Category: secularization
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Religious Pluralism: Evidence of Secularization?
Durkheim’s view of religion implied that a truly religious society could only have one religion in that society. In Durkheim’s analysis this was the situation in small-scale, Aboriginal societies, where every member of that society comes together at certain times in the year to engage in religious rituals. It was based on observations of such…
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Structural Differentiation and Religion
According to Talcott Parsons, the disengagement of the church from social life might not necessarily mean that the church is any less important at a social level. Parsons argues that societies evolve through a process of ‘structural differentiation’ – as societies become more complex, a greater variety of more specialized institutions evolved. Parsons accepts that…
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Disengagement as Evidence of Secularization
Within the secularization debate, disengagement is the process of religious institutions becoming less involved in political and social life. It is the general withdrawing of religious institutions from wider society. If we take a long term view and compare the role of the church in British society today with its role in medieval times, religious…
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Evidence for Secularization
Secularization is the declining social significance of religion in society. The extent of secularization is usually ascertained (for the purposes of A-level sociology) by using three broad indicators: belonging, behaving, and belief, and there are numerous specific measures associated with each indicator. This post aims to provide brief revision notes on some of the contemporary…
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Theories of Secularization: Rationalization and the Disenchantment of Society
According to Weber, the rationalization of society led to the disenchantment of society and as a result religious motives for action were replaced by rational motives for action. This post considers arguments and evidence for and against this theory. Max Weber argued that modern society was ‘characterized by rationalization and intellectualization, and, above all, ‘by…
