Social groups and religion | AQA A-Level Sociology

For Specification 7192

AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes

Estimated study time: 90 minutes

These Social groups and religion A-Level Sociology revision notes examine how religious beliefs, practices and organisations may vary between social groups. You will consider patterns connected to ethnicity, gender, age and social class, and explanations including cultural defence, cultural transition, religious socialisation, individualised spirituality and disprivilege. The lesson brings together ideas from sects and cults [Sects and cults] and New Age movements [New Age movements], while preparing you for debates about religion and religiosity in the contemporary world [Religion and religiosity in the contemporary world].  

Learning Objectives 🎯

By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:

• Identify important social-group differences in religious beliefs and practices.

• Explain relationships between ethnicity and religion.

• Explain relationships between gender and forms of religious participation.

• Examine how age and social class may be related to religiosity and religious organisations.

• Apply concepts such as cultural defence, cultural transition, disprivilege and religious socialisation.

• Evaluate sociological explanations of differences in religion between social groups.

Revision Notes 📚

What does AQA require you to know?

The AQA specification requires sociological explanations of:

the relationship between different social groups and religious or spiritual organisations and movements, beliefs and practices.

This is a broad requirement. It means students should be able to connect who people are socially with:

• what they believe;

• how they practise religion;

• which organisations or movements may appeal to them;

• whether religion becomes more or less important;

• how wider processes such as migration, globalisation and secularisation affect groups differently.

AQA assessment material demonstrates the importance of several dimensions of social difference, particularly:

• ethnicity;

• gender;

• age;

• social class.

The 2025 examination also used the broader category social groups directly in a question about secularisation.

What is a social group?

A social group consists of people who share a socially significant characteristic or position.

For this topic, useful groupings include:

• age groups;

• gender groups;

• ethnic groups;

• social classes.

The important sociological point is that these categories do not determine religious behaviour automatically.

Instead, sociologists investigate patterns and explanations.

For example:

social position → different experiences or processes → possible effect on religious belief or practice

This is much better than assuming:

“People from Group X are religious because they belong to Group X.”

Patterns are not rules

AQA questions use phrases such as:

• “some people”;

• “many minority ethnic groups”;

• “women are more likely than men”;

• “younger generations may...”.

That wording matters.

A sociological pattern describes a tendency at group level. It does not mean every individual belonging to that social group behaves identically.

Good A-Level Sociology therefore avoids statements such as:

“All young people are secular.”

Instead:

“Younger generations may be more likely to favour secular worldviews, which can contribute to declining religious adherence.”

This more closely matches the cautious language of AQA's mark schemes.

Ethnicity and religion

Ethnicity is one of the most strongly assessed dimensions within this part of Beliefs in Society.

In 2023, AQA asked students to evaluate sociological explanations of the relationship between ethnicity and religious beliefs and practices. The item contrasted the continuing importance of religion for many minority ethnic groups with the argument that religion has declined in importance for most ethnic groups.

AQA's marking material identifies relevant concepts including:

• cultural defence;

• cultural transition;

• cultural hybridity;

• apostasy;

• immigration;

• minority ethnic groups;

• social solidarity;

• social deprivation;

• racism;

• marginality;

• globalisation;

• secularisation;

• renewed religious vigour.

These concepts show that there is no single relationship between ethnicity and religion.

Cultural defence

Cultural defence describes religion providing a way for a group to protect or maintain identity, beliefs and solidarity when facing change or hostility.

AQA's 2022 material identifies cultural defence as an explanation of religious beliefs and practices among minority ethnic groups in the UK.

The process can be:

migration or hostile environment → cultural identity feels threatened → religion provides shared beliefs and community → religious commitment may strengthen

Religion may therefore become particularly important because it:

• provides continuity;

• strengthens collective identity;

• creates community;

• distinguishes a minority group from wider society.

