        - Social deprivation Women are more likely to be poor and therefore join sects.
        Recent UK trends Although women generally remain more likely than men to be religious, there has been a decline in women's participation in religion. Possible reasons include their movement into paid work and their rejection of traditional subordinate gender roles.
    - - Since the 1970s, Pentecostalism has grown rapidly, particularly among the poor in Latin America. Despite being generally regarded as patriarchal, it has proved attractive to women
        
        Brusco (2012) arques that this is because Pentecostalism demands that its followers adopt an ascetic lifestyle and a traditional gender division of labour. Pentecostal women can use these ideas to combat the culture of machismo. Men are pressured by their church to change their ways, act responsibly and support their families.
    - - There are higher than average rates for most minority groups. Muslims, Hindus and black Christians are more likely to see religion as important. There are several possible reasons:
        
        Country of origin Most minorities originate from countries with higher levels of religious practice and they maintain this pattern in the UK
        
        Cultural defence Religion offers a cultural identity in a hostile environment, a means of preserving one's culture and coping with oppression in a racist society
        
        Cultural transition Religion is a means of easing the transition into a new culture by providing support and community for minority groups in their new environment. But once a group has made the transition into the wider society, religion may lose its role.
    - - The older a person is, the more likely they are to attend religious services.
        There are three possible explanations for age differences in religiosity:
        
        The ageing effect As we approach death, we may become more concerned about the afterlife and so more likely to go to church.
        
        The period effect People born in an earlier period may be more likely to be religious because of the events they lived through, such as war or rapid social changes
        
        Secularisation As religion declines in importance in society, each generation becomes less religious than the one before it. Voas and Crockett (2005) found this to be the main reason why younger people are less religious than older people..
- - - - Marxism sees society as divided into two opposed classes: a capitalist ruling class and a working class forced to sell their labour.
        The capitalist class exploit workers' labour to produce profit.
        
        It is in the workers' interests to overthrow capitalism by revolution and create a classless communist society. However, revolution cannot occur until the working class become aware of the reality of their exploitation - class consciousness.
        
        Ruling-class ideology or hegemony (ideological leadership of society) prevents class consciousness developing by legitimating capitalism.
        
        However, Gramsci (1971) believes that ultimately the working class will overthrow capitalism, led by a party of class-conscious 'organic intellectuals'
    - - Nationalism is an important political ideology. It claims that nations are real communities, each with its own unique characteristics. However, Anderson (2006) argues that a nation is only an 'imagined community' but nationalism can bind millions of strangers together and create a sense of common purpose.
        Marxists see nationalism as false consciousness that helps to prevent the overthrow of capitalism by dividing the international working class. Functionalists see nationalism as a secular civil religion that integrates everyone into a single community, regardless of differences such as religion or class
        Gellner sees nationalism as a key feature of modernity. Industrialisation creates large-scale, impersonal societies with a complex division of labour. Nationalism uses education to impose a single standard, national culture on every member of society, making communication and economic cooperation between strangers possible.
        Gellner argues that elites also use nationalism as an ideology to motivate the population to endure the hardships that accompany industrialisation, thereby enabling a state to modernise.
    - - Feminists see gender inequality as legitimated by patriarchal ideology.
        • Religious beliefs and practices often define women as inferior; e.g. menstruating women regarded as unclean and excluded from rituals.
    - - 'Ideology' refers to a belief system, worldview or set of ideas. The term often includes negative aspects, e.g. beliefs that are false or offer a partial/biased view of reality; conceal the interests of a aroup or legitimate (justify) inequalities; prevent change by misleading people about their situation; are irrational and closed to criticism.
  - - - Popper (1959) claims science is an 'open' belief system, open to criticism and testing.
        
        Science is based on the principle of falsificationism: scientists try to falsify existing theories by seeking evidence to disprove them. If evidence contradicts a theory, the theory is discarded and a better one sought. In this way, knowledge grows
        
        However, scientific knowledge is not absolute truth. It can always be tested and potentially falsified.
        The CUDOS norms Merton (1973) argues that science as an organised social activity has a set of norms ('CUDOS') that promote the growth of knowledge by encouraging openness:
        
        Communism Knowledge must be shared with the scientific communitv.
        
        Universalism Scientific knowledge is judged by universal, objective criteria (testing).
        
        Disinterestedness Seeking knowledge for its own sake.
        
        Organised Scepticism Every theory is open to criticism and testing.
    - - Horton (1970) distinquishes between open and closed belief systems. Like Popper, he sees science as an open belief system. However, religion is a closed belief system: it makes knowledge-claims that cannot be overturned.
        
        A closed belief system has 'get-out clauses' that prevent it from being disproved in the eyes of its believers.
        
        Polanyi (1958) argues that belief systems have three devices to sustain themselves in the face of contradictory evidence: circularity; subsidiary explanations and denying legitimacy on to rival beliefs.
    - - Scientific paradigms Kuhn (1970) arques that a science such as physics is based on a paradigm (set of shared assumptions).
        This tells scientists what reality is like, defining problems, methods, equipment and even likely research findings
        Most of the time, scientists are engaged in normal science within the paradigm.
        
        Scientists who challenge the paradigm are likely to be ridiculed - except during periods of scientific revolution, when accumulated evidence undermines it.
    - - Interpretivists argue that scientific knowledge is socially constructed.
        
        Knorr-Cetina (1999) argues that what scientists study in the laboratory is highly'constructed' and far removed from the 'natural' world they are supposedly studying.
        
        Woolgar (1988) argues that scientists have to persuade the scientific community to accept their interpretations of the world. A scientific fact is simply a shared, socially constructed belief
    - - Marxism and feminism see science as serving the interests of dominant groups - the ruling class or men respectively. Many scientific developments are driven by capitalism's need for knowledge to make profit. Postmodernists also reject science's claims to have 'the truth.
        Some arque that science has become technoscience, serving capitalist interests by producing commodities for profit.