Secularization in Modern Society: Evidence, Sociological Views

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of secularization, defining it as the process by which societies move away from religious foundations. It explores evidence supporting secularization, such as declining religious practices, disengagement from religious institutions, rationalization, the rise of a technological worldview, commercialization of religion, and internal secularization. Counter-arguments to these evidences are also discussed. The essay further examines sociological perspectives on secularization, including the Secularization Thesis and the views of classical sociologists like Marx, Weber, and Durkheim, highlighting the complex and multifaceted nature of secularization in the modern world, using national and international examples to illustrate the arguments.

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

1SECULARIZATION
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

2SECULARIZATION
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

3SECULARIZATION
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

4SECULARIZATION
this argument. In 1851, where the Census showed the population share attending church in
the country to be 40% of the total population, the same experienced a drastic decrease over
time, as can be seen from the percentage in 2005 (6.3% of the total population of the country)
(Davie 2014).
Apart from decrease in the church attendance rates, a significant decrease can also be
observed in church marriages, religious ceremonies along with increase in number of
divorces as well as in the number of children outside marriage in the country, which in turn
reflects towards the loss of importance of religion in the modern societies according to this
argument.
Counter-Argument- There however remains counter assertions from the interpretivist
sociologists who highlights the fact that the statistical data used for previous centuries could
be faulty due to the absence of proper data collection method, thereby leaving the threat of
overestimation or bias while comparing.
Lack of engagements- Another evidence in favour of secularization is the loss of the
importance of religious institutions in the different social arenas of life like politics and
others. According to this valid argument, the political and social leaders in the contemporary
period tend to be less bothered about the approval of their actions and decisions by the
religious institutions, with the same turning more into symbolic institutions with time.
Counter-Argument- There however remains high significance of these religious institutions in
different countries, especially in the aspects of provision of basic amenities like education
and health services, especially to the poorer sections of the societies who do not usually have
access to the amenities as well as information of the developing and modernized societies
(Bruce 2011). Some sociologist in fact perceive the disengagement trends to be actually

5SECULARIZATION
beneficial for the religious institutions in the aspects of emphasis on their central role and
goals.
Rationalization and disenchantment- One of the primary evidences put forward in support
of secularization in the contemporary period is that of the increase in the rationalization of the
thought processes in the global framework, which has been facilitated by advent of science
and increasing awareness among the population in the world regarding the scientific logics
behind different phenomena, which in turn has led to the decrease in the religious ways of
thinking and attributing everything to magic, instead of logic. With scientific advancements,
people have been increasingly able to explain and control many phenomena which were
previously not possible, which in turn has led to the decrease in the importance of religious
beliefs in the current period.
Counter-Argument- One interesting counter assertion against the same highlights the fact that
in the modern world, a new trend of blind faith and irrationality has stared with people
accepting the statements of the scientists without understanding the phenomena, which in
turn has led to the creation of a new type of enchantment.
Technological worldview- With the increasing technological and scientific orientation of the
world, the religious and supernatural inclination for explaining different events are getting
replaced by a more technological and scientific worldview. For instance, in the earlier days
natural as well as man-made calamities were often viewed to be the act of God. However, in
the recent times with more scientific world view, the reasons behind such events are
explained technologically and scientifically (Singleton 2014). Thus, science has not

6SECULARIZATION
challenged religion per se but with its logical interpretation, has led to the reduction in the
scope of the latter.
Counter-Argument- There still lies areas and phenomena where there is less effectiveness of
technological and scientific explanations, where people still tend to resort to religious
believes to find plausible explanations and interpretations.
Commercialization of religion- One of the primary evidences in favour of secularization is
the notion of “Disneyfication” which indicates towards the fact that with modernization of
society, religion has been packaged and marketed as any other commodity, thereby losing its
significance and role as a guide in the daily life of human. This can be seen in the increase of
religious channels and programmes, especially in developing countries. This can be seen as
an evidence of increasing secularization (Cox 2013).
Counter-Argument- The growth of the religious media is often viewed by the postmodernists
not as an evidence for secularization but as an evidence against the same as according to
them, it helps the believers to confirm their religious beliefs against the rational ones.
Secularism from inside- One of the primary evidences of secularization can be attributed to
the change in the nature of religion and religious believes in different countries with time. As
can be seen from the instance of that of the USA, the focus on the traditional religious beliefs
in the country has reduced considerably so as to remain popular and to fit to a more secular
society and the main purpose of religion in the country has changed from seeking of salvation
post death to seeking of maximum welfare and improvement in life while on earth (Kuru
2009).
There also remain other arguments in favour of increase secularization as a real-life
phenomenon in the global phenomenon. As argued by the many postmodernists, religious

