Decline In Religious Beliefs example essay topic

ContentsSecularisation In North Somerset Page Rationale 2 Context 3 Methodology 6 Final Questionnaire 8 Evidence 10 Evaluation 14 Pilot Questionnaire 16 Bibliography 18 Research Diary 20 Rationale Religion and society has always been a focus of interest for me. I have been intrigued by what kinds of people attend church on a regular basis and whether today's society is becoming secular. I have noticed the decline in the influence and practice of religion. I have decided to carry out my individual assignment on whether the decline in religion in Somerset is a myth or whether we are becoming a secular society. I have chosen this area of study as I have noticed the decline in mainstream religion. The definition of secularization according to Bryan Wilson, the arch proponent for the secularization thesis, is:' The process whereby religious thinking, practices and institutions lose their social significance.

' ; Therefore in my study I will research into the decline of the social significance on those factors. I will look into what influence mainstream religions still have on the society and I will also look into whether sects and cults are increasing in popularity or whether privatized religion is soon becoming the dominant religious type in my local area. So my hypothesis is: \n Mainstream religious influences are in decline in the North of Somerset. The objectives for my individual assignment are as follows: Carry out my pilot questionnaire and make any needed amendments.

Conduct the questionnaire on a wide scale basis using research participants who would be opportunity sampled. Trying to spread the questionnaire to a range of age groups so I can map a trend between religion and the ages of those who attend or participate in religious activities. Collect and analyse the collected data into graphical forms and produce the findings. Reflect on my research process. Relate my own research with previous studies and determine whether Somerset fits into the natural pattern of previous research. Refer back to my hypothesis and determine whether my findings support or disprove it.

Try to find any links as to why Somerset is becoming secular, if my results show this. Context Bryan Wilson (1966) introduced the key sociological concept of secularization; the term used to describe the decline in religion. Wilson defined secularization as: 'the process whereby religious thinking, practice and institutions lose social significance'. Wilson argues that religious influence has decreased in the past 100 years. Wilson's research showed that church attendance has decreased but religion is still important nowadays, this shows belief without belonging.

In a later study Wilson looked at the 1987 Church of Scotland Survey and found that over half of the population saw themselves as Christians. And 28% were unsure about their religion. Also over half of the sample regularly prayed. This would show that religion still has a big influence on. This argument would prove my hypothesis worthy as Wilson's arguments supports it.

However Wilson has been criticised for having a christi o-sociological view as he has solely measured secularization on British Christianity. This would only show a decline in religion in Britain and the trend could not be generalised. Holbourn argues that 'the national, regional, ethnic and social class differences in the role of religion... make it necessary to relate theories to specific countries and social groups. ' This is why I am focusing my research into a specific area such as Somerset as it would not be an accurate generalisation for different regions.

Steve Bruce states that 'the high point for British churches was between 1860 and 1910, when around 28% of the adult population were active members. The corresponding figure now would be about 12%'. This can be critiqued as there are many different measures of church membership where some would measure by the census, whereas others could measure by how many attended church on a certain day in that year. His research into official statistics on the decline of religion have shown that in the 1851 consensus it showed 40% of the whole population attended church, then 140 years later in 1991 it had dropped to just 10% of the whole population who attended church. Bruce sees this decline happens for many reasons but rules out one reason straight away, 'it is certainly not the case that belief in spirits and gods has declined'. This supports my hypothesis as it shows that beliefs are just changing and not declining.

Bruce comments how many people see the church as a place to go for specific rituals and not attend on a regular basis. Bruce also states that the decline in mainstream religion and religious influence has been since the 1930's. However David Martin has critiqued Bruce stating that there was no 'Golden Age'; of religiosity. He states that the relatively high attendance rates in Victorian Britain may have been influenced by non-religious factors, such as church going was seen as a sign of middle class respectability to a greater extent than it is today.

Many Victorians would have attended church to be seen rather to express their religiosity. In contrast, others such as Cap low and Finke (1992) have argued that 'religious pluralism in the USA explains the continued popularity of religion'. Where there is considerable diversity of religious groups and organizations, all social groups can find something which suits its circumstances and tastes. This does not show support for my hypothesis as it suggests that religion is still very popular, however they have argued that this shows popularity of religion in USA and my study is centred on Somerset.

