Secularisation - the idea that as societies modernize they become less-religious in outlook and governance - is a key concept in the Sociology of Religion that has, in recent times, undergone a range of re-evaluations.

This film, featuring contributions from three of the UK’s foremost sociologists of religion (Prof. Eileen Barker, Prof. Linda Woodhead and Prof Bronislaw Szerszynski), introduces students to a slightly-different take on the concept of secularisation by looking at it in two ways:

Firstly, by questioning the over-easy assumption that in pre-modernity, "religion was everywhere” whereas in modernity it is "almost nowhere”.

Secondly, by looking at contemporary research evidence that suggests religion, rather than simply "disappearing”, may be undergoing a process of diversification: one that has seen a marked decline in orthodox measures of secularisation, from falling attendance at religious services to the organizational disengagement of the Church from secular governance, allied to a revival in various forms of spirituality - from yoga through witchcraft to a variety of New Age "spiritual therapies”.

This film is designed to introduce students to the general concept of secularisation, its relationship to modernization and a range of evaluative points that can be brought to bear in any discussion of secularisation.