In Society and Lifestyles, I learned about how some religions split and changed and how religion has decreased over the years mainly in western Europe. This related to culture and many philosophers have different beliefs from this. We learned that a German philosopher called Max Weber believed in the 1800s and early 1900s that the split from the catholic church (which was the protestant church) contributed to the success of capitalism in the western world. However, others such as Karl Max (who was also a German philosopher) during the 1800s believed that religion was the cause of “brainwashing” and illusions. There were many different beliefs and throughout the years many people started to not identify themselves as religious. This was known as secularisation and the causes of this was varied. This could be due to the modern teaching of science which taught children how the world was made and taught them about evolution which probably made many people debate their beliefs. Other ways of secularisation would be that people become more religious in times of need, however as there are more people who are privileged and have technology at their fingertips, this means less people are turning to religion for help. A main reason that religion is becoming less popular would be that people are now turning to “unchurched spirituality”. This means that they may be religious or not, but do not attend a church of any kind. A reason for this could be that they do not believe some aspects of the church. Another reason could be that they want to practice “individualism” and want to focus on themselves. Another factor could be that they want to identify themselves as something, so that they do not feel alone.

I understand most of the subjects covered, as I find it quite interesting to learn. However, I would like to learn more about the philosophers, because this is an area which I need to work on.

A way in which I will give evidence to support my claims about religion and culture would be to use reliable sources of information. I will use a variety of philosophers such as Karl Max and Max Weber. This would make sure my essay is a discursive piece and not biased, as I am giving a varied point of view.

Skills which I have developed is my reading skills. This is something which I have improved in as I believe this is essential for soaking up information. A skill and area of my performance would be to write more information during the lecture, this would include extra ideas of the subject from the lecturer, and will give me a greater insight into this module.