Secularization; Perspectives from sociological lens

Secularization; Perspectives from a sociological lens

One of the major questions that arise in this context concerns the exact meaning of the term ‘secularization’. Two scholars have immense contributions in this regard: Karel Dobbelaere and the second, Jose Casanova.

Dobbelaere, in his work (1981, 2002), distinguishes three attributes of secularization operating at different levels of society: the societal, the organizational and the individual. The focus is on functional differentiation at the societal level, implying that the sectors under the church's authority gradually began to disintegrate into independent bodies. People ceased to consider the Church as their basic provider of healthcare, education and social services. These responsibilities were taken up by the state, thus reducing the role (and perhaps the paramountcy) of the Church. It must, however, be remembered that this particular trend was restricted solely to the West. The scenario is radically different in other parts of the world, where the state conspicuously failed in carrying out its responsibilities.

In many respects, Jose Casanova’s discourse (1994, 2001) is similar to that of Dobbelaere’s. According to both scholars, the paradigm of secularization has been the main theoretical grounding to look at the relationship between religion and modernity. Also, both of them recognize that the confusion regarding the nature of this relationship stems from the concept of secularization itself. Casanova, thus, commences his work on religion in the modern world with an elucidation of the concept of secularization. As a concept, secularization should be more refined to arrive at a more precise analysis of religion in different parts of the world, considering the varying propositions within the concept itself. A correct understanding of the place of religion in the modern world can only be arrived at if one works out the link between these factors considering each case and each country at a time without any prior assumptions.

In Casanova’s works, the inclination towards the ‘modern’ does not always imply a lower level of religious beliefs or a complete shift of religion solely to the private sphere. Casanova herein tries to substantiate a valid ‘public’ role for religion in the modern world. A second point follows this, which states that the churches that have dissented to the structural differentiation between themselves and the state have found it more difficult to come to terms with the modern lifestyle.

The Ideas of Peter Berger;

Peter Berger, who, alone and in partnership with Thomas Luckmann, made immense contributions to secularization within the discipline of sociology. Their work was inspired by Alfred Schutz and several other phenomenologists. According to them, religion was a social construct built due to individuals’ struggles to reconcile with the variations at different levels of human life. As Berger put it, following this, the ‘sacred canopy’ comes forth due to these constructions that shield the individual from possibilities that life has no meaning or purpose, and other such sentiments of the human condition that are most likely to surface at times of crisis. The question arises as to how this ‘sacred canopy’ is maintained and what would happen if multiple sacred canopies existed in society? Following this, the need to focus on religious pluralism and its consequences on religious beliefs also arise. It must be remembered that pluralism does reduce the monopoly of certain religious institutions by opening up means for the existence of alternatives that would oppose the older traditions. It is a key aspect of modernization and is absolutely essential if one is to study the relationship between modernization and secularization. Pluralism not only reduces the taken-for-grantedness towards religion but also brings out certain changes in individual beliefs. Individuals no longer rely on the ‘sacred canopies’ left behind by their ancestors but instead seek to make their own decisions. 

The Ideas of Bryan Wilson

 Other than Peter Berger, there were some other proponents of the classic theory of secularization: British scholars Bryan Wilson and Steve Bruce. Wilson viewed secularization as a ‘fundamental social process taking place in the organization, society, culture, and collective mentality (Wilson, 1998:49), hence constituting an essential aspect of modernization. Secularization does not necessarily mean that the importance of religion ceases but a situation in which religious thinking, practices and institutions cease to be an important force in society. The secularization thesis following Wilson’s ideas comprises changes in three aspects of social organization: changes in the locus of authority in the society, changes in the character of knowledge as empirical enquiry and ethically neutral investigation, which leads to scientific discovery, and a clamour for the ones involved in workplaces to lead their lives with rationality.

Wilson has articulated six important propositions of the secularization thesis, which are as follows:
I.   Firstly, secularization indicates a once-upon-a-time age of faith, the concern here centring on the exact nature of this age.
II.      Secondly, there are varying examples to this thesis, e.g. the United States differs from Europe in this perspective.
III.   Thirdly, new forms of religiosity and religious movements have emerged that have substituted the old kinds.
IV.      Fourthly, the growth of fundamentalism is viewed as a global religious movement.
V.    Fifthly, there has been the re-appearance of religion in the Communist-dominated world until 1989, East Germany and Poland being good examples.
VI.   The last concerns the transition of religion to the ‘private sphere, thereby implying the so-called ‘privatization of religions.

The Ideas of Steve Bruce

 Steve Bruce provides a different picture in his approach to religion. He draws influence from Talcott Parsons, Peter Berger, David Martin, and Bryan Wilson to start his work. He draws connections between modernity and the decline of the traditional forms of religious life. The Reformation occupies primal importance for him. He points out the catalyst in the rise of individualism and rationality, which radically altered the place and nature of religion in the modern world. Bruce suggested that individualism jeopardized the communal basis of religious belief and behaviour, while rationality introduced a feeling of doubt towards the long-existent religious beliefs.

The Ideas of David Martin

 David Martin is another of those paramount contributors to the subject of secularization. Martin does not seem to be satisfied with Bruce’s view on the inevitability of secularization. He believes that the confusion regarding the theory of secularization was too immense. It should be better to leave out the theory altogether, a belief he propounded in his work, ’Towards eliminating the Concept of Secularization (1965).’ He also highlighted the different routes that the process took to different parts of the world and how Europe itself had different patterns of secularization within it. In this perspective, Europe and the USA are distinguished as each follows a different path in the way religion has been introduced. In Europe, religion is found to be implanted horizontally while The States follows the vertical pattern. In the USA, one finds a decline in the influence of religion as one moves from the south to the north and towards the coast, while in Europe, religious differences are more striking between the Protestant North and Catholic South. However, in those parts of Europe dominated by Catholics, the secularization of religion became a common phenomenon. Martin, in 1996, says that in those parts of Europe where religion was officially forbidden, it came to form an option rather than the prime ideology of the state, and a different set of relationships came into being, which further formed a different future for the states.

The Ideas of French Scholars about Religion in the Modern World

 Other than the above-mentioned English scholars, a host of French scholars have studied religion's place in the modern world. Daniele HervieuLeger is one of them who employed the example of her country in her study and a distinctively sociological approach. She says that in modern societies, individuals create the need for religion themselves to fill in the gaps left behind by their expectations, which they fail to achieve in real life. Thus, secularization does not necessarily imply the complete disappearance of religion, but what takes place is the reorganization of religion to provide for the needs of modern living. We may find that Hervieu-Leger’s works are different from those of the earlier scholars like Wilson and Bruce, whose contributions lay only in putting forward the idea that the social significance of religion does decline over time.

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