Secularization in the long 1960s : numerating religion in Britain / Clive D. Field.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Field, Clive D., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Secularization--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Secularization.

Secularism--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Secularism.

History.

Great Britain.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 269 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Edition.

Other Title:

Secularization in the long nineteen-sixties

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2017.

Summary:

"Secularization in the Long 1960s: Numerating Religion in Britain' provides a major empirical contribution to the literature of secularization. It moves beyond the now largely sterile and theoretical debates about the validity of the secularization thesis or paradigm. Combining historical and social scientific perspectives, Clive D. Field uses a wide range of quantitative sources to probe the extent and pace of religious change in Britain during the long 1960s. In most cases, data is presented for the years 1955-80, with particular attention to the methodological and other challenges posed by each source type. Following an introductory chapter, which reviews the historiography, introduces the sources, and defines the chronological and other parameters, Field provides evidence for all major facets of religious belonging, behaving, and believing, as well as for institutional church measures. The work engages with, and largely refutes, Callum G. Brown's influential assertion that Britain experienced "revolutionary" secularization in the 1960s, which was highly gendered in nature, and with 1963 the major tipping-point. Instead, a more nuanced picture emerges with some religious indicators in crisis, others continuing on an existing downward trajectory, and yet others remaining stable. Building on previous research by the author and other scholars, and rejecting recent proponents of counter-secularization, the long 1960s are ultimately located within the context of a longstanding gradualist, and still ongoing, process of secularization in Britain."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

Historiography 1

Sources 8

Parameters 19

2 Belonging-Aggregate Measures 23

Religious Profession 23

Self-Assessed Religiosity 33

Religious Membership 37

Sunday School Enrolments 42

Religious Community 46

3 Belonging-Denominations and Faiths 50

Anglican Churches 50

Roman Catholic Church 55

Orthodox Churches 64

Other Churches 64

Non-Christian Faiths 76

Organized Irreligion 79

4 Behaving-Churchgoing 81

Introduction 81

National Church Data 82

Local Church Counts 90

National Sample Surveys 95

Local Sample Surveys 102

5 Behaving-Other Practices 105

Rites of Passage 105

Religious Broadcasting 115

Other Religious Practices 122

6 Believing-Beliefs and Experience 129

Measuring Religious Beliefs 129

Belief in Life Forces 133

Belief in Life after Death 137

Alternative Beliefs 141

Religious Experience 147

7 Believing-Attitudes 152

Influence of Religion and the Churches 152

Religious Prejudice 155

Sunday Observance 160

Religion and Morality 166

Religion and Politics 174

8 Institutional Measures 183

Places of Worship 183

Religious .Personnel 191

Religious Finance 200

9 Conclusion 206

Belonging 206

Behaving 210

Believing 213

Institutional Measures 217

Final Reckoning 218

Secularization Redivivus 223.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-257) and index.

ISBN:

9780198799474

0198799470

OCLC:

960835451