Sociology - Religious groups
Class & participation - ANS -No real figures, although Marxist & Neo Marxists provide views on
this.
- Church = try to appeal to all (whatever class).
- Denomination = slightly anti-establishment, but still respectable. WALLIS believes they tend to
not attract the lower classes & appeal most to upper working & lower middle class.
- Sect = traditionally recruit the most disadvantaged, requires members to give up previous life,
so those with more are less likely to want to give it up. WALLIS also mentions the 'relatively
deprived' especially among some 1960s/70s sects e.g. Moonies.
- Cult = wide category, can appeal to the already successful - those who have time & money to
further enhance their lives. Others attract the disadvantaged & relatively deprived.
Age - ANS -- Older people are more likely to go to church.
- BRIERLEY = average age of churchgoer in 1979 was 37, but by 2005 it was 49. In 2005 nearly
60% of churches had NO attendees between 15-19 years.
Women - ANS -- Women tend to be more religious.
- BRIERLEY found 84% of women believed in God, compared to 64% of men.
- MODOOD found women were more likely to believe religion was important to them than men,
but men were more likely to attend mosques.
Ethnicity - ANS -- MODOOD looked at participation & identification.
= He found there were big differences in the importance.
BRUCE suggests that women tend to be: - ANS -- Less goal orientated.
- More cooperative.
- Less domineering.
= These attributes fit well with religion/spirituality.
Private/public spheres - BRUCE - ANS -- He says that the world falls between:
= Public sphere (paid work/politics).
= Private sphere (home, family & personal life).
- Secularisation is occurring but we are also moving into the private sphere over public. Women
more involved in private sphere, so remain in religion through the private domain.
The classes - BRUCE - ANS -- Working class women = support religions which believe in the
all powerful God.
- Middle class women = more experience of control & are more attracted to NAMs to develop
spirituality.
, Evaluation of BRUCE - ANS -- Sexist.
- FEMINISM = women can be goal orientated.
- Ignores why males participate.
The Kendal Project - HEELAS & WOODHEAD - ANS -- 80% of NAM members are women.
- Also found that NAM are on the rise & traditional churches are declining.
Why do women join NAMs? - ANS -- The movements incorporate nature & often feature cults of
healing. In these women tend to have higher status = biological role.
- BRUCE & DAVIE mention that women's child rearing & caring roles adopts better to NAMs.
De-traditionalisation - ANS -NAMs tend to feature women having high status. This contradicts
the structure of society, where women are typically put in lower status than men. This makes
them appeal to women more than men.
Self-spirituality - ANS -NAMs focus on personal development, away from collective worship,
this is another factor for women joining NAMs as their stereotypical role of child care doesn't
allow personal time. NAMs allow worship at home & women can therefore work around their
'roles'.
Evaluation of the KENDAL PROJECT - ANS -- KP was carried out in 1 area in Cumbria =
findings aren't representative to other populations.
- NAMs = hard to define & hard to measure accurately = results are inaccurate.
Religiosity - BIRD - ANS -Identifies five reasons why ethnic minority groups are more religious:
- Many members of ethnic minority groups originate from societies that have high levels of
religiosity such as Caribbean & Pakistan.
- Belonging to minority ethnic group within a society means that religion can be an important
basis for a sense of community & solidarity. It can give members a point of contact, sense of
identity & introduce them to potential marriage partners.
- Minority groups see religion as a way of maintaining cultural identity in terms of traditions e.g.
Food, language, art & music.
- Socialisation can lead to a strong pressure on children to maintain religious commitment
(especially among Asian groups).
- Religious beliefs may be a way to cope with oppression.
Gender within religion - MILLER & HOFFMAN - ANS -- Differential socialisation = women have
more of the characteristics that are associated with being more religious & valued by religion
than men.
= Characteristics include being passive & submissive as well as being obedient & caring than
men.
- Structural location = women take part in religion because of their social roles. Men are the
breadwinners (instrumental role) whereas women are the housewives (expressive) & therefore
Class & participation - ANS -No real figures, although Marxist & Neo Marxists provide views on
this.
