Secularization

Running head: SECULARIZATION
Secularization
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
From the inception of the notion of “Society”, in human life, there have been
significant changes in the dynamics of social and cultural patterns across the globe as a whole
and also subjective to the different countries and their populations. These social and cultural
patters, which include the way of living, the different social, religious and ethnic believes and
practices and other daily activities of the individuals across the globe, can be seen to be
highly influenced by the changes in the social and cultural trends in the global framework
(Beyer and Beaman 2007). With emergence of international phenomena like Globalization,
industrial revolutions, trade liberalizations and with the increasing modernization of the
societies across the globe, the social and cultural domains of the different countries are
becoming more integrated and inclusive and the social and cultural patterns of these countries
are getting highly influenced by the global trends with time.
In this scenario, the concept and notion of religion and religious practices have also
experienced significant changes in different countries across the globe and in the world as a
whole. Religion, having many definitions from different perspectives, can be primarily
considered as the set of beliefs, dogmas and practices which highlights the nature of the
relationships of different human beings across the world with their perception of divinity.
There exists a number of religions in the global framework, each characterized by the
community of believers, prophesies, ethical codes, world views, texts and also the moral
perceptions, sacrament and believes and perceptions of the people practicing the same.
Religion, though being treated as one of the primary component in human life, by a
section of the population across the globe, has led to the creation of several social evils over

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the period of time, which primarily includes a sense of differentiation and seclusion among
people of one religion for people of other religions, the lack of support of basic civil rights or
freedoms, social tensions due to the presence of multi-religious and multi-ethnic population
and also religious intolerances and terrorism due to the same in the extreme cases (Casanova
2011). With the global social framework becoming even more inclusive and each country
experiencing huge acculturation and inflow of population of different religions, these
problems have become even more acute.
These problems in turn gives way to one of the primary components in the conceptual
framework of sociology, which is known as “Secularization”. As can be seen from the social
scenario of many of the eminent and growing economies of the world, in the contemporary
framework, the societal structures are being increasingly moving away from being based or
tied to one particular religion or giving importance or weightage to the same (Beaman 2012).
This can be viewed as secularization. Keeping this into consideration the following section of
the essay tries to focus on the definition of secularization, its importance, evidences and
arguments present in favour of the same and the dynamics in the views of the sociologists
regarding secularization, with the help of real world examples.
Secularization: Meaning and Implications
As discussed above the notion of secularization came from the dynamics and shift in
the societal patterns and structures of the world as a whole. In sociology, the term
secularization primarily refers to the process by which a society eventually shifts away from
its religious foundation and framework (Dobbelaere 2007). The primary working notion
behind the same is that at the initiation stages, the societies usually consisted of strong

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religious beliefs which not only were reflected in their religious practices but also worked as
guidance in their everyday activities, thereby serving as a structural framework for the
societies. However, with time and with increasing advancements in science, technology and
infrastructural innovations led to the increase in the diversity and inclusiveness of the
population in the society. This in turn led to the loss of importance of one particular religion
as the structural framework of the society. According to the conceptual framework of
secularization, with the advent of development and growth of multi-cultured and multi-
religious population in a society, one religion as a structural framework or yardstick
eventually gets replaced by other more important and relevant socio-cultural factors and
items.
Evidences and arguments in favour of Secularization
The concept of secularization, as discussed in the above sections of the concerned
essay, is not however just a theoretical assertion and has many debates surrounding its
relevance with the real global social patterns and dynamics. There exist significant evidences
and arguments both in favour of secularization in the global framework, which are also
supported by empirical evidences. The primary evidences in favour of secularization and
their counter-arguments and reasonings are discussed as follows:
Decline in the religious practice- One of the strongest arguments in favour of secularization
is that of the decline in the religious practices which can be seen to be evident among the
population of different countries across the globe. The primary empirical evidences
supporting this argument are found to be existing in the European as well as in the Australian
domains. In UK alone, the church attendance statistics over the years can be found to support