Wallis argues that religion and religious influence is in decline however he states that religious beliefs are just changing and not disappearing. He sees an increase in religious pluralism, symbolized by the dramatic rise of sects and cults. Wallis (1984) argues that the new religious movements can be split into 3 different groups; World rejecting, world affirming and world accommodating. A World-affirming religious movement is very different from other religious groups. They don't have any religious institutions but see the world as it is and are uncritical of other faiths and religions. World-accommodating religions are usually made up from 'normal' people who live 'normal' lives and don't run any radical movements.

They are also happy with the world how it is and wish to continue restoring spiritual purity. World-rejecting religious movements are very radical in their actions. They also believe that ideology is very critical of society and some forms of world-rejecting sects believe in divine intervention. A world rejecting sect is usually made up of younger people who are un-attached, this is because they seek radical beliefs and usually they do not stay for long so they have rapid turnovers.

A world affirming sect, such as scientology, is generally made up of the older generation, who are usually attached. For these people the world affirming sect provides a spiritual component for those who are disenchanted with mainstream religions and could turn to rationalization as an answer. This reflects my hypothesis as it shows a decrease in mainstream religion however my hypothesis predicts an increase in sects and cults and not rationalization, so it also disproves my hypothesis. Beckford (1985) criticises Wallis saying that the categories he identified are too difficult to apply.

He also argues Wallis pays insufficient attention to the diversity of views that often exist within a sect or a cult. And not all sects or cults within one of those categories have the same views. Beckford also takes issue with the way Wallis has labelled the groups. Beckford believes that such a world rejecting group could not afford to reject the world altogether since they rely upon contacts with the wider economic system for their very survival. R. Stark (1999) sees religion as functioning for the needs of the individuals, rather than functioning for society. Stark argues there has been a growth of sects and cults rather than the mainstream religions. Stark comments that one of the main reasons for the growth in sects and cults was due to marginality.

This is a rise in marginal groups in society; they seek an explanation of their unprivileged lifestyle and hope that the sect could promise a 'sense of honour' in their afterlife. Another reason for the increase in joining a sect or cults is due to the key concept of relative deprivation. Relative deprivation is usually aimed at the middle class; this is when they could compare something such as wealth to [rather than their own country] a different part of the world. People often join sects or cults to fulfil their emotional or spiritual gaps in a world that they see as too materialistic and lonely. The sect or cult then would be a hope for salvation and to fill the emotional voids. Starks comments explicitly supports my hypothesis as he agrees with the rise in sects and cults and a decrease in mainstream religion.

Wilson argues that another reason would be due to social changes. During a period of rapid social change or social disaster there is a growth in sects and cults as it offers individuals an explanation or an answer to the social changes. Grace Davie showed that a decline in churchgoing in Britain was matched by a decline in active membership of political and social organisations. In Britain we were seeing not so much a decline in belief but a change in the way that belief was expressed. Davie used the concept of 'belief without belonging' to express this change. Davie argues as young people escape from the authority of the church structure they don't just lose their belief; it simply changes.

There is evidence for this as younger people reject religion but when they grow up they usually opt for a church marriage. R. Bellah has argued that the decline in institutional religion cant be taken as a sign of decreasing religiosity. Religion nowadays can be expressed in many different ways and Bellah argues that there has been a move from collective worship to privatized worship. He argues that 'the assumption in most of the major Protestant denominations is that the church member can be responsible for himself'. This shows that expressing religious belief and commitment has changed from the collective to the individual. Once I have carried out my research I hope to be able to determine whether these debated ideas apply to the decline of religious practices, institutions and thinking within Somerset, or whether secularization is not occurring at all.

I will not be able to generalize my findings as this would apply a Christi o-sociological view whereas religion on a global scale is still very strong. Methodology For my assignment I will be using a questionnaire to collect the necessary information. I will be analyzing the results and will represent it in quantitative numerical data, this will show whether religion is in decline or whether religious beliefs are just changing. From the data found I can produce charts and other visual aids to represent the data.

