Secularization
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Secularization is a process of transformation as a society slowly migrates from close identification with the local institutions of religion to a more clearly separated relationship. It is a contentious term because the concept of secularization can be confused with secularism, a philosophical and political movement that promotes the idea that society benefits by being less religious, whereas the opposing view is that the values and beliefs implicit in religions support a more moral and, therefore, better society. As understood by philosophers and sociologists, secularization has many levels of meaning, both as a theory and a historical process. Theoreticians such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim, postulated that the modernization of society would see a decline in levels of religiosity. The study of the process seeks to determine the manner in which, or extent to which religious creeds, practices and institutions are losing their social significance (if at all). Both rely on the concept of a secular state: one that separates governmental and religious institutions, and bases its authority on man-made law, not in religious doctrine.
Background
Most people understand that this is a reference both to the cultural shifts in society following the emergence of rationality and the development of science as a substitute for superstition — Max Weber called this process, "the disenchantment of the world" — and to the changes made by religious institutions to compensate. There is a slow transition from oral traditions to a writing culture that diffuses knowledge. This reduces the authority of clerics as the custodians of revealed knowledge, and, as the responsibility for education has moved from the family and community to the state, two consequences have arisen:
- the collective conscience as defined by Durkheim is diminished; and
- through the fragmentation of communal activities, religion becomes more a matter of individual choice rather than observed social obligation. But the fact that attendances in places of worship may have declined in some countries is not evidence that people have lost their faith. It simply shows that those people no longer publicly affirm their beliefs through communal worship, i.e. it is not necessary to belong to an institution to believe in a deity.
Definitions
A first step in addressing this broad and diffuse topic is to consider the following more specific meanings identified in the scientific literature by Sommerville (1998). The first five are more along the lines of 'definitions' while the sixth application of the term is more of a 'clarification of use' issue:
- When discussing macro social structures, secularization refers to differentiation: a process in which the various aspects of society, economic, political, legal, and moral, become increasingly discrete in relation to each other. European sociology, influenced by anthropology, was interested in the process of change from the so-called primitive societies to increasingly advanced societies. In the U.S., the emphasis was initially on change as an aspect of progress, but Talcott Parsons refocused on society as a system immersed in a constant process of increased differentiation, which he saw as a process in which new institutions take over the tasks necessary in a society to guarantee its survival as the original monolithic institutions break up. This is a devolution from single, less differentiated institutions to an increasingly differentiated subset of institutions. All these tasks can only be performed if there is strong co-ordination arising from a shared system of values defining society's goals. Each newly differentiated institution also becomes internally differentiated to enable it to adapt and attain different sets of goals.
- When discussing individual institutions, secularization refers to the transformation of a religious into a secular institution. Examples would be the evolution of institutions such as Harvard University from a predominantly religious institution into a secular institution (with a divinity school now housing the religious element illustrating differentiation).
- When discussing activities, secularization refers to the transfer of activities from religious to secular institutions. In most Western countries, government, the not-for-profit sector and the private sector have taken over the provision of social welfare functions, but in Germany, secularization has not occurred to the same degree. There are still about 100,000 Church-based charitable foundations providing services from pre-school education to health care for the elderly, making the two major Churches the second largest employers after government. This is funded partly by the Churches out of their own revenues, with the balance coming from general tax revenue. Critics argue that by allowing the Churches to play such a major role, the State is breaching its duty of neutrality under Article 4 of the Grundgesetz, and they consider it inappropriate for such heavy subsidies to be given to the Churches. For their part, the Churches see this work as a natural part of their Christian mission.
- :(On the extensive secularisation in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century, see German Mediatisation )
Current issues in the study of secularization
At present, secularization as understood in the West, is being debated in the sociology of religion. Some scholars (e.g. Rodney Stark) have argued that levels of religiosity are not declining (though their argument tends to be limited to the U.S., an admitted anomaly in the developed world). As there appears to be some merit to this position, other scholars (e.g. Mark Chaves, N. J. Demerath) have countered by introducing the idea of neo-secularization, which broadens the definition of individual level religious decline by arguing that secularization can also refer to the decline of religious authority.
In other words, rather than using a-religious apostates as the solitary measure of a population's secularity, neo-secularization argues that individuals are increasingly looking outside of religion for authoritative positions on different topics. Neo-secularizationists would argue that religion is no longer the authority on issues like whether to use birth control and would therefore argue that while religious affiliation may not be declining in the U.S. (a debate still taking place), religion's authority is declining and secularization is taking place.
More research on secularization in the Middle East and the remaking of the Islamist states is being undertaken not only for its theoretical implications, but also to counter the stereotypical portrayal used to scapegoat the Islamist movements (see Edward Said and other authors on the use of the discourse to encourage unity in one community by focussing on other groups, alleging a threat in behavior characterized as irrational, undemocratic and violent).
See also
Interdict (Roman Catholic Church)References
- Chaves, M. Secularization As Declining Religious Authority. Social Forces 72(3):749-74. (1994)
- Martin, David. A General Theory of Secularization. New York: Harper & Row. (1979).
- Sommerville, C. J. "Secular Society Religious Population: Our Tacit Rules for Using the Term Secularization''. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 37 (2):249-53. (1998)
- Said, E. Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient. London: Penguin. (1978).
- Stark, Rodney, Laurence R. Iannaccone, Monica Turci, and Marco Zecchi. How Much Has Europe Been Secularized? Inchiesta 32(136):99-112. (2002)
- Warrier, Maya. Processes of Secularisation in Contemporary India: Guru Faith in the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission, Modern Asian Studies (2003)
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