1. Why might the stages of history be encapsulated by these words?
Pre modern
Starter
God
Modern
Why might the stages of history be encapsulated by these words?
Man
Postmodern
Earth

2. Pre-modern /Feudalism
Monopoly of the truth
Singular understanding of the world
Hierarchical structure

3. Modernity
Rationalization – the enlightenment
Differentiation

4. What is postmodernism?

5. A perspective that refers to a particular time period (epoch)
Pre-modern/Feudalism Modernity Late modernity Postmodernity

6. Write down as many features as you can think of.
Late or postmodernism
Write down as many features as you can think of.

7. Late modernity – Anthony Giddens

8. Late modernity - Giddens
Reflexivity – uncertainty – constant monitoring of social life to try and improve it. A tendency to undermine the traditional
Sociology is part of this reflexivity
How does this apply to religion?

9. REFLEXIVITY IN UK SOCIETY

10. REFLEXIVITY IN UK SOCIETY

12. “Most of the situations of modern social life are manifestly incompatible with religion as a pervasive influence upon day to day life. Religious cosmology is supplanted by reflexively organised knowledge, governed by empirical observation and logical thought, and focused upon material technology and socially applied codes. Religion and tradition were always closely linked, and the latter it even more thoroughly undermined than the former by the reflexivity of modern social life that stands in direct opposition to it.”
ANTHONY GIDDENS

13. Late modernity - Giddens
Separation of time and place – new and digital media means that we are communicating with people across the world and not face to face

14. Separation of time and place
WHAT EFFECT MIGHT THIS HAVE ON RELIGION?

15. Separation of time
and place

16. Late modernity - Giddens
Disembedding – people are affected by things that happen a long way away

17. WHAT EFFECT MIGHT THIS HAVE ON RELIGION?
Disembedding – people are affected by things that happen a long way away
WHAT EFFECT MIGHT THIS HAVE ON RELIGION?

18. Late modernity - Giddens
Despite the apparent incompatibility with religion, Giddens argues that the resurgence of religion in some places is understandable.

19. Individual freedom and choice The reflexivity of science
DISCUSS: Why might the following aspects of late modernity help religion to grow or at least survive in a late modern world?
Uncertainty
Individual freedom and choice
The reflexivity of science

20. Responses to the late modern world

21. Late modernity - Giddens
Fundamentalism has arisen in the last 40 years in response to late modernity and Giddens thinks that this is dangerous because it a late modern world there is much more ethnic diversity, so people need to be more tolerant of each other not less.

22. RECAP
List the key features of a late modern society according to Giddens

23. Danielle Hervieu-Leger

24. Cultural amnesia – change in socialization

25. Religion is not such a source of collective identity like before

26. Individual consumerism has replaced traditional institutional religion – we are SPIRITUAL SHOPPERS

27. Personal choice

28. Pilgrims and converts

29. Believing
without
belonging

30. Stark and Bainbridge – religious market theory

31. Religion is a market place, when one religion declines it leaves a gap for another to fill it

32. Churches are like companies striving to improve their service and attract more customers

33. Cycle of religious decline, revival and renewal

34. Religion as compensation – religion meets our needs and also provides rewards

35. Competition to attract members in new ways

36. Grace Davie – Believing without belonging
Argues against the secularisation thesis
Religion has become privatised
Vicarious religion is taking place
Canadian survey (1993) 25% attended regularly but 80% said they had religious beliefs.
BUT data suggests otherwise and Bruce makes point that if they are not acting on their beliefs, how strong are their beliefs?

37. PLENARY
How do late/postmodernist views agree or refute Marxism, functionalism?

38. BRING IN COLOURS FOR THE MAHUSIVE MIND MAP EACH OF YOU WILL MAKE.
NEXT LESSON
BRING IN COLOURS FOR THE MAHUSIVE MIND MAP EACH OF YOU WILL MAKE.

39. POSTMODERNISM TODAY Carousel – answer the questions
Consider what Marxists and feminists might think of postmodernism

40. Zygmunt Bauman (1992)– Postmodernism
Similar to Giddens and Hervieu-Leger:
Postmodern world has arisen from modernity
Reflexivity has increased
Religious revival has arisen out of individual problems and need for meaning

41. Zygmunt Bauman (1992)– Po-mo
Deconstructs claims for universal truth
People no longer accept authority
Freedom to be a ‘shopper’, to pursue anything
Uncertainty is something to be embraced
Individuals have no external rules to live their lives
Personal ethics and morality are the most important not external ones

42. BAUMAN QUESTIONS What does Bauman mean by ‘reflexivity’?
Give one example of how an individual might ‘shop’ for religion
Why are post modern individuals more likely to challenge authority?

43. James Beckford (1996) Bauman is contradictory – why?
Beckford disagrees with the idea that there has been a religious revival because he does not think there was a preceding massive decline.

44. David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland (2000)

45. David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland (2000)
Quite like Giddens and Bauman but:
Unlike Bauman he does not think po-mo has supplanted modernity
Unlike Giddens he thinks that societies have moved beyond late modernity

46. “confessional consumers”

47. David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland (2000)
New digital media – globalisation – choice of religions, spirituality etc…identities are less based on local communities
Growing consumerism – people are free to choose on their own what to do with their time, their homes, their bodies and their gods…

48. “bricolage of beliefs”

49. David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland (2000)
Religion is not necessarily declining – it has relocated to the sphere of consumption
People are less willing to accept the authority of the church but still seek meaning
Peoples identities are more fluid and open to personal choice
People still need narratives for their lives but are looking at other besides traditional ones

50. David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland (2000) THE EVIDENCE!
Canada:
75% don’t attend religious ceremonies regularly but 80% still draw upon religious beliefs and practices
Shift from religious institutions to a “cultural resource”

51. David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland (2000) – WHY IS MY BOOK CALLED THIS?
Harvest Day Crusade in California Several stages with Christian singers and for Lyon this was an example of religion interacting with the most postmodern of settings, Disneyland. Disneyland is seen as a very postmodern place because it is a fantasy world but many of the signs are treated as if they are – autographs from Mickey Mouse for example. Religion is no longer confined to traditional places, it is adapting

52. David Lyon – Jesus in Disneyland (2000)
De-differentiation The lines in society are becoming blurred. Religion and popular culture.

53. LYON QUESTIONS
What does Lyon mean by ‘bricolage of beliefs’?
Why did Lyon title his book, ‘Jesus in Disneyland’?
Does he argue that religion has declined?

54. Paul Heelas – Postmodernity and new age movements
There are many ways new age movements can be considered postmodern:
Dedifferentiation – difference is not acknowledged
Relativism – NAMs don’t claim that there is one set of ideas that reveal the whole truth
Consumers of different NAMs
Experience is emphasised over achievement

55. Paul Heelas – Postmodernity and new age movements
But Heelas says they are not postmodern: -the New Age has a very strong metanarrative at its heart. Although it rejects cultural metanarratives it has replaced them with experiential metanarratives. - The New Age is part of modernity – importance of individualism

56. HEELAS QUESTIONS
Why might some sociologists consider NAMs postmodern?
Why does Heelas claim that NAMs are not postmodern
What study does Heelas base his assertions about NAMs?

57. PLENARY
How do late/postmodernist views agree or refute Marxism, functionalism?