AQA's 2025 mark scheme also recognises that some ethnic groups experiencing hostile circumstances may turn towards religion as cultural defence and reject secular values.

This means cultural defence may potentially slow secularisation among some groups.

Cultural defence and social solidarity

Religion may also provide social solidarity.

AQA's 2022 marking guidance identifies religious infrastructure providing a sense of solidarity for minority ethnic groups.

The relationship is:

shared religious belief and practice → common identity → community support → social solidarity

This connects directly with religion and social stability [Religion and social stability].

However, be precise about the level at which solidarity occurs.

Strong solidarity within one ethnic or religious group does not necessarily mean there is one shared religion across wider society.

Cultural transition

Cultural transition refers to religion helping people adjust when moving between societies.

AQA explicitly identifies migration and religion as a cultural transition mechanism.

Migration may involve:

• entering unfamiliar surroundings;

• changing social relationships;

• encountering different values;

• adapting to new institutions and expectations.

Religion may provide continuity during this process.

The chain is:

migration → unfamiliar social environment → religious community provides continuity and support → adjustment to new society

Cultural transition therefore differs slightly from cultural defence.

Cultural defence	Cultural transition
Protecting or maintaining an identity	Helping people adapt to a new social environment
Often connected to perceived threat or hostility	Connected to the experience of migration and adjustment
Can strengthen group boundaries	Can provide continuity during social change
Religion helps defend identity	Religion helps manage transition

The two processes can operate at the same time.

Globalisation and ethnicity

Globalisation is particularly relevant because it increases connections and movement between societies.

In 2022, AQA directly asked how globalisation may have influenced the religious beliefs and practices of minority ethnic groups in the UK.

The mark scheme recognised possibilities including:

• migration increasing the importance of cultural transition;

• religion providing cultural defence;

• hostility encouraging some migrants to turn towards religion for support;

• low-paid work and poverty making religion more appealing;

• religious organisations providing solidarity;

• global religious changes influencing minority groups.

This is an important example of how a social process interacts with a social group.

Do not write simply:

“Globalisation affects religion.”

Instead:

“Migration associated with globalisation may strengthen religion among some minority ethnic groups because religious organisations can provide cultural transition and continuity within an unfamiliar social environment.”

Apostasy

Migration does not inevitably strengthen religion.

AQA also includes apostasy in its assessment material.

Apostasy means leaving or renouncing a religious faith.

This creates an alternative outcome:

migration → new cultural environment → adaptation to different beliefs → reduced religious commitment or apostasy

Compare this with cultural defence:

migration → identity threatened → religion becomes more important

The same broad process can therefore lead to different outcomes.

That is excellent evaluation.

Cultural hybridity

AQA also recognises cultural hybridity when examining ethnicity and religion.

Cultural hybridity involves combining influences from different cultural contexts.

Applied to religion, this helps challenge the assumption that migrants must either:

• keep their religious beliefs completely unchanged;

• or abandon them entirely.

Beliefs and practices may instead be modified within a new social context.

This gives three possible responses:

cultural defence → preservation

cultural transition/hybridity → adaptation

apostasy → abandonment of previous faith

These alternatives provide a strong basis for evaluation.

Ethnicity and secularisation

AQA's 2023 item explicitly includes the argument that religion has declined in importance for most ethnic groups.

Its top-level mark scheme encourages evaluation through:

• differences in levels of belief and practice between ethnic groups;

• the extent to which secularisation affects different ethnic groups.

Therefore, do not assume that cultural defence means secularisation does not affect minority ethnic groups.

A more balanced argument is:

Religion may retain particular significance for some minority ethnic groups through cultural defence and transition, but these processes coexist with secularising influences and changing religious commitment.

You will explore that question in more depth in secularisation [Secularisation].

Gender and religion

Gender is another important social-group relationship within religion.

AQA has examined:

• women's participation in New Age movements;

• religious socialisation carried out by women;

• feminist arguments about women's exclusion through religious beliefs and practices.  

