Secularisation

Secularisation

Secularisation refers to the declining significance of religion in society. It is one of the most contested debates in the sociology of religion — sociologists disagree about whether secularisation is happening, how to measure it, and what it means.

Defining Secularisation

Wilson (1966) defined secularisation as "the process whereby religious thinking, practice, and institutions lose social significance."

This definition highlights three dimensions:

1. Religious practice — attendance, membership, rituals

2. Religious belief — personal faith, belief in God

3. Religious institutions — the influence of churches on politics, law, and public life

Evidence FOR Secularisation

Declining Church Attendance and Membership

• Church of England Sunday attendance has fallen from approximately 40% of the population in the mid-19th century to under 2% today
• Total church membership across all Christian denominations has halved since 1970
• Church weddings have declined — less than 30% of marriages are now religious ceremonies (vs over 70% in 1970)
• Baptisms and confirmations have declined sharply
• The 2021 Census: for the first time, fewer than half (46.2%) of people in England and Wales identified as Christian; 37.2% reported "no religion" (up from 25.1% in 2011)

Wilson (1966) — Secularisation in Western Societies

• Argued that Western societies have undergone a long-term process of secularisation driven by:
• Rationalisation (Weber): scientific and rational thinking replace supernatural explanations
• Social differentiation: religion loses its functions as specialised institutions (welfare state, education system, legal system) take over roles the Church once performed
• Societalisation: small, close-knit communities where religion was central have been replaced by large, impersonal urban societies where it is marginal

Bruce (2002, 2011) — God is Dead

Steve Bruce is the strongest contemporary advocate of the secularisation thesis:

• Secularisation is a long-term, irreversible trend driven by three interconnected processes:

1. Individualisation: people increasingly see religion as a private, personal matter rather than a public, collective one — they construct their own "spiritual" identities rather than following institutional religion

2. Structural differentiation: religion has lost its former social functions — the state now provides education, welfare, and law

3. Rationalisation: the growth of scientific knowledge provides naturalistic explanations that make supernatural beliefs less plausible — the technological worldview displaces the religious one

4. Religious diversity: the existence of many competing religions undermines each one's plausibility structure — if there are many "truths," none can claim to be THE truth (see Berger, 1969 below)

• Bruce argues that apparent exceptions (Pentecostalism, New Age, immigration-linked religiosity) do not disprove secularisation — they are cultural defence or cultural transition (see below)

Berger (1969) — The Sacred Canopy

• In pre-modern societies, religion provided a "sacred canopy" — a single, overarching framework of meaning that everyone shared
• Religious pluralism (the coexistence of many religions) has destroyed this canopy:
• When people are exposed to multiple religious truths, each one becomes a matter of choice rather than absolute certainty
• Religion becomes a consumer product — picked and chosen from a "spiritual marketplace"
• This undermines religion's plausibility — it can no longer claim a monopoly on truth

Note: Berger later reversed his position (1999), arguing that the world was actually experiencing a desecularisation — religious vitality was increasing in many parts of the world (though not in Western Europe).

Weber — Rationalisation and Disenchantment

• Weber argued that modernity involves the "disenchantment of the world" — the replacement of magical and religious explanations with rational, scientific ones
• The Protestant Reformation itself contributed to this: by stripping away saints, miracles, and rituals, Protestantism made religion more rational — and therefore sowed the seeds of its own decline
• This is the rationalisation thesis: rational modes of thought (science, technology, bureaucracy) make religious thinking seem less credible

Evidence AGAINST Secularisation

Davie (1994, 2015) — Believing Without Belonging

Grace Davie argues that secularisation statistics are misleading:

• "Believing without belonging": people still believe in God and hold religious beliefs, even if they no longer attend church regularly
• Declining attendance does not mean declining belief — it reflects changes in how people express religion, not whether they believe
• Religion has become privatised — a personal matter rather than a public, institutional one
• Vicarious religion: the majority are happy for a minority to practice religion "on their behalf" (e.g., people expect the Church to be there for weddings, funerals, and national crises like 9/11 or the death of the Queen)