A questionnaire is a positivistic research method and is high in reliability but not very high in validity. However this is the best research method I could use as others take time and money. And as a questionnaire is high in reliability I will be able to distribute it to as many people as I feel needed and I won't be limited by time or money. An anti-positivist way of research such as participant observation would take a lot of time but it would provide me with insight and could answer questions I never thought of asking in a questionnaire, however it would be hard to carry out participant observation on secularization. I also do not have too much time to carry out my research as I have a deadline so a cheaper and faster way to collect my results would be through the medium of a questionnaire, as I am a student on a tight budget. Therefore I cannot use a desired method of triangulation, such as Eileen Barker did in her study 'Making of a Moonie'.

I will try to distribute 30 to 40 copies of the questionnaire; this will allow me to have a wider range of results for analysis. It won't be too much that I wouldn't be able to analyse and collate it all in the time period I have. This sample type would also allow me to fully show a balanced view on my hypothesis and will allow me to prove or disprove it. Positivists believe that all social trends can be mapped and carried out scientifically; therefore they believe sociology is a science. A positivist uses research methods that produce quantitative numerical data so that generalizations and trends can be shown. However positivists have been criticised as these research methods provide no and are not very high in validity.

Also these research methods cannot reach all parts of society; people in prison would not be included in the research quota for example. I will be using an opportunity sample for my research. This is where I will pass a few questionnaires to each parent to hand out at work. I will also pass out the rest myself. Using this sample method allows me to just go out during the day and pass out the questionnaires to people who I can see when I'm out.

This can be critiqued as it does not encompass the broader society as there would be those who do not walk the streets during the day, usually people who would be working at the time. It also does not allow for people who are in prison or hospital. This will not allow me to map trends across Somerset, or I would be able to map a limited trend. I will include questions into the questionnaire that will allow me to show a possible trend between my hypothesis and other causal factors. I will try spreading my questionnaire among age groups also then I could possibly see any relating factors as to why there is a decline of religion between age groups. I will have to pilot the questionnaire before I distribute the final one.

This allows me to see any grammatical or imposition al bias errors. Will mott and Young were criticised on their study with questionnaires. Oakley argued that they used the term 'helped' which shows idea logical and methodological sloppiness. I will try use closed questions so the final research is easier to analyse and this would allow me to come to a definitive answer to my hypothesis a lot easier. If I was to use open ended questions this could provide me with insight but however, this would be very hard to analyse and the hit rate of the questionnaire would probably be a lot lower because people would tend not to bother if it includes a lot of writing or they have to spend more time doing it. An opportunist sampling method will not allow me to generalize for the population of Somerset.

I will have to take certain ethical precautions with a questionnaire. I will have to keep it totally confidential so that the research participants don't feel they have to give socially desirable answers or feel un-secure if they have any radical religious view. Humphries participant observation study was highly unethical as he traced the participants and went round to their houses asking them and their partner questions on their sexuality, and he had no informed consent. Therefore using a questionnaire will allow me to avoid any ethical decisions regarding confidentiality.

Also I will have the problem of imposition al bias and interpreter bias. This could show subjectivity through the questions asked and how I interpret the answers. I will run a pilot study to try and reduce the imposition al bias as much as possible. However I as the interpreter will just have to take caution when analyzing them that I don't show my own subjectivity through the interpretations. Another disadvantage with questionnaires is the way it could be interpreted before filling it out.

This could mean that a question that is worded so that it could mean more than one thing could show a bias from the person who fills it out. From my pilot questionnaire I will try to eliminate all possible flaws so that the questions would only be interpreted one way. I will have to simplify any possibly difficult questions and concepts and I will also try to make many questions multiple choices as then no confusion with the answering could occur. Ethics does play a part in the questionnaire and I will make it clear to the person that the questionnaire is optional and that it will be confidential. As it would be optional this could affect my end results, so I will aim to get 30 to 40 completed questionnaires rather than just the ones people agree to complete. If a lot of people choose not to complete the questionnaire then I would have to consider changing some of the possibly controversial questions.

