Stark and Bainbridge on Religion | Beliefs in Society | A-Level Sociology

welcome to this cheetah to you sociology topic video looking at beliefs in society focusing on the work of stark and bainbridge on religion stark and bainbridge offer an alternative explanation for the decline of traditional religions their work focused on the assumption that secularization was a phenomenon that was particular to western europe and suggested that in a global context

religious beliefs are as strong as ever their argument centers on the idea that the need for religious beliefs are universal and that beliefs are essential in understanding the larger questions in society it's human nature to look for reasons beyond our understanding to the larger questions in society stark and bainbridge suggested that rather than being in decline religion

had become more diverse and they applied market theories to explain how religion still met the needs of individuals in society their basic assumption was that religion remains important in the lives of individuals as it fulfills functions that other institutions cannot it gives people a sense of belonging of community and a reason to live their

lives religion offered individuals rewards for their service and their faith and through devotion to a set of beliefs and this minimized the psychological costs to individuals of not belonging or having a set of principles to guide them stark and bainbridge refer to these as compensators religion still has importance in people's lives according to stark and

bridge as it provides compensation for when they cannot fulfill their needs this explanation helps to us to understand why those feeling oppressed or having limited access to resources gravitate towards religion as a way of dealing with different forms of deprivation and exclusion religion helps individuals to make sense of the world providing supernatural