Again, these are different issues.

Avoid reducing the topic to the oversimplified claim:

“Women are more religious than men.”

The provided AQA material supports more specific relationships.

Women and New Age movements

In 2020, AQA asked students to outline and explain two reasons why women are more likely than men to participate in New Age movements.

The mark scheme identifies explanations including:

• women's socialisation into an expressive role;

• patriarchal gender roles in traditional religion;

• emphasis on personal experience;

• autonomy;

• authenticity;

• women's association with spirituality;

• nature and healing;

• New Age movements giving greater status to qualities traditionally associated with women.

This directly links gender with a particular type of religious or spiritual movement.

Gender socialisation

One explanation involves socialisation.

AQA's material refers to women being socialised into an expressive role.

The argument can be represented as:

gender socialisation → greater association with expressive or caring roles → New Age emphasis on spirituality/healing/personal experience → greater appeal

This is a sociological explanation because gender differences are explained through socialisation, not biology.

However, the mark scheme also allows analysis of the extent to which men participate in New Age movements.

Therefore:

a group pattern is not an absolute rule.

Patriarchy and traditional religion

A second explanation involves patriarchy.

AQA's 2020 material suggests some women may lose faith in traditional religion because of patriarchal gender roles. New Age movements may offer greater:

• autonomy;

• authenticity;

• personal spiritual authority.

The chain is:

patriarchal traditional roles → dissatisfaction with traditional religion → New Age movement offers greater individual autonomy → increased appeal

This links gender directly to the organisational differences studied in New Age movements [New Age movements].

Women, religion and power

AQA's 2025 examination also explicitly presents the feminist argument that religious beliefs and practices may exclude women and reinforce powerful groups.

This highlights another dimension of the relationship between social groups and religion:

Social groups may differ not only in how much they participate, but also in their position within religious beliefs and practices.

Religion may therefore be analysed in terms of:

• participation;

• authority;

• inclusion;

• exclusion;

• power.

This links back to ideology [Ideology].

Women and religious socialisation

Gender may also affect how religion is transmitted between generations.

AQA's 2025 mark scheme states that women often take responsibility for socialising children into religious norms and values. This may limit secularisation. Conversely, fewer women performing this role may contribute to secularisation among the next generation.  

The process is:

religious socialisation of children → religious beliefs and practices transmitted → continuity across generations

or:

less religious socialisation → weaker transmission → greater secularisation among the next generation

This links gender and age.

It also demonstrates that social-group explanations can interact rather than operating independently.

Age and religion

Age became particularly prominent in AQA's 2025 examination.

The mark scheme identifies younger generations favouring secular worldviews as one way social groups may contribute to secularisation.

The suggested process is:

younger generation favours secular values → lower religious adherence and participation → secularisation increases

The 2025 examiner report confirms that age was one of the strongest routes students used. Better responses explained how young people no longer feeling religious could speed up secularisation.

Generational change

The sociological significance of age is not simply that people of different ages behave differently at one moment.

A generational explanation suggests that changes in belief can be transmitted across time.

For example:

reduced religious socialisation → younger generation develops weaker religious commitment → future religious participation declines

This provides a bridge into religion and religiosity in the contemporary world [Religion and religiosity in the contemporary world].

Be careful with age patterns

The supplied AQA material explicitly supports the possibility that younger generations favour secular worldviews.

It does not justify treating every young person as secular.

A good answer therefore uses language such as:

• may;

• some;

• more likely;

• can contribute.

This preserves the difference between a sociological pattern and an individual prediction.

Social class and religion

Social class also appears in AQA material concerning both religious organisations and secularisation.

There are two particularly useful relationships:

1. class and the appeal of particular religious organisations;

2. class and secular worldviews.

Lower social classes and sects

AQA's specimen mark scheme identifies the possible appeal of sectarian theodicies of disprivilege to lower classes.