This will also be time consuming and I will not know what the hit rate will be for the questionnaire. Therefore I could end up spending a lot of time sending out the questionnaire to get few results. I will not be posting my questionnaire through people's doors as it would most probably be disregarded and it could be time consuming in collecting the completed questionnaires at the end of it. The ideal way of collecting research that I would have liked to use would be triangulation. However the criterion specifies I am only allowed to use 1 research method. Final Questionnaire Hi, my name is Jack and I am studying for my A levels at Bridgwater college.

As part of my Sociology coursework I am required to carry out research in a subject of interest. I have chosen to do my coursework on the decline in religion and religious beliefs within Somerset. Your time would be much appreciated for filling out the questionnaire. It will be totally confidential so please do not put your name on the questionnaire. Also the questionnaire is entirely optional and if you do not want to fill it out then please don't feel obliged to do so. On multiple choice questions please just circle the answer you wish to give, on certain questions you may circle more than one answer.

1. Would you consider yourself to be a religious person? Yes No 2. What religion do you belong to, if any? 3. Do you regularly attend church or a place or worship?

Yes No 4. What were the last 3 purposes of your visits to church? 5. Do you actively participate in religious ceremonies such as Christmas? Yes No 6. Do you worship privately?

Yes No 7. Do you belong to any religious sects or cult groups? Yes No (If no, please skip question 8) 8. If so then what are your reasons for joining that specific group? 9. Do you believe in any of the following?

God (s) Angels Heaven Afterlife Hell Horoscopes Fate Fortune Telling 10. Do you participate in any of the following? Reflexology Aromatherapy Yoga Feng Shui 11. Do you believe that there is a decline in religious beliefs or religious thinking within Somerset? Please explain your answer.

Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire. Your help is much appreciated. Evidence passed out my questionnaire to 30 people using an opportunity sampling method in three locations in order to access a wider sample. I also got my father to hand some out where he works as a lecturer, and my mother to hand out some where she works as a teacher.

I did this so I would have a range of ages and possibly a wider result. This could be as most students would not take this seriously or it would only appeal to a certain amount of students, so I widened the study through the age groups. I piloted my questionnaire in college and received a negative response as many students made inappropriate comments and did not take the research seriously. Therefore I decided to distribute my questionnaire in 3 different locations to reduce the chance of negative responses. Question 1 - Would you consider yourself to be a religious person? This question seemed to have the majority of the people considering themselves not to be religious, it was 19 people who said No they were not, to 10 people saying they were.

This would not support my hypothesis directly as it shows that religion is still quite important but the knowledge could be subjective as it is their opinion on what they consider to be religious. This would support the work of such theorists such as Stark. Question 2 - What religion do you belong to, if any? This question showed that of the 19 who considered them to be religious, 15 of them were Christian. This is obvious evidence that religion is still very popular as nearly two thirds of the people asked were religious. This again proves against my hypothesis.

It also shows that the main religion chosen between the participants would be that of Christianity. Question 3 - Do you regularly attend church or a place of worship? This question shows the low attendance rate of that in the churches or institutions. This would show evidence for secularization if it was to be measured solely on attendance records which are a positivistic approach. This supports my hypothesis as it does not show a great strength of religious participation in church.

Question 4 - What were the last 3 purposes of your visits to church? This was a broader question but it highlights what purposes the church still has within society. The main amount of returns answered with weddings and funerals, with funerals being the predominant purpose. This shows that people still resort to religion in times of need as this has always been seen as the most acceptable way to pass the dead. Malinowski wrote about religion being used in times of need, this concept could be applied here within a so called secular society.

This would have both positive and negative effects on my hypothesis as it shows that religion is still being used but it does not show active membership as very few had worship listed in their purposes of their last 3 visits to church. This shows support for Stark and Bainbridge's argument that religion will never die out entirely as it still functions in times of need. Question 5 - Do you actively participate in religious ceremonies such as Christmas? The response from this question does show evidence against my hypothesis but also this is easily critiqued. I expected a high amount of response favouring towards yes for this question. This is because in the question I directly linked to Christmas which has become very commercial and disengaged with the religiosity of the ceremony.

