Religious individualization or secularization? Testing hypotheses of religious change – the case of Eastern and Western Germany

Abstract

The individualization thesis advanced by sociologists of religion such as Grace Davie, Danièle Hervieu-Léger, Michael Krüggeler, Thomas Luckmann, Hubert Knoblauch, Wade Clark Roof, Wayne E. Baker, and others has become increasingly widespread especially in Europe within the sociology of religion. In contrast to the secularization theory it assumes that processes of modernization will not lead to a decline in the social significance of religion, but rather to a change in its social forms. According to the individualization theory, traditional and institutionalized forms of religiosity will be increasingly replaced by more subjective ones detached form church, individually chosen, and syncretistic in character. The article examines the empirical applicability of the individualization thesis on the basis of how religiosity and church affiliation have evolved in Germany over the past 50 years. It comes to the conclusion that the rise of individually determined non-church religiosity cannot compensate for the losses of institutionalized religiosity, since non-church religiosity remains rather marginal and is interwoven with traditional Christian religiosity. Religious individualization is only a component of the predominant secularization process.

Love Thy Neighbor? Relationships between Religion and Racial Intolerance in Europe

“…The former accords with traditional (Christian and Islamic) religious doctrines, the latter departs from these doctrines and is more diffuse and open to alternative spiritual beliefs. Belief in a Spirit/Life Force is therefore more modern and individualized (Pollack and Pickel 2007). Both beliefs are hypothesized here to be negatively related to racial intolerance: H1: Traditional belief in a personal God and modern individualized belief in a Spirit/Life Force are both negatively related to racial intolerance.…”

From ‘morality’ policy to ‘normal’ policy: framing of drug consumption and gambling in Germany and the Netherlands and their regulatory consequences

“…Inglehart (1990) proposes a silent transformation of the Western value system from materialism to post-materialism; Flanagan and Lee (2003) investigate a shift from authoritarian to libertarian values; and Smith and Tatalovich (2003) even speak of a 'cultural theory' that encompasses forces of status differentiation and status equalization. Incorporated in these views of value change is the idea of secularization: Western, economically developed countries experience a declining influence of religion in society and state affairs (Pollack and Pickel 2007). This is suspected to contribute to the process of societal value change, which influences attitudes towards morality policies.…”

Religions as brands? Religion and spirituality in consumer society

“…Summing up, we thus observe a simultaneous process of marketization, individualization, and secularization. Much of the literature sees these processes as mutually exclusive, which is misleading (for an overview see McAlexander et al 2014;Pollack and Pickel 2007). Rather, they are part of one single social process.…”