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Topic 4 - Coggle Diagram
Topic 4
Gender
*Stats:
-women are more likely to attend church than men
-2005, congregations were divided, 57% women and 43% men
-1990 84% of women believed in God
*Reasons for differences within this group:
-women take on expressive roles like childbirth, child rearing, taking care of the elderly which gives them a reason to pray and seek spiritual support
*Sociologists and their findings:
-Miller and Hoffman suggest 3 main reasons for more women:
1) women are more risk-averse compared to men so being religious reduces going to hell
2)women are more socialised to be passive which are qualities valued and reinforced by religion
3)women have more free-time to be religious
Greeley their role in taking care of the family increases women's religiosity as it involves responsibility for their welfare.
-Bruce women are more religious due to historically lower involvement in paid work. Religion is tied to private sphere (family) which is traditionally women's domain.
CRITICISM: 'triple shift' Oakley
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Why might women be attracted to New Age?
-new age movements often celebrate the 'natural' and involve cults of healing, which gives women a higher status and sense of self worth
Individual sphere?
-the individual sphere: concerned with individual autonomy and personal growth rather than role performance. This is useful for women in paid work that is experiencing conflict between their masculinised instrumental role and traditional, expressive role. The individual sphere bypasses conflict by creating a 3rd sphere.
Why are mc women attracted to NAM more than wc?
-as it focuses on personal autonomy, control and self-development whereas wc are more attracted to fatalistic ideas that offer comfort.
Glock and Stark studied the rise in participation of women in new religious movements. They argue that the increase is due to three types of deprivation suffered by women in society
1) social and economic deprivation: a lack of status in society, such as employment
2) ethical deprivation: the sense that there has been a moral decline in society and therefore some women want a return to traditionalism, a strong set of core values that they can relate to
3) Organismic deprivation: women are more concerned about their health than men and therefore may seek the comfort and healing that religions such as Christian Science claim to provide.
According to Brusco pentecostalism is attractive to women despite its patriarchal features as women would rather traditional roles rather than unemployed men spending money on prostitutes, alcohol and gambling.
Pentecostalism is a patriarchal religion as they= traditional gender roles a home and in the church. Popular with women in Latin America
Contemporary trends:
-recent decline in women's participation. This is because traditional religions have tended to be closely bound up with traditional gender roles, women's rejection to subordination has led them to reject the traditional religion at the same time
Ethnicity
*Stats:
-almost all minority ethnic groups in the uk are more religious than the white majority
-Younger muslims ion the uk had a greater knowledge of their religion than their parents
*Reasons for differences within this group:
-minority ethnic groups use religion to assist the process of immigration
-religion can be a basis for community for minorities as a way of maintaining culture and language and coping with oppression
*Sociologists and their findings:
-Bird: explanations for high levels of religiosity. More religion in countries of origin, religious groups provide community and identity, a way to cope with oppression, helps maintain cultural identity In terms of tradition, pressure on children to maintain
*Other notes:
-religion maintains cultural identity and tradition
-way of dealing with oppression
-religious socialisation, meaning children grow up with the pressure to maintain religious traditions of the parents
Cultural defence
What is cultural defence?
-religion in such situations offers support and a sense of cultural identity in an uncertain or hostile environment (Bruce)
How does this explain the higher religiosity of ethnic minorities?
-religion can be a basis for community, solidarity, a means of preserving one's culture and language, and a way of coping with oppression in a racist society (Bird)
Why may immigrants be more likely to be religious?
-a significant growth of new churches in London catering for specific languages and nationalities (Brierley)
Where is the evidence for cultural defence?
-For black African and Caribbean christians found that white churches in the UK did not actively welcome them and some turned to founding or joining black led churches, especially Pentecostal churches.
Cultural transition
What is cultural transition?
-Easing the transition into a new culture by providing support and a sense of community for minority groups in their new environment
How does it lead to increased religiosity?
-Herberg-> high levels of religious participation among first generation immigrants in the USA.
-Religion provides a focal point for many (Bruce)
How does cultural transition explain decreasing religiosity?
-once a group- such as Irish catholics, has made the transition into the wider society, religion may lose its role and decline in importance
Pryce's study shows both cultural transition an defence:
pentecostalism is a highly adaptive 'religion of the oppressed' that provided migrants with values appropriate to the new world. Helped African Caribbean's adapt to British society. On the other hand, Rastafarianism represented a different response for some African Caribbeans radically rejecting the wider society as racist and exploitative.
Age
*Stats:
-2021, christians identified oldest average age 51
-under 15s most likely go to church
-215 churches have no one under 11.5
*Reasons for differences within this group:
-younger adults less likely to engage in variety of religious practices
-age gap in religion depend on social and economic context
-aged 18-39 less likely to state religion as very important
*Sociologists and their findings:
-Voas and Crockett's 3 explanation for age differences in religion:
1)ageing effect: turn to religion as get older, more concerned about afterlife.
heelas argues that people become more interested in spirituality as they age. As we approach death we naturally become more concerned about spiritual matters and afterlife
2)generational effect: society more secular, each generation is less religious. 2 religious parents= 50% chance of a religious child. 1 parents= 25%
3)period of cohort effect: people born during a particular period made be more/less religious day to events like war and social change.
Arweck and Beckford
Spiritual collapse of religious socialisation:
-used to describe the significant breakdown in the intergenerational transmission of religious faith in the UK, after the 1960s.
-e.g. traditional Sunday schools enrolled a 1/3 of all 14yrs old, have all disappeared
Brierley argues that by 2025 young people will make up only 2.5% of church attenders and that half of all English churches will have no people under 20 attending at all.
He was wrong, not to that extent
Social class
*Stats:
-2015 survey= 62% of church-goers are mc whereas 38% were wc
*Reasons for differences within this group:
-religion is higher among the mc as it offers opportunities for social networking, they also wanted to show off their status
-Wc religion is a distraction from present suffering making their harsh reality more bearable, offering hope (Weber theodicy of dispriviledge)
*Sociologists and their findings:
-Weber's idea of a theodicy of disprivellege: explains how religious sects offer marginalised groups a religious justification for suffering, promising future rewards as compensation for present hardship, poverty or low social status
*Other notes:
-Religion maintains stability by creating false consciousness
-Wc are more likely to see comfort in religions
-historically there was a fairly close relationship between class and religious participation, however in the post modern world, that has now fragmented.
-Clemence found that those of higher economic status were less likely to be religious in comparison to members of the working class.