I would have to assess this sceptic ally. This supports Bruce's argument that worshipping has changed and people are starting to worship different things, such as shopping. Question 6 - Do you worship privately? Only 5 out of the 29 of the questionnaires that got filled out said they worshipped privately. This shows no great strength to a high religiosity within Somerset. This therefore supports my hypothesis.

Privatized worship is a concept from Bellah, however Bellah only acknowledged the concept and did not argue that it was common so this would not be able to critique Bellah's work. This disproves Davie's argument that religiosity is changing from a collective to the individual as only 5 out of the 29 said they worshipped privately. Question 7 - Do you belong to any religious sects or cult groups? This was a substantial question as I did not expect the result I acquired. None of the participants belonged to a sect or cult.

This could show that the emergence of sects and cults could not be universal. This would argue against Wallis, and the 3 types of sect, but would support my hypothesis that religion in a modern society is dying out. This is a critique of Bruce as it shows that sects and cults are not on the increase and if anything on the decline. Question 9 - Do you believe in any of the following? This question showed that many people, who would have claimed not to be religious, would actually have religious beliefs such as believing in God and Heaven and afterlife.

This doesn't support my hypothesis as it could suggest, if you are looking at official statistics there would still be that amount of people who don't claim to be religious but still hold those beliefs. This is what Davey described as 'belief without belonging'. Question 10 - Do you participate in any of the following? The results from this question were kind of what I expected. It shows that yoga is quite popular however people do not regard it as a religion even though it is a holistic faith. This would not fully support my hypothesis as it does show an increase in holistic faiths such as yoga.

The same results were found in the Kendal Project where there was an obvious increase in holistic faiths between middle class participants. Question 11 - Do you believe that there is a decline in religious beliefs or religious thinking within Somerset? This question was skipped by a couple of participants but in the vast majority people were seeing a decline in religious beliefs and practices. Many put it down to less people attending church and the increase in other religions which are not mainstream but becoming gradually more popular.

This does support my hypothesis as the participants of my study generally seemed to agree with me that religious thinking and beliefs are declining. Evaluation The aim of my study was to find out whether secularization within North Somerset was occurring or whether my research would disprove my hypothesis. My hypothesis was based mainly upon my own views, that I could see secularization was occurring within North Somerset. I based my study in North Somerset alone as if I was to incorporate the whole of England then I would have had to have widened my research and I would not have been able to generalize my study for other areas as I was using an opportunity sample. From my study I am able to conclude and prove or disprove my hypothesis. From my study I am able to conclude that secularization of mainstream religions are occurring.

However there is an increase in holistic faiths and people still hold the beliefs of mainstream religions. A high number of people considered themselves as religious but this was not reflected with church attendance nor privatized worship. This could show that people still hold the religious beliefs and consider themselves religious but don't actively belong to a specific religion. This shows support for Davie's concept of belief without belonging. I was able to disprove Bruce's argument that sects and cults are replacing mainstream religion as from my study it showed that no one belonged to a sect or a cult. I was also able to prove Stark and Bainbridge's theory correct as my study also showed that mainstream religion was die ing out but I would not die out entirely as it is still used in times of need.

I have to consider the extent of validity of my research. This is because my questionnaire was passed out mainly between the middle class and would reflect a middle class belief system rather than the whole of the social strata. I was also unable to produce my research that used more than one sampling method. Questionnaires prove quite low in validity unless I was to use a stratified random sampling method as I would then be able to generalize.

However this would have taken too much time and I would have needed a list of all the people that I was able to ask. If I was to carry out my research again I would have used triangulation, as Barker did, to increase the validity. I would have also used a larger sample size for my questionnaire and I would have done some participant observation on mainstream church attendance. If I had the time I would have also carried out a longitudinal research study. This would have allowed me to map trends over time. My hypothesis looks at the decline of secularization so If I was to cary out a longitudinal research study then I would have been able to use my first study to reflect the second study to and be able to come to a conclusion as to whether it is in decline.

