Family and Religion
Social scientific notions of the disappearance or vestigialization of religion and family are deeply rooted in our theoretical conceptions of the social processes that created the modern world and that now are transforming that modernity into postindustrial, postmodern society. Theories of modernization envision social change as entailing the rationalization of all spheres of existence. In a statement characterizing the classic modernization approach, Moore (1963, p. 79) says, "A major feature of the modern world . . . is that the rational orientation is pervasive and a major basis for deliberate change in virtually every aspect of man's concerns." There is little room for the seemingly irrational and unscientific impulses of religion, primary emotions, and familial concerns.
With this approach, the secularization of religion is a given. Moore (1963, p. 80) states, "Even with regard to the role of religion in human affairs, the 'rational spirit' takes the form of secularization, the substitution of nonreligious beliefs and practices for religious ones." Though religion survives, it addresses "personal misfortune and bereavement" above all else in modern society (Moore 1963, p. 104).
Furthermore, "economic modernization" tends to have "negative consequences for extended kinship systems" and leads to "extensive 'family disorganization"' accompanying the "breakdown of traditional patterns and the incomplete establishment of new institutions" (Moore 1963, p.
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