7SECULARIZATION
metanarratives have been increasingly losing their power to influence people’s way of
thinking as well as their way of interpretation of phenomena. This view is supported by the
assertions of many others who point out towards the visible decline in the institutional
religion caused by “cultural amnesia”, by the virtue of which religion is no longer percolated
from one generation to other (James 2008). However, religion has not disappeared
completely but has faced changes and reduction in its overall level importance in people’s
life, which in turn is the greatest evidence for secularization.
Thoughts of sociologists regarding Secularization
There has been substantial theoretical development of the notion of secularization
over the decades and there is no presence of one single theory which can explain the same as
many sociologists have perceived the concept from different perspectives:
The Secularization Thesis- One of the oldest and most popular theoretical framework for
secularization has been the Secularization Thesis, which asserts that with the progress of the
societies across the world, specifically through modernization and through rationalization, the
role of religion will diminish.
Marxian views- The views of sociologist like Karl Marx, along with that of Max Weber and
Emile Durkheim, form the classical theoretical framework for secularization, where religion
is viewed to be opposite of that of modernity and secularization is viewed to be the real-life
phenomenon which tend to go hand in hand with modernization of societies, thereby
replacing the importance of religion (Furseth and Repstad 2017). Marx believed that the

8SECULARIZATION
development of society and its working class will eventually led to decrease in the role of
Christianity.
Tchannen’s Secularization Levels- According to this point of view, secularization in a
society occurs at three levels, which are as follows:
Macro level- Where the societal differentiation takes place as a whole
Meso level- Where the importance of religion declines in the institution and organizational
levels
Individual level- Where religion loses significance in the everyday life of individuals in the
form of reduction in the religious practices, beliefs and inclinations.
However, the classical theories, emphasizing on the reduction of importance and
disappearance of religion as a whole has been criticized on the basis of empirical evidences
and has been replaced with neo-classical and modernized views which tend to focus more on
changes within the religious frameworks and nature of religions and their activities for
incorporation of secularization itself rather than focussing on the disappearance of religion as
a whole.
Conclusion
As can be seen from the above discussion, there lies immense debates regarding the
notion of secularization and its implications in the real-world scenarios. There remains
significant evidences and arguments in favour of the same and the theories and conceptual

9SECULARIZATION
assertions regarding the same in the domain of sociology have also experienced considerable
dynamics and modifications owing to the changes in the thought process and relevance with
time. However, from the overall discussion it can be concluded that although secularization
does not fully replace religion as a whole, as argues by the classical theories of secularization,
it does have considerable impacts in reducing the importance and roles of religion in
everyday life of individuals, the modus operandi varying with respect to region and time.
References
Beaman, L.G. ed., 2012. Reasonable accommodation: managing religious diversity. UBC
Press.
Beyer, P. and Beaman, L. eds., 2007. Religion, globalization, and culture. Brill.
Casanova, J., 2011. Public religions in the modern world. University of Chicago Press.
Cox, H., 2013. The secular city: Secularization and urbanization in theological perspective.
Princeton University Press.
Davie, G., 2014. Religion in Britain: A persistent paradox. John Wiley & Sons.
Dobbelaere, K., 2007. Secularization. Blackwell Publishing.
James, C., 2008. Cultural amnesia: Necessary memories from history and the arts. WW
Norton & Company.
Kuru, A.T., 2009. Secularism and state policies toward religion: The United States, France,
and Turkey. Cambridge University Press.
Singleton, A., 2014. Religion, culture and society: A global approach. Sage.

10SECULARIZATION