Considering I only used a questionnaire I would have to address the possible problems that come along with it. These are such things as imposition al bias and interpreter bias. This would cause the evidence collected to have a lower validity but they still represent the participants, I just had to treat the evidence with caution. I tried to reduce the chance of this occurring by using a pilot study but the bias would have been hard to cut out completely. From my study It has shown to me other possible research areas I could look at if I was to carry it out again. I would have tried to make sure my questionnaire gets passed out to all social classes, or I could possibly map trends between social class and religiosity.

However again this could prove problematic as I would have to the concept of class. Also doing in-depth research into religiosity would be complicated to carry out. This is because unless I was to carry out participant observation on people it would be hard to read religiosity of people through questions. Also with participant observation this would only represent a small sample and would take a long time to carry out. My evidence collected also has discrepancies.

This can be seen on question 2 as it was filled out by a student at the college who did not take the questionnaire seriously. Also one person from my sample size did not complete the questionnaire, so my final amount of research participants was lowered to 29 rather than 30. However this was all right as I could not have forced them to fill it out or it would have become unethical. Also in question 11 the term religious was not defined so it would have brought on interpreter bias to interpret it as they will. In conclusion it is obvious that my hypothesis was correct, to an extent of mainstream religious attendance. However I did not have solid evidence of the religiosity before I carried out my research so I had little to properly compare it to.

There has been an increase in holistic faiths. My research is much along the lines of the Kendal Project which had similar results. The research showed me different areas of study which I would be able to extend my research into if I were to carry it out again. Pilot Questionnaire Hi, my name is Jack and I am studying for my A levels at Bridgwater college. The questionnaire is entirely optional and if you do not want to fill it out then please don't feel obliged to do so. Are you religious?

Yes No 2. What religion do you belong to? 3. Do you regularly attend church? Yes No 4. Yes No 6.

Do you participate in privatized worship? Yes No 7. Yes No 8. Do you do any of the following? Do you believe that secularization is occuring?

Bibliography

Bainbridge, W.S. and Stark, R. (1979) 'Cult Formation: Three Compatible Models, Sociological Analysis no.
40 Beckford, J. (1987) 'The Changing Face of Religion " Beckford, J.
1989) 'Religion and Advanced Industrial Society " Bellah, R.
N. (1965) 'Religious Evolution', in Less a and Vogt (1965) Bellah, R.
N. (1970) 'Beyond Belief', New York: Harper & RowBellah, R.
N. (1976) 'New Religious Consciousness and the Crisis in Modernity', in Glock and Bellah (1976) Berger, P.
L. (1967) 'Sociology: An Introduction ', John Wiley & Sons, New York Bruce, S.
1995) 'The Sociology of Religion', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Bruce, S.
1999) 'Sociology: a very short introduction ' Oxford: Oxford University Press Bruce, S.
2002) 'God is Dead: secularization in the West', Oxford: BlackwellCaplow, T.
1991) 'Recent Social Trends in the United States: 1960-1990', Buffalo: McGill-Queen's University Press.
Davie, G. (1994) 'Religion in Britain since 1945.
Believing without Belonging', Oxford: Blackwell Finke. R, and Stark. R, (1992) 'The Church ing of America: 1776-1990'.
New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Glock, C.Y. and Bellah, R.N. (1976) 'The New Religious Consciousness', Berkeley, University of California Press.
Herbert, W. (1956) 'Protestant, Catholic, Jew', New York: DoubledayHaralambos M & Holbourn M (1990) 'Sociology: Themes and Perspectives 3rd edition', London: UnwinltymanLessa, W.
A. and Vogt, E.Z. (1965) 'Reader in Comparative Religion: An Anthropological Approach 2nd Edition', Harper & Row, New York.
Maduro, O. (1982) 'Religion and Social Conflicts', Orbis Books, New York Malinowski, B.
1954) 'Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays', Anchor Books, New York.
Martin, D. (1996) 'Reflections on Sociology and Theology', Oxford University Press Stark, R.
and Glock, C.Y. (1968) 'American Piety: The Nature of Religious Commitment', Berkeley, University of California Press Stark, W.
S. and Bainbridge, W.A. (1985) 'The Future of Religion', Berkeley, University of California Press Wilson, B.
R. (1966) 'Religion in a Secular Society', C.
A. Watts Wallis, R. (1984) 'The Elementary Forms of the New Religious Life', Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.