Postmodernity and Religion

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  • Created by: BWards18
  • Created on: 24-05-17 20:50
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  • Postmodernity and Religion
    • Grace Davie - 'Believing without Belonging'
      • Religion is not declining, simply changing form to a privatised way
      • Attendance to church is a matter of personal choice rather than obligation
        • Creating a 'Believing without Belonging' situation - people hold religious beliefs but don't go to church
      • However, people still use the church for rituals and rites of passage
      • Criticism - Statistics how church attendance and religious beliefs are both down
    • Hervieur - Leger - 'Spiritual Shopping'
      • Young people feel they don't have a fixed religious identity due to the decline in church attendance rates
      • Cosumerism has replaced tradition so now people feel they have a choice as consumers of religion - becoming 'Spiritual Shopper'
      • We can now fit religion around your life and individual preferences
      • You can take elements from religions and design your own religion
      • Two types of religious types ......
        • Pilgrims - Follow an individual path  for self-discovery
        • Converts - Join religious groups that have a strong sense of belonging
    • Lyon - 'Jesus in Disneyland'
      • Can now get instant access to remote religions due to globalisation
        • Religion becomes disembodied - the media lift them out of their original local contexts and move them to a different place and time
          • E.g. Televangelism in the USA taking religion out of churches
      • Religion Is becoming 'de-industrailised' - where signs and images are detached from their place in religious institutions
      • Loss of faith in meta narratives -theiries for worldwide views that claim to have absolute truth
        • Including traditional religions
      • Criticisms - Lacks evidence for other religious alternatives - doesn't attract new entrants
    • Stark and Bainbridge - 'Religious Market Theory'
      • Based on two assumptions ....
        • People are naturally religious and religion meets human needs
        • Its human nature to weigh up costs and rewards
      • Propose a cycle of religious decline, revival and renewal, so sects and cults involve when religion declines
        • Criticisms -  BRUCE argue that diversity has been achieved by religious decline in Europe and America
          • NORRIS and INGLEHART shows high levels of participation in Catholic/Mo poly countries
      • Competition leads to improvements in the quality go religious 'goods' on offer
        • Church attains brand loyalty through making their products look attractive - need religious oligopoly not religious monopoly
    • Norris and Inglehart - Existenial Security Theory
      • Religiousity varied between societies due to different degrees ion existential security
        • The feeling that survival is secure enough that it can be taken for granted
      • Religion meets a need for security for therefore needed more in low income countries
      • In Western Europe there is secularisation due to them being more secure
      • In the United States they are very religious as its the most unequal society with high levels of insecurity
        • Criticisms - Only use quantitative data and ignore positive reasons for religious participation

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