This connects directly to sects and cults [Sects and cults].

A theodicy of disprivilege provides a religious explanation for suffering or disadvantage.

The chain is:

social disadvantage → experience of disprivilege → sect provides religious meaning or justification → increased sect appeal

This does not mean all working-class or disadvantaged people join sects.

The argument is that religious organisations may appeal differently because people's social circumstances differ.

Class, deprivation and religion

AQA's 2023 ethnicity mark scheme also recognises:

• social deprivation;

• marginality;

• existential security

as potentially relevant to explanations of religious beliefs and practices.

Similarly, the 2022 ethnicity material recognises low-paid migrant work and poverty as circumstances that may make religion more appealing.

This reminds us that social-group differences can overlap.

For example:

ethnicity + migration + class disadvantage

may all be relevant to understanding the same individual's relationship with religion.

Avoid treating class and ethnicity as completely separate influences.

The middle class and secularisation

The 2025 AQA mark scheme also provides a different possible class pattern.

It suggests that the middle class, associated in the marking material with greater access to education, may adopt secular ideologies that challenge traditional religious beliefs.

The proposed process is:

greater educational access → exposure to secular ideas → challenge to traditional religious belief → contribution to secularisation

This contrasts with the explanation of sectarian appeal among socially disadvantaged groups.

It demonstrates why “social class and religion” cannot be reduced to one simple rule.

Location and social groups

AQA's 2025 mark scheme additionally mentions urban populations.

People living in urban areas may have greater exposure to:

• diverse viewpoints;

• alternative belief systems;

• secular perspectives.

This may reduce adherence to traditional religious practices.

The chain is:

urban diversity → exposure to competing perspectives → reduced dominance of one religious worldview → possible secularisation

This is useful supporting material, although the core lesson remains focused on social groups such as age, ethnicity, gender and class.

Social groups and religious organisations

The specification explicitly asks about relationships between social groups and religious or spiritual organisations and movements, not simply differences in belief.

The supplied AQA assessment material gives several clear examples:

Social group	Religious organisation or process	AQA-supported relationship
Women	New Age movements	Women may be more likely than men to participate
Lower social classes/disadvantaged groups	Sects	Theodicies of disprivilege may increase appeal
Minority ethnic groups	Religious organisations and communities	May provide cultural defence, transition and solidarity
Younger generations	Traditional religious participation	Secular worldviews may reduce adherence and participation
Women as parents/socialisers	Religious transmission	Religious socialisation may slow secularisation
Some ethnic groups facing hostility	Religion	Cultural defence may strengthen rejection of secular values

This is the kind of relationship-based knowledge the specification requires.

Different social groups may use religion differently

An important conclusion is that religion may fulfil different roles for different groups.

For one group, religion may provide:

identity and cultural defence

For another:

personal spirituality and autonomy

For another:

meaning in conditions of deprivation

For another, traditional religion may become:

less relevant because secular values are more influential

Therefore, it is misleading to ask only:

“Is religion important?”

A more sociological question is:

Important to whom, in what way, and under what social conditions?

Social groups and different dimensions of religiosity

Differences between groups can occur across several dimensions.

Religious belief

People may differ in whether or how strongly they accept religious beliefs.

Religious practice

People may differ in participation in religious rituals or organisations.

Religious organisation

Different organisational forms may appeal differently to particular groups.

Religious identity

Religion may become an important part of ethnic or collective identity.

Religious authority

Different groups may experience different levels of inclusion, exclusion or power within religious life.

This distinction is important because religious belief and religious practice are not necessarily identical.

AQA's 2022 assessment explicitly examined difficulties defining and measuring religious belief and practice.

You will develop this distinction in religion and religiosity in the contemporary world [Religion and religiosity in the contemporary world].

Social groups and secularisation

The 2025 question demonstrates that social groups can affect the speed and direction of secularisation.

