What is rationalisation and how does it contribute to the process of secularisation? (Looking at modern Britain)

In 1966 Wilson introduced and defined secularisation as the process where religious beliefs and practices lose social significance. There are a variety of factors that contribute to a society becoming secularised, such as structural differentiation or declining church attendance rates, however, rationalisation is one of the most prominent reasons. Rationalisation refers to the process whereby rational ways of thinking come to replace religious ones. Max Weber argued that the Protestant Reformation started this rationalisation process in the West. This process undermined the religious worldview and the domination of the Catholic Church held at the time and replaced it with a rational scientific outlook, found in modern Britain today. This can be demonstrated with the contrast between during the Middle Ages where a natural disaster would have been interpreted as God’s wrath or punishment for sin. In comparison, in modern day society with its scientific advancements and knowledge, natural disasters such as earthquakes or volcanoes can be explained with rational arguments and evidence. This contributes to the process of secularisation as there has been a shift from religious explanations to scientific explanations being the dominant belief system in countries like Britain. Secularisation is often such a large topic that it tends to come up as a 33 mark question – e.g. – ‘Modern Britain is now a secular society’ To what extent do sociological arguments and evidence agree with this view? Rationalisation would make up one paragraph for this essay, however you would have to assess its contribution and evaluate it to gain AO3 marks. You can evaluate the rationalisation argument as follows: The rationalisation argument is criticised though, as when rational explanations fail people return to religion. For example, this can be highlighted in regard to terminal cancer patients turning to religion for prayer, comfort and solace when science is unable to present a cure. This indicates that religion still plays an important role and implies that it is human nature to turn to religion. To further reinforce this, Parsons argues that science does not provide answers for eternal questions (such as, the meaning of life, what happens after death) whereas religion does which serves the purpose of upholding social harmony, therefore religion still holds some significance in modern Britain. You can also evaluate how significant rationalisation is as a contributing reason by linking it to other reasons such as disenchantment and the rise of a technological worldview when you cover these topics in following paragraphs, or link them together in the conclusion.