What is postmodernism?
A perspective that refers to a
particular time period (epoch)
Feudalism
Modernity
Late modernity
Postmodernity
Feudalism
• Monopoly of
the truth
• Singular
understanding
of the world
• Hierarchical
structure
Modernity
• Rationalization
– the
enlightenment
• Differentiation
How has the world
changed in the last few
decades?
Late modernity - Giddens
Late modernity - Giddens
1. Reflexivity – uncertainty – constant
monitoring of social life to try and improve it.
A tendency to undermine the traditional
• Sociology is part of this reflexivity
How does this apply to religion?
Most of the situations of modern social life are
manifestly incompatible with religion as a
pervasive influence upon day to day life.
Religious cosmology is supplanted by
reflexively organised knowledge, governed by
empirical observation and logical thought,
and focused upon material technology and
socially applied codes. Religion and tradition
were always closely linked, and the latter it
even more thoroughly undermined than the
former by the reflexivity of modern social life
that stands in direct opposition to it.
Late modernity - Giddens
• Separation of time
and place – new
and digital media
means that we are
communicating
with people across
the world and not
face to face
WHAT EFFECT MIGHT THIS HAVE ON
RELIGION?
Late modernity - Giddens
• Disembedding – people are
affected by things that happen a
long way away
WHAT EFFECT MIGHT THIS
HAVE ON RELIGION?
Late modernity - Giddens
Despite the apparent incompatibility with religion,
Giddens argues that the resurgence of religion in some
places is understandable.
Why might the following aspects of late modernity help
religion to grow or at least survive in a late modern
world?
- Uncertainty
- Individual freedom and choice
- The reflexivity of science
Late modernity - Giddens
Fundamentalism has arisen in the last 40 years
in response to late modernity and Giddens
thinks that this is dangerous because it a late
modern world there is much more ethnic
diversity, so people need to be more tolerant
of each other not less.
Grace Davie – Believing
without belonging
•
•
•
•
Argues against the secularisation thesis
Religion has become privatised
Vicarious religion is taking place
Canadian survey (1993) 25% attended
regularly but 80% said they had religious
beliefs.
• BUT data suggests otherwise and Bruce makes
point that if they are not acting on their
beliefs, how strong are their beliefs?
Danielle Hervieu-Leger
•
•
•
•
Personal choice
Believing without belonging
Cultural amnesia – change in socialization
Individual consumerism has replaced traditional
institutional religion – we are SPIRITUAL
SHOPPERS
• Pilgrims and converts have emerged
• Religion is not such a source of collective identity
like before
Zygmunt Bauman (1992)–
Postmodernism
• Similar to Giddens:
• Postmodern world has arisen from
modernity
• Reflexivity has increased
• Religious revival has arisen out of
individual problems and need for
meaning
Zygmunt Bauman (1992)– Po-mo
Po-mo:
• Deconstructs claims for universal truth
• People no longer accept authority
• Freedom to be a ‘shopper’, to pursue anything
• Uncertainity is something to be embraced
• Individuals have no external rules to live their
lives
• Personal ethics and morality are the most
important not external ones
Individuals have many choices
available to them – many look to
experts
- Some follow mass groups
- Some look to religion
- Some try to be trend setters
James Beckford (1996)
• Bauman is contradictory – why?
• Beckford disagrees with the idea
that there has been a religious
revival because he does not think
there was a preceeding massive
decline.
Stark and Bainbridge –
religious market theory
• Religion as compensation – religion meets our
needs and also provides rewards
• Cycle of religious decline, revival and renewal
• Religion is a market place, when one religion
declines it leaves a gap for another to fill it
• Churches are like companies striving to
improve their service and attract more
customers
Stark and Bainbridge – religious
market theory
• Competition between religious groups is a good thing
because they are fighting to win customers – this is
the case in the USA because of the constitution
• In European countries such as Spain and Italy,
Catholicism has had a monopoly which leads to
decline
• Supply creates demand not the other way round
(televangelism)
• Megachurches
• Japan since WW2 has had a free market for religion
and new religions have thrived as a result
David Lyon – Jesus in
Disneyland (2000)
• Quite like Giddens and Bauman but:
• Unlike Bauman he does not think pomo has supplanted modernity
• Unlike Giddens he thinks that
societies have moved beyond late
modernity
David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland
(2000)
1. New digital media – globalisation – choice of
religions, spirituality etc…identities are less
based on local communities
2. Growing consumerism – people are free to
choose on their own what to do with their
time, their homes, their bodies and their
gods…
David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland
(2000)
1. Religion is not necessarily declining – it has
relocated to the sphere of consumption
2. People are less willing to accept the authority
of the church but still seek meaning
3. Peoples identities are more fluid and open to
personal choice
4. People still need narratives for their lives but
are looking at other besides traiditonal ones
David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland
(2000)
1. Canada:
75% don’t attend religious ceremonies
regularly but 80% still draw upon
religious beliefs and practices
Shift from religious institutions to a
cultural resource
David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland
(2000)
Harvest Day Crusade in California
Several stages with Christian singers and for Lyon
this was an example of religion interacting with
the most postmodern of settings, Disneyland.
Disneyland is seen as a very postmodern place
because it is a fantasy world but many of the
signs are treated as if they are – autographs
from Mickey Mouse for example.
Religion is no longer confined to traditional places,
it is adapting
David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland
(2000)
De-differentiation
The lines in society are becoming
blurred.
Religion and popular culture.
Paul Heelas – Postmodernity and new
age movements
There are many ways new age movements can
be considered postmodern:
1. Dedifferentiation – difference is not
acknowledged
2. Relativism – NAMs don’t claim that there is
one set of ideas that reveal the whole truth
3. Consumers of different NAMs
4. Experience is emphasised over achievement
Paul Heelas – Postmodernity and new
age movements
But Heelas says they are not postmodern:
-the New Age has a very strong metanarrative at
its heart. Although it rejects cultural
metanarratives it has replaced them with
experiential metanarratives.
- The New Age is part of modernity –
importance of individualism