Davie on Secularisation | Beliefs in Society | A-Level Sociology

welcome to this tutor to you sociology topic video on beliefs in society focusing on the work of grace davey on secularization unlike many contemporary sociologists grace davey argues against the process of secularization in society instead stating that there has been a movement towards greater choice in how people practice their religious beliefs rather than being obliged to attend a

church service every week as was the case in the past davie suggests that religious beliefs are now a matter of choice no longer are individuals being socialized into regular attendance at church as part of the norms and values of society but rather allowed to practice free will in how they practice their own religious

beliefs for davey like stark and brainbridge religion has become a consumer choice rather than a forced act writing in the late 1980s and early 1990s davey suggested that the practice of religion has changed but the contemporary scholars had focused on declining church attendance as a sign of secularization for davey religious belief is more than

attending church services indeed she argues that religious beliefs are difficult to quantify in the way that many religious academics had attempted to do she suggested it was possible to have religious beliefs without the need to prove that one belonged through attending services in her book believing without belonging she outlined these ideas suggesting that

despite falling attendance people still look to their religious beliefs for guidance in times of conflict and turmoil in doing so david drew parallels between religious participation and other social institutions such as the national health service she argued that a small minority of worshipers regularly attended church and that this maintained the service on