Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Beliefs in Society - Religion, choice and postmodernism - flashcards done …

- - - - religion is no longer inherited or imposed, but a matter of personal choice,
      - in today's late modern society, we are seeing a major change in religion, away from obligation and towards consumption
    - - religion is not declining but simply taking a different, more privatised form. People are increasingly reluctant to belong to organisations, whether these are churches, political parties or trade unions.
    - - there is a trend towards 'vicarious religions' - religions practiced by an active minority on behalf of the great majority, who thus experience religion at second hand.
      - in Europe the major national churches are seen as public utilities (Spiritual Health Service), that is there for everyone to use whenever they need to - people don't usually use the church still retain a connections for times of need.
    - - Voas and Crockett x
        
        do not believe that there is more believing than belonging - 5,750 respondents show that church attendance and belief in God are declining together.
      - Bruce x
        
        if people are not willing to invest time in going to church, this just reflects the declining strength of their beliefs.
- - - - this gives it a distorted view of the past and future (only based on Europe and not the rest of the world)
      - argues that there was no golden age of religion in the past which secularisation theory implies
      - argues that it is not realistic to predict a future end point for religion when everyone will be an atheist
    - - 1) people are naturally religious and religion meets human need. Because of this, the need for religion remains constant
      - 2) it is human nature to seek rewards and avoid costs. When people make choices, they weigh up the costs and benefits of the different options available.
    - - when real rewards are scarce ot unobtainable religion compensates us by promising supernatural ones.
      - as a result, religion is always changing. instead of disappearing completely, new forms of religion replace new ones, to meet the constant need
        
        this leads to religions operating like companies selling goods to the market
  - - - religions needs to constantly appeal to people through adapting their products to the demands of potential customers.
    - - America
        
        religion thrives because there is no religious monopoly
        
        this has encouraged the growth of a healthy religious market where religions grow or decline according to consumer demand
        
        people are able to weight up cost/benefit of participation in different religions
        
        there has always been a great variety of denominations to choose from
      - Europe
        
        most European countries have been dominated by an official state church which has a religious monopoly
        
        competition has been held back - lack of choice has led to decline
        
        state reinforces the status of the recognised church - legislation, subsidies and major holidays/festivals
  - - - rejects the view that diversity and competition increase the demand of religion.
      - Stark and Bainbridge misinterpret secularisation theory, as it does not claim that there was a past 'golden age' of religion.
    - - argues that RMT fails to explain religiosity in different countries
      - Examples - there is high levels of participation in Ireland, Italy and Spain, where there is only one main option for religion Catholicism
    - - it is un-sociological - it assumes people are 'naturally' religious and fails to explain why they make the choices they do.
    - - impacts on the quality of religion on offer - being watered down (is it still religion - Disneyisation - Lyon)
- - - - religion meets a need for security and therefore societies where people feel secure have a low demand for religion
      - religion therefore provides a sense of confidence and predictability in a threatening and uncertain world.
      - Europe V America
        
        in western Europe the tend is towards increasing secularisation - high welfare and security
        
        the US remains more religious due to the high income inequality and lack of stability in a 'dog eat dog' society
- - - - TV programmes/websites that present a preacher and a religious service online so that believers no longer need to go to church to express their faith
      - in the USA there are 1,064 religious radio stations, and 25 religious TV stations, and the number is continuing to grow (1 per week)
      - Lyon argues that this is because the postmodern world is media saturated - religion has become 'disembedded' from real, local churches to the TV and internet
        
        as a result religions has become 'de-institutionalised' - removed from its original location/institution and is 'floating in cyberspace'
    - - role of religion is to suit the needs of the individual, rather than society as whole.
      - postmodern society also includes the growth of consumerism - construct our religion through what we choose to consume - LINK - Hervieu-Leger (spiritual shoppers)
        
        'Jesus in Disneyland - contemporary disciples of Jesus have used Disneyland for religious events, while Disney characters are now probably better known throughout the world than many biblical figures.
        
        as a result, Lyon argues that religion is not declining, but changing form to fit the postmodern world.
        
        In the West, many religious institutions have declined in social significance - however, 'the religious realm' is flourishing in diverse forms
        
        one effect of religious consumerism - the loss of metanarratives
        
        re-enchantment of the world - society is now entering a period of re-enchantment (the growth of unconventional beliefs, practices and spirituality)
  - - - refers to the majority of religious websites, which seemed to provide only religious information and no interaction - used to address potential concerns
    - - cyber-religion (which may not exist outside of the internet), websites where people could act with unrestricted freedom and a high level of interactivity
      - this is a radical new alternative that may be replacing religion in order to suit individualistic needs
    - - hoover et al
        
        for most users, online religion is supplementing their church-based activities, rather than a substitute for them
  - - - Religion
        
        life as duty; self-sacrifice; deference; conforming with external authoprity; traditional family life;
        
        future - out of step and losing ground
      - Spirituality
        
        life as discovery; personal development; autonomy; connecting with your inner self; individualism within the family.
        
        future - growing and gaining grownd.
      - A spiritual revolution
        
        the aim of the study was to map patterns of religion and spirituality in Kendal and exploring questions (different forms; relative importance; meaning and significance of religion)
        
        Results
        
        traditional churches were losing support, whereas Evangelical churches were 'holding their own'. Holistic milieu are slowly increasing
        
        "religion that tells you what to believe and how to behave is out of tune with a culture which believes it is up to us to seek answers for ourselves."
        
        churches are declining because they demand obedience and duty, where as people want to explore their own paths
        
        7.9% attended church, and 1.6% took part in the HM activities
        
        However - there was a lack of commitment and socialisation of the future generation into the HM activities. As a result, it lacked importance to their lives, and prevented a secured base of attendance.
        
        only 32% of parents who were involved in the New Age religions said that their children shared their spiritual interests.
  - - - although people dabbled in meditation, alternative medicine and astrology, serious commitment was quite rare. Not many people practising New Age alternatives said that they were important in their lives.
    - - Even in New Age forms of individualised religion are springing up, this would have to be on a much larger number if it is to fill the gap left by more traditional religions
    - - New Age spirituality is unlikely to fill the gap left by the decline in traditional religions because it cannot achieve consensus about its beliefs. People are free to believe what they want and so it lacks cohesion as a movement.
    - - For a belief system to survive, it must be passed down to the next generation. However, in the Kendal project only 32% of parents who were involved in the New Age religions said that their children shared their spiritual interests.
      - furthermore, women in the holistic milieu are more likely to be childless.
    - - secularisation theory is Eurocentric and religion is growing in other parts of the world.
        
        secularisation theory is wrong not because religion has changed, but actually remained largely the same in most parts of the world.
        
        Example - Muslims across the Islamic world, see Islam as not having been dis-embedded from the mosque of from its traditional context.
      - Postmodernists neglect the the fact that for the vast majority of these religious people, religion is still traditional and carry out its traditional functions.
    - - most of the audience at home will also attend religious ceremonies as there things are marketed at a religious audience
      - modern technology extends the possible reach of a religious message, but is does not necessarily change the fundamental nature of that message, or its meaning to the audience.
    - - although there has been a growth in New Age movements they do not come close to challenging the popularity of major religions or indeed atheism.
      - Bruce's theory of 'believing without belonging does not apply, as many people do not really believe very much
  - - - the idea that people can choose their own truth is another factor in a resacrilisation of society
    - - in modernity, people were looking for theories that were always right - universal truths
      - this would give postmodern people the belief, theory or truth that would help them at the time and place they were in.
      - Berger x
        
        lack of reflectivity fed secularisation theory - sociologist departments occupied a secular universe, and assumed everyone else did to.