Sociology - Secularisation in North Somerset

Contents

Secularisation 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 secularisation according to Bryan Wilson, the arch proponent for the secularisation 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 privatised religion is soon becoming the dominant religious type in my local area. So my hypothesis is:

• 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 secularisation; the term used to describe the decline in religion. Wilson defined secularisation 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 christio-sociological view as he has solely measured secularisation 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 1930s.

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 Caplow and Finke (1992) have argued that ‘religious

...