Thursday 20 March 2014

Global Context



Global Context

Giddens: Defines globalisation as a decline of national borders.

1. Secularisation

USA: There is no national religion within the US. There is a constitutional separation between church and state.

Church attendance: USA - 40%. UK - 4%

Hadaway: Looked at church attendance in the US and tried to work out where statistics came from. He asked church leaders what their weekly attendance was and then counted. He found that there was nearly a 100% exaggeration in statistics.
→ Therefore there could be an argument for secularisation in the US.

Bellah: 'Civil religion', he argues that America is the land of immigrants so the government had to find a way of uniting everyone under one banner, so they created 'Americanism'. They created the idea of an American God that united everyone together and the symbol is the flag. People are not worshipping a God, they are worshipping the fact that they are from America.

Stark and Bainbridge: Argue that America is going through the 'secularisation cycle' and that are approaching a religious revival as it is a religious marketplace with no restrictions. Research does not reflect the attendance of new age movements and new religious movements.

Lyon: 'Jesus in Disneyland'. Argues that the point of religion is a sphere of consumption, religious followers are viewed as customer. This could lead to the 're-enchantment of the world'.

Hadden and Shupe: Discusses the emergence of 'televangelism'. One denomination is the Evangelical Christian Right, they have taken to preaching on television to allow people to get to know them.

Norris and Inglehart: 'Existential Security Theory'. Disagree with religious market theory. Argue that Americans are more religious than people in Europe. In European countries people are a quite wealthy and have better healthcare than the rest of the world. In America there is a huge divide between the rich and the poor. The lack of welfare may explain why people are more religious as they are less secure.

India: Most religious country in the world, 80% of the population are Hindu. Previously in India there was a caste system to justify the inequality.

Nanda: 'God and globalisation'. Argues that globalisation has changed India. It used to be a really poor country but now there has been a last growth due to their exports, this created more job opportunities. The beliefs of Hinduism have been changed to match this, resulting in people becoming more religious. Hinduism has become a 'civil religion'.

2. Economic Change

Weber: Created Weberism, can be seen to be mirroring Karl Marx as he talks about the economy and Capitalism. 
He agrees with Marx; in some ways religion can prevent change from occurring. 'Theodicies of dispriviledge' those who are the poorest are the most religious due to being offered salvation in the afterlife.
Weber studied European 1500's and said that the Catholic Church was the most dominant. During this period, there was a form of Capitalism; money existed. The Catholic Church told people that having money was a sin, so they should get rid of what they had. The Church essentially wanted to keep people in poverty so they did this due to their own greed.

John Calvin: Didn't agree with what the church was doing, so he created Calvinism (a sect).The core beliefs of Calvinism:
1. Predestination: Before you are born, God has already chosen those who are going to heaven, a small elite group of people.
2. Divine Transcendence: God's power cannot be questioned.
3. Asceticism: Living without pleasure.
4. Vocation/Calling: Work is everything, this is known as the protestant work ethic.
Everyone tried to live by these beliefs but only a small elite group were successful, this created vast inequality in society (modern Capitalism).It can be argued that Calvinism created Capitalism and therefore argued that religion can cause social change.

China: The old religion of China was Confucianism which kept the population poor.

Redding: Argues that China is post-Confucianism as their culture has changed allowing them to embrace the Protestant work ethic, leading to economic growth.

South America (Brazil): Brazil is currently experiencing economic change. it is traditionally a Catholic country.

Lehmann: Argues that the Catholic church was the only choice for so long, however the Pentecostal church has grown and become global. It has a core belief of the Protestant work ethic but other beliefs change in each country. In every other country they adapt beliefs based on the culture of that country, making it popular. 

3. Religious Fundamentalism

All religions have an element of fundamentalism within them.

Giddens: Defines cosmopolitanism as being liberal, having progression and equality. Defines fundamentalism as the basics of the religion, the literal truth of the sacred text. Fundamentalists are usually dedicated and traditional, it is usually a response to cosmopolitanism.

Bauman: Argues that fundamentalism is a response to postmodernity. People do not like that there is no absolute truth in society, so they need some form of truth. People do not like the lack of fixed identity, fundamentalist sects provide set identity.

Herberg: Argues that internal secularisation has occurred, religions have diluted their beliefs. They are trying to attract more people in order to maintain their membership.

Castelles: Argues that there are two responses to postmodernity:
1.      Resistant Identity - Defend themselves from change and turn to fundamentalism.
2.      Project Identity - Have a positive outlook and join a progressive movement to find themselves.

Heelas: Argues that people don't like 'Congregational domain' (traditional churches), these are in decline in the post-modern world as people don't like being told what to do and do not accept what they have to say. Identities are fluid, people would have been in one religion previously but now they are not as they have a choice. People are starting to experiment with 'Hollistic milieu' (NAMs/NRMs). These are now replacing religion, therefore functionalism is a meta-narrative as they do not talk about NAMs.

Steve Bruce: Argues that fundamentalists are using religion as a form of cultural defence against cosmopolitanism. He argues that there are two types of fundamentalists:
  1. Western Fundamentalists - Such as Westboro Baptist Church. They fight cosmopolitanism. The enemy is everyone.
  2. Third World Fundamentalism - Such as Islamic fundamentalists. They fight cosmopolitanism. The enemy is the Western World.

Iran: They are a traditional Islamic country. The US began a revolution in the 1950s in Iran, they removed the leader. The US installed their own leader who was pro-USA and allowed full access to oil, the building of military bases and tried to make it a more secular country. In 1979 there was an Islamic revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini and brought Islam back to Iran.

Steve Bruce argues that the people of Iran used their religion as a cultural defence, not as a way of religion.

Samuel Huntington: Argues that religion causes conflict on a global scale. Each civilisation clashes with one another due to differences in religion. He believes that religion is the only divide in the world, the state uses this to unite the population.

Casanova: Argues that Huntington ignores divides within these civilisations. An example would be Northern Ireland, Protestantism and Catholicism are both branches of Christianity that disagree.

Horrie and Chippindale: Argues that Huntington suggests that Islam is the enemy of the West, not just a minority group that are terrorists.

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