Social Groups and Religious Affiliations (Edexcel A-Level Sociology): Revision Notes

Social groups and Religiosity

Gender differences in religiosity

• Church attendance is higher for women than it is for men
• 48% of women believe in God, compared to 36% of men

Reason 1:

Women are more risk averse than men and less likely to risk the chance of not going to Heaven due to not attending church. Men take more risks, less likely to seek the security that religious beliefs provide

Women are less likely to risk the social stigma of not attending church and men are less controlled in society, so less likely to conform

Evaluation:

There are individual differences between women and men. Some men will be more risk-averse and some women will be risk-takers

Reason 2:

Bruce: Women are less involved in paid employment, more able to organise their lives around religious events and have more time for religious participation

Men on the other hand have experienced rapid secularisation due to having to take part in paid work

Evaluation:

More women do work now e.g. Equal Pay Act, Sex Discrimination Act

Women are more likely to join New Age Movements

Women and New Age Movements (NAMs)

Women are more likely to join New Age Movements

Reason:

1. They provide greater freedom which attracts women. Loss of faith in traditional religion due to patriarchal gender roles. NAMs allow women to break away from the patriarchal gender roles encouraged by traditional religion.

Offer the possibility of empowerment through promoting individual self-improvement and this is important as women are denied power in patriarchal society.

2. Women are more likely to be in part-time employment/full-time carers, more time to be in a NAM

Age differences in religiosity

• Older people (65+) are more likely to attend religious services
• Under 15's more likely to attend church (may have less choice and are made to go by their parents e.g. with their mothers as it is expected) Reasons:

The ageing effect

3. People become more interested in spirituality as they approach death, and more concerned about the afterlife, as a result, they are more likely to go to church Secularisation

4. As secularisation rises, religion declines further in importance between generations. Each generation becomes less religious than the one before it, explaining why older people are the most religious

Class differences in religiosity

1. Working-class groups are more drawn to religious organisations that promote change such as sects and cults This is because traditional religious organisations, such as churches, promote maintaining their unequal status position in society and justify their status position

For instance, Marx – religion has stopped the working class from questioning the structure of society by acting as an opium of the people

2. Most deprived groups are drawn to religion as it helps to cope with poverty
3. The middle class are drawn to religion as it helps to justify their power and control

Ethnic differences in religiosity

• Church attendance is higher for ethnic minorities, such as black people Reason 1:

4. Religion can be a basis of community and solidarity. It can act as a coping mechanism for oppression and discrimination in a racist society Many black Christians have found that white churches in the UK didn't actively welcome them, and some turned to joining black-led churches, such as some Pentecostal churches

5. Can be a way of easing the transition into a new culture by providing support and a sense of community for ethnic minorities in their new environment With rising cultural globalisation the UK is much more multicultural due to immigration.

Evaluation:

However, once ethnic minority groups have made the transition into society, religion may lose its role and decline in importance