- Church = try to appeal to all (whatever class).
- Denomination = slightly anti-establishment, but still respectable. WALLIS believes they tend to
not attract the lower classes & appeal most to upper working & lower middle class.
- Sect = traditionally recruit the most disadvantaged, requires members to give up previous life,
so those with more are less likely to want to give it up. WALLIS also mentions the 'relatively
deprived' especially among some 1960s/70s sects e.g. Moonies.
- Cult = wide category, can appeal to the already successful - those who have time & money to
further enhance their lives. Others attract the disadvantaged & relatively deprived.
Age - ANS -- Older people are more likely to go to church.
- BRIERLEY = average age of churchgoer in 1979 was 37, but by 2005 it was 49. In 2005 nearly
60% of churches had NO attendees between 15-19 years.
Women - ANS -- Women tend to be more religious.
- BRIERLEY found 84% of women believed in God, compared to 64% of men.
- MODOOD found women were more likely to believe religion was important to them than men,
but men were more likely to attend mosques.
Ethnicity - ANS -- MODOOD looked at participation & identification.
= He found there were big differences in the importance.
BRUCE suggests that women tend to be: - ANS -- Less goal orientated.
- More cooperative.
- Less domineering.
= These attributes fit well with religion/spirituality.
Private/public spheres - BRUCE - ANS -- He says that the world falls between:
= Public sphere (paid work/politics).
= Private sphere (home, family & personal life).
- Secularisation is occurring but we are also moving into the private sphere over public. Women
more involved in private sphere, so remain in religion through the private domain.
The classes - BRUCE - ANS -- Working class women = support religions which believe in the
all powerful God.
- Middle class women = more experience of control & are more attracted to NAMs to develop
spirituality.
, Evaluation of BRUCE - ANS -- Sexist.
- FEMINISM = women can be goal orientated.
- Ignores why males participate.
The Kendal Project - HEELAS & WOODHEAD - ANS -- 80% of NAM members are women.
- Also found that NAM are on the rise & traditional churches are declining.
Why do women join NAMs? - ANS -- The movements incorporate nature & often feature cults of
healing. In these women tend to have higher status = biological role.
- BRUCE & DAVIE mention that women's child rearing & caring roles adopts better to NAMs.
De-traditionalisation - ANS -NAMs tend to feature women having high status. This contradicts
the structure of society, where women are typically put in lower status than men. This makes
them appeal to women more than men.
Self-spirituality - ANS -NAMs focus on personal development, away from collective worship,
this is another factor for women joining NAMs as their stereotypical role of child care doesn't
allow personal time. NAMs allow worship at home & women can therefore work around their
'roles'.
Evaluation of the KENDAL PROJECT - ANS -- KP was carried out in 1 area in Cumbria =
findings aren't representative to other populations.
- NAMs = hard to define & hard to measure accurately = results are inaccurate.
Religiosity - BIRD - ANS -Identifies five reasons why ethnic minority groups are more religious:
- Many members of ethnic minority groups originate from societies that have high levels of
religiosity such as Caribbean & Pakistan.
- Belonging to minority ethnic group within a society means that religion can be an important
basis for a sense of community & solidarity. It can give members a point of contact, sense of
identity & introduce them to potential marriage partners.
- Minority groups see religion as a way of maintaining cultural identity in terms of traditions e.g.
Food, language, art & music.
- Socialisation can lead to a strong pressure on children to maintain religious commitment
(especially among Asian groups).
- Religious beliefs may be a way to cope with oppression.
Gender within religion - MILLER & HOFFMAN - ANS -- Differential socialisation = women have
more of the characteristics that are associated with being more religious & valued by religion
than men.
= Characteristics include being passive & submissive as well as being obedient & caring than
men.
- Structural location = women take part in religion because of their social roles. Men are the
breadwinners (instrumental role) whereas women are the housewives (expressive) & therefore
