ASC211 Lecture 4: Religion, Globalisation, and Late Modernity - Week Four ASC211
Deakin University ASC211 Religion and Social Change Trimester One 2018
Week Four – Religion, Globalisation and Late Modernity
Globalisation
Global movement of people, goods and ideas; the internet has allowed for global communication
systems.
Associated with:
• Modernity
• World system of nation states - which emerged after French Revolution
• Western Capitalism
While continuous with modernity. It is post-modern, post- colonial and post-Western
• Undermines the hegemonic project of Western universalization
• Limits and relativises state sovereignty
• Frees capitalist markets and civil society from national boundaries
• Undermines the model of territorially based national religion or culture
Globalisation and Religion
• Cultural systems, including religious systems have historically been linked to particular
territories/places
• After the French Revolution – spread of European modernity – the world became territorialised
• peoples, ultures, religios, siees, arkets, iil soiet all eae territoriall eedded ithi
the nation-state
• Citizenship linked to nation-state identity
• Membership of state national churches/religions
• Globalisation – de-territorializatio of all ultural sstes
• Glocalisation (Robertson 1992) – emphasis on local and global – no longer national
• Gloalizatio failitates the retur of the old iilizatios ad orld religios as loal ad
trasatioal idetities, partiularl religious oes eoe eer ore proiet
Religion in Late Modern Society
Six stories of religion's place in the late modern world:
1. Secularisation
2. The 'Good Old Way'
3. Religious reorganisation
4. Religious individualisation
5. Rational-choice 'theory' of religious markets
6. Religious peace building
(Spickard 2006)
Secularisation
Religion declining:
• Comte, Marx, Weber, and Freud all believed that modern societies would become less religious
• religio is ot hat it oe as
• eg, America – religious organisation have less social influence; steady drop in mainline Protestant
eership, Catholi Churh attedae ad Jes attedig sagogue; rise i people of o religio.
Europe – an even steeper decline.
• Fragmentation of social life – social differentiation – other institutions now handle the work of
churches
• Erosion of small scale communities – including religious communities
• Increased pluralism leads to questioning of religious beliefs
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Document Summary
Week four religion, globalisation and late modernity. Global movement of people, goods and ideas; the internet has allowed for global communication systems. Associated with: modernity, world system of nation states - which emerged after french revolution, western capitalism. It is post-modern, post- colonial and post-western: undermines the hegemonic project of western universalization, undermines the model of territorially based national religion or culture. Frees capitalist markets and civil society from national boundaries. Six stories of religion"s place in the late modern world: secularisation, the "good old way, religious reorganisation, religious individualisation, rational-choice "theory" of religious markets, religious peace building (spickard 2006) Fragmentation of social life social differentiation other institutions now handle the work of churches: erosion of small scale communities including religious communities. Increased pluralism leads to questioning of religious beliefs. It (cid:858)pro(cid:448)ides a fir(cid:373) grou(cid:374)di(cid:374)g for those (cid:449)ho distrust a (cid:449)orld go(cid:374)e (cid:373)ad(cid:859) (spickard 2006, 174-175) Religions changing shape; weakening nationally but strengthening locally:
