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I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it.
All of the ephemera that is far too trivial to be bothered with elsewhere on this site or, depending on your point of view, a meta-commentary on it. This ephemera includes, but is not limited to art, music and literature. Most of the content here will be discussed in terms that are as abstract as possible, reality being a singularly overrated concept.
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
I've often pondered why it seems to be that against a backbdrop of secularisation of society in general, or perhaps liberalisation of doctrine would be a better phrase, the most conservative churches nonetheless seem to be the most succesful. So, I was quite interested to come across this piece by Virginia Postrel, which went a long way towards explaining this;
"The group may attract fewer members at first, but it will be stronger over time. Distinctiveness also gives people a reason for affiliation and a sense of camaraderie. ... But a church cannot survive if the cost of membership is too great, especially if it wants to draw members from social groups that have other opportunities. By raising the costs of the old rules, social change poses a significant challenge to conservative religious groups. It is harder for members to find a happy compromise between the church's ideals and social norms, because the two are now far apart."
I suspect this application of economic theory of religion has a lot to it. That said, it doesn't account for social change as such, which is a backdrop here that the churches are not able to influence themselves. Churches, are after all, surely agents in social change and are not entirely passive in the face of it. On the other hand, one of the features of modern society is its tendency towards individualism. It may well be that economic change does have have the starring role here, which would lead to the individualisation of religion and the decline of religion in the Durkheimite capacity of being the bulwark of social order (it might also suggest that the loose networks of urban living as opposed to close knit rural communities might have a role to play in influencing such matters).
posted by Richard 9:50 pm
