Why Didn't Religion Disappear? Re-examining the Secularization Thesis1

Why Didn't Religion Disappear? Re-examining the Secularization Thesis1

Major social analysts of the nineteenth century, from Marx and Weber to Durkheim and Freud, predicted that religion would cease to be significant with the emergence of industrial society. In recent years, however, this thesis has experienced a sustained challenge. Critics claim it is time to bury the secularization thesis.

It would be premature to do so. The critique relies too heavily on selected anomalies and focuses too heavily on the United States (a striking deviant case) rather than comparing systematic evidence across the full range of societies. This study draws on a massive base of new evidence generated by the four waves of the World Values Survey/ European Values Survey, which has carried out representative national surveys in eighty societies, covering all of the world's major faiths and including 85 percent of the world's population.

It is obvious that religion has not disappeared from the world, nor does it seem likely to do so. Nevertheless, the concept of secularization captures an important part of what is going on. This chapter presents a revised version of secularization theory that emphasizes the extent to which people have a sense of existential security – that is, the feeling that survival can be taken for granted. The feeling that survival is uncertain has shaped the lives of most people throughout most of history, and the need for a sense of reassurance in a highly uncertain world, has been a key factor underlying the mass appeal of religion. As this need diminishes, a systematic erosion of religious practices, values and beliefs tends to occur. The need for a sense of assurance in face of existential insecurity is not the only motivation underlying religion. Throughout history, philosophers and theologians have turned to religion in seeking answers to the meaning of life. But for the vast majority of the population, the prime appeal of religion was that it helped them cope with existential insecurity

During the twentieth century in nearly all post-industrial nations church attendance has declined markedly. The United States remains exceptional, showing much higher rates of church attendance, and higher emphasis on religion, than is found in almost any other advanced industrial society (though ranking far below most pre-industrial societies).

But despite clear evidence of secularization in rich nations, the world as a whole has not become less religious. Two things are

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