(Un)Believing in Modern Society: Religion, Spirituality, and Religious-Secular Competition, by JÖRG STOLZ, JUDITH KÖNEMANN, MALLORY SCHNEUWLY PURDIE, THOMAS ENGLBERGER, and MICHAEL KRÜGGELER
2017; Oxford University Press; Volume: 78; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/socrel/srx017
ISSN1759-8818
Autores Tópico(s)Religion and Society Interactions
ResumoIt seems as though the social scientific study of religion has slowly been moving toward a consensus on some topics. While there used to be debate over whether some countries had secularized, this has been resolved in favor of secularization. There were also formerly concerns about how best to measure religiosity, with the consensus now seeming to be that measuring belief, behavior, and belonging will suffice. Finally, there used to be hesitation in embracing a marketplace model to understand religion in pluralistic societies, but we now know religions compete. (Un)Believing in Modern Society takes many of these established ideas and provides a comprehensive portrayal of (non)religion in Switzerland. The book begins with an overview of the project, then provides a detailed description of the authors’ theory. The theory takes a number of prior ideas about religion and combines them in a novel way. The basic idea is that cultural changes in the 1960s resulted in a shift in people’s thinking about religion. Prior to the 1960s, people were more communal, but the cultural revolution of the 1960s ushered in an era of individualism, which the authors refer to as the “me-society.” This “me-society” is compellingly reflected in the lyrics of one of Cat Stevens’s songs, “If you want to sing out sing out, and if you want to be free be free” (41). In the me-society, individuals have greater autonomy over their lives, including over religion. Once religion becomes a choice rather than a morally obligated societal responsibility, religions are forced to compete. This leads to a key contribution of the book: with the rise of the me-society, religions are required to compete in the marketplace of leisure activities and they are competing with both religious and secular alternatives. When framed this way, it is not surprising that religions are losing; the choice between often staid church services or snowboarding in the Alps is a pretty easy choice. As a result, the authors argue, when people are free not to choose religion, some still do, but many experience secular drift—a slow but steady move away from religion.
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