Hervieu-Leger (2000) — Spiritual Shopping

• Religion is not disappearing but changing form
• People are becoming "spiritual shoppers" — they pick and mix from different religious and spiritual traditions to create personalised belief systems
• This represents a "cultural amnesia" — the loss of collective religious memory passed down through families and communities
• Two new types of religious identity are emerging:
• Pilgrims: those who follow a personal spiritual journey, moving between different practices
• Converts: those who join strict, enthusiastic religious movements (often as a reaction to the uncertainty of postmodernity)

Stark and Bainbridge (1985) — The Religious Market Theory

• Secularisation is not a one-way process but part of a cycle: as established churches decline, new religious movements (NRMs) and sects emerge to fill the gap
• Religion meets universal human needs (answers to ultimate questions) that can never be fulfilled by science
• The USA shows that religious pluralism does NOT lead to decline — competition between churches in a "religious marketplace" actually stimulates religious vitality
• European secularisation is not the global norm — it is the exception, not the rule

Berger (1999) — Desecularisation

• Berger reversed his earlier position and argued the world is "as furiously religious as it ever was"
• Global evidence shows religion is growing in many regions: Pentecostalism in Latin America and Africa, Islam across the Middle East and Asia, Hinduism and Buddhism
• Only Western Europe fits the secularisation thesis — and even here, immigration is bringing new religious vitality
• Secularisation theory mistakenly generalised from one region (Western Europe) to the whole world

Postmodernism and the Return of the Sacred

• Lyon (2000): in postmodern society, religion has not declined but relocated and reorganised
• Religion has moved from traditional institutions to media, popular culture, and online spaces
• People engage with religion through TV evangelism, podcasts, apps, and social media
• The boundaries between religion, spirituality, and lifestyle have become blurred — New Age practices (yoga, mindfulness, crystals) represent a re-enchantment of everyday life

The Secularisation Debate: A Summary

Position	Key Thinker	Core Argument
Secularisation IS happening	Wilson, Bruce	Long-term decline in practice, belief, and institutional power
Believing without belonging	Davie	Belief persists even as attendance declines
Spiritual shopping	Hervieu-Leger	Religion is changing form, not disappearing
Religious market theory	Stark & Bainbridge	Competition stimulates religion; cyclical, not linear
Desecularisation	Berger (1999)	The world is as religious as ever — W. Europe is the exception
Relocation of religion	Lyon	Religion has moved to new spaces (media, online, popular culture)

Cultural Defence and Cultural Transition

Bruce (2002) acknowledges two situations where religion may appear to be thriving:

• Cultural defence: religion provides a focal point for group identity in situations of external threat — e.g., Catholicism in Poland during Communist rule, Islam among immigrant communities in Europe
• Cultural transition: religion provides a source of community and identity for migrants adjusting to a new society — e.g., Pentecostalism among African-Caribbean migrants in Britain
• Bruce argues these do NOT disprove secularisation — they show religion is being used for non-religious purposes (identity, belonging) and will decline once the external threat or transition is complete

Measuring Secularisation: Problems

• What counts as religion? Narrow definitions (church attendance) show decline; broader definitions (spirituality, belief in "something") show persistence
• Comparing eras: was the past really more religious? Historians argue that medieval church attendance was often compulsory and superficial — genuine belief may not have been higher
• Culturally specific: secularisation may describe Western Europe but not the rest of the world — is it a theory or just a description of one region?
• Statistics are unreliable: Victorian church attendance figures were inflated; current surveys may under-report non-Christian religions

Exam Tip

The 20-mark secularisation essay is one of the most commonly set questions. Structure your answer as a debate: present the secularisation thesis (Wilson, Bruce) with evidence, then challenge it with alternatives (Davie, Hervieu-Leger, Stark & Bainbridge). The key evaluative point is that how you define and measure religion determines whether you find secularisation — make this explicit for AO3 marks.