Religion and the demographic revolution : women and secularisation in Canada, Ireland, UK and USA since the 1960s / Callum G. Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Callum G., 1953-

Series:

Studies in modern British religious history ; v. 29.

Studies in modern British religious history ; v. 29

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Secularization--History--20th century--Case studies.

Secularization.

Secularism--History--20th century--Case studies.

Secularism.

Women and religion--History--20th century--Case studies.

Women and religion.

Feminism--Religious aspects--History--20th century.

Feminism.

Feminism--Religious aspects.

History.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xiv, 302 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Woodbridge : The Boydell Press, [2012]

Summary:

In the 1960s, two great social and cultural changes of the western world began. The first was the rapid decline of Christian religious practice and identity and the rise of the people of 'no religion'. The second was the transformation in women's lives that spawned a demographic revolution in sex, family and work. Both phenomena were sudden though not uniform in their impact. The argument of this book is that the two were intimately connected, triggered by an historic confluence of factors in the 1960s.

Canada, Ireland, UK and USA represent different stages of secularisation for the book's study. The religious collapse in mainland Britain and most of Canada was sharp and spectacular but contrasted with the more resilient religious cultures of the United States, the Canadian Maritimes, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Using statistical evidence from government censuses, the book demonstrates how secularisation was deeply linked to demographic change. Starting with the distinctive features of the 1960s, the book quantifies secularisation's scale, timing and character in each nation. Then, the intense links of women's sexual revolution to religious decline are explored. From there, women's changing patterns of marriage, coupling and birthing are correlated with diminishing religiosity. The final exploration is into the secularising consequences of economic change, higher education and women's expanding work roles.

This book transforms the way in which secularisation is imagined. Religion matters more than mere belief, practice and the churches; it shapes how populations construct their sexual practices, families and life-course. In nations where religion has been dissolving since 1960 into apathy and atheism, the process has been part of a demographic revolution built on new moral codes. Connecting religious history with the history of population, this volume unveils how the historian and sociologist need to engage with the demographic enormity of the decline of Christendom. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

Overview 1

Religious history 3

Demographic history 8

Thinking about demography and secularisation 13

Book aims 19

2 The sixties 29

Crisis? What crisis? 29

Gradualism: the theory of secularisation and its critics 43

The fifties 47

The sixties 54

Conceptualising the people of no religion 60

Conclusion 70

3 Religious change 71

Introduction 71

Measuring change 72

Church attendance 72

Church membership and adherence 89

Belief 102

Identity: the growth of non-religion 105

Conclusion 123

4 Sex and religion 127

Introduction 127

Debating sex and religion 128

The sexual revolution: gay liberation 139

The sexual revolution: premarital sex 141

Sex and religion: the survey evidence 163

Conclusion 169

5 Family and religion 172

Introduction 172

Marriage 174

Birth 197

Conclusion 215

6 The economy and women's religion 217

Introduction 217

Economics and religion 221

Education and religion 233

Women and work 244

Conclusion 248

7 The decision-makers 252

The secular revolution 252

The demographic revolution 255

A gendered model of secularisation 258

The rise of the people of no religion 266.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781843837923

1843837927

OCLC:

788237798