Cambridge A-Level Sociology: Secularisation, Feminism and Post-modern Religion (9699)

Is religion declining, changing shape or reviving? Syllabus heading 12 of Cambridge International A Level Sociology (9699), The influence of religion, is the second half of Paper 4’s Religion section. It covers the secularisation debate (12.1), feminist explanations of gender inequality in religion and moves towards equality (12.2), and how religion is changing in post-modern societies, from privatised belief and spiritual shopping to new religious movements and fundamentalism (12.3). Each sub-topic is a debate, so 35-mark essays need evidence on both sides.

This guide sits under the Paper 4 overview guide. Definitions, functionalism, Marxism and Weber are covered in the religion, social order and social change guide.

Syllabus coverage

Cambridge International AS & A Level Sociology 9699 (2024–2026), Paper 4 Section C, heading 12:

• 12.1 The secularisation debate — the secularisation thesis; evidence for a decline in religious belief; whether rationalisation is leading to decline; whether religion has lost its social significance.
• 12.2 Gender, feminism and religion — feminist perspectives on religion; explanations for patriarchy and gender inequality in religion; moves towards gender equality in religious organisations and evidence that religious practices may benefit women.
• 12.3 Religion and post-modernity — whether there has been a growth in privatised religion; spiritual shopping; whether resacralisation is a feature of post-modernity; the significance of new religious movements (NRMs) and New Age ideas; explanations for the growth of fundamentalist religions, including cultural defence, cultural transition, disengagement, marginality and religious revival.

What is the secularisation thesis?

Bryan Wilson (Religion in Secular Society, 1966) defined secularisation as the process whereby religious thinking, practice and institutions lose social significance. The thesis predicts that modernisation — industrialisation, urbanisation, science and education — weakens religion.

What is the evidence for decline?

• Practice: falling church attendance and membership in much of Western Europe.
• Belief: fewer people in surveys say they believe in God or identify with a religion, especially among the young.
• Institutions: declining numbers of clergy, religious marriages and baptisms in many Western societies.
• Generational decline: Steve Bruce (God is Dead, 2002) argues each generation is less religious than its parents.
• Social significance: the state, not the church, now runs education, welfare and law in most modern societies (disengagement of religion from society).

Is rationalisation causing decline?

Max Weber argued that rational, scientific thinking leads to disenchantment — the world is explained by science rather than magic or the supernatural. Peter Berger (The Sacred Canopy, 1967) argued that religious pluralism removed the single “sacred canopy” that once covered society, making belief less certain. Bruce adds that technology gives people practical control, reducing reliance on religion.

Counter-arguments: Berger later revised his view, arguing that much of the world is as religious as ever (“desecularisation”, 1999); science and religion can coexist; rationalisation has not removed interest in spirituality.

Has religion lost its social significance?

Arguments that it has not:

• Believing without belonging — Grace Davie (Religion in Britain since 1945, 1994) argued that belief persists even where attendance declines.
• Religious market theory — Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge (1985) argue that demand for religion is constant; decline in one organisation is matched by growth elsewhere, and competition revitalises religion (the USA as example).
• Existential security — Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart (Sacred and Secular, 2004) argue religion declines where life is secure but persists where it is insecure, and high birth rates in more religious societies mean the world’s population is becoming more religious.
• Public religion — José Casanova (Public Religions in the Modern World, 1994) identified the deprivatisation of religion as faiths re-entered politics.
• Religion’s continuing global role in politics and identity (see 11.3).

Problems of measurement: definitions and data shape conclusions — a “golden age” of past religiosity may be a myth.

What do feminists say about religion?

• Religion as patriarchal: Simone de Beauvoir (The Second Sex, 1949) argued religion gives women false compensation for their second-class status. Nawal El Saadawi (The Hidden Face of Eve, 1980) argued that patriarchal interpretations, not religion itself, oppress women.
• Explanations for inequality: male-dominated organisations and leadership; sacred texts written and interpreted by men; ideas of female impurity restricting women’s participation; religious laws on marriage, divorce and dress; Karen Armstrong (A History of God, 1993) argues that early religions often had female deities before monotheism became male-dominated.
• Different feminist views: radical feminists see religion as fundamentally patriarchal; liberal feminists see reform as possible.

Are religions moving towards gender equality, and can religion benefit women?

• Change in organisations: the Church of England ordained its first women priests in 1994 and consecrated its first woman bishop in 2015; women serve as rabbis in Reform Judaism; female leadership in many NRMs and New Age groups.
• Benefits to women: Helen Watson (1994) found that some Muslim women chose to wear the veil as an expression of identity and a way to avoid the male gaze; religious participation can provide community, status and support.
• Linda Woodhead argues that women use religion for their own ends — “religious forms of feminism”.
• Evaluation: change is uneven between and within faiths; choice and constraint are difficult to separate.

Is religion becoming privatised and chosen?

• Privatised religion: belief becomes a personal matter, practised at home or alone rather than in public institutions.
• Spiritual shopping: David Lyon (Jesus in Disneyland, 2000) described consumers picking and mixing beliefs; Danièle Hervieu-Léger describes pilgrims following individual spiritual paths and converts joining groups that offer belonging.
• The spiritual revolution: Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead’s Kendal Project (The Spiritual Revolution, 2005) found holistic spirituality growing in a small English town while congregational religion declined — but not enough to replace it.
• Resacralisation: the revival of the sacred, through NRMs, New Age, charismatic and Pentecostal growth and fundamentalism, may be a feature of post-modernity rather than a sign of secularisation.

Why do NRMs, New Age ideas and fundamentalism matter?

NRMs: Roy Wallis (The Elementary Forms of the New Religious Life, 1984) classified them as world-rejecting (separating from society), world-accommodating (enriching religious life) and world-affirming (offering techniques for success). Their growth may reflect relative deprivation, rapid social change or a search for meaning.

New Age: a broad range of beliefs focused on the self, spirituality and wellbeing; Heelas sees it as a “spirituality of life” suited to consumer societies.

Explanations for fundamentalism (syllabus list):

Explanation	Meaning
Cultural defence	Religion protects a group’s identity against an external threat (Bruce, 1996)
Cultural transition	Religion helps migrants and those undergoing rapid change cope and keep identity
Disengagement	Believers withdraw from a secular society seen as corrupt
Marginality	Excluded, deprived groups turn to religion offering certainty and hope (Weber’s theodicy of disprivilege)
Religious revival	Renewal movements responding to perceived moral decline, linked to religious market cycles

Anthony Giddens (1999) sees fundamentalism as a reaction to globalisation and uncertainty — “tradition defended in the traditional way”.

Frequently asked questions

Is secularisation true? It depends on definition and region. Evidence of decline in Western Europe is strong; globally, religion remains strong or is growing. Essays should judge, not just describe.

How does post-modernity differ from secularisation? Post-modern theorists argue religion is changing form — becoming chosen, privatised and diverse — rather than simply disappearing.

Which feminist evidence shows religion benefiting women? Watson’s study of veiling and Woodhead’s work on religious forms of feminism are the most widely used.

Sources

• Cambridge International, Cambridge International AS & A Level Sociology 9699 syllabus for 2024, 2025 and 2026, Paper 4 Religion, heading 12.
• Works are named with publication years in the text.

Related pages: influence of religion revision notes | influence of religion practice questions | Paper 4 revision notes