Some groups may contribute to declining religious influence:

• younger generations favouring secular worldviews;

• middle-class exposure to secular ideas;

• urban groups exposed to diverse secular perspectives.

Other social processes may slow secularisation:

• women transmitting religious norms and values to children;

• ethnic minority groups using religion as cultural defence.  

Therefore:

secularisation does not necessarily affect every group equally or at the same rate.

This will become central in secularisation [Secularisation].

Religion can become stronger during social change

It would be a mistake to assume that modern social change always weakens religion.

For example:

• migration may strengthen cultural defence;

• hostility may increase identification with religion;

• deprivation may make some sectarian explanations more attractive;

• uncertainty may increase demand for religious community.

At the same time, social change can weaken:

• traditional authority;

• intergenerational religious transmission;

• adherence among younger generations.

This produces a complex relationship:

social change → different effects on different social groups → different patterns of religiosity

Evaluating cultural defence

Cultural defence is a strong explanation because it connects:

• ethnicity;

• migration;

• hostility;

• identity;

• religious belief and practice.

However, AQA's marking material also recognises apostasy, cultural hybridity and secularisation.

Therefore, migration cannot automatically be assumed to strengthen religion.

A balanced judgement is:

Cultural defence may explain stronger religious identification among some minority groups, but other individuals may adapt their beliefs, develop hybrid identities or leave religion.

Evaluating cultural transition

Cultural transition helps explain why religion may remain important following migration.

Religious communities may provide familiarity and support.

However, adaptation does not necessarily require religion to remain unchanged.

Cultural hybridity suggests adaptation can alter beliefs and practices.

Therefore:

transition through religion ≠ preservation of religion in exactly the same form

Evaluating gender explanations

Gender socialisation can help explain patterns such as women's greater participation in New Age movements.

However:

• not all women experience the same socialisation;

• men may also participate;

• patterns concerning New Age movements should not automatically be generalised to every type of religion.

AQA's 2020 examiner report specifically criticised answers that discussed gender and religion generally without explaining why the argument applied to New Age movements.

This is a valuable methodological lesson:

Be specific about the religious organisation or practice being explained.

Evaluating age explanations

The idea that younger generations favour secular values can explain declining religious adherence.

However, younger people still belong to different:

• ethnic groups;

• gender groups;

• social classes;

• religious traditions.

Age therefore does not operate in isolation.

For example, the effect of younger age could interact with cultural defence or religious socialisation.

This helps avoid treating a social group as homogeneous.

Evaluating class explanations

Class can be connected to different religious outcomes.

AQA material supports both:

• sectarian appeal through disprivilege among lower social classes;

• secular ideas among sections of the middle class.

This means class differences may arise through different mechanisms:

material disadvantage

or

different exposure to ideas and institutions.

The existence of both explanations makes a simple statement such as “working-class people are more religious” much too crude.

Evaluating social-group categories

One of the biggest conceptual dangers in this topic is treating each group as internally uniform.

There are differences:

• within ethnic groups;

• among women;

• among young people;

• within social classes.

The 2023 mark scheme explicitly encourages evaluation through differences in religious beliefs and practices between ethnic groups, rather than treating “minority ethnic groups” as a single block.

Therefore, always distinguish:

group-level pattern

from

individual experience.

A comparison of the main explanations

Social factor	Possible relationship with religion	Useful concept	Evaluation
Ethnicity	Religion may preserve identity where groups experience migration or hostility	Cultural defence	Apostasy or hybridity show religion need not strengthen
Migration	Religious communities may help people adjust	Cultural transition	Adaptation may alter beliefs and practices
Gender	Women may participate more in some New Age forms	Expressive socialisation, autonomy, authenticity	Men also participate and patterns vary by organisation
Gender and family	Women may transmit religious norms and values to children	Religious socialisation	Declining transmission may instead encourage secularisation
Age	Younger generations may favour secular worldviews	Generational change	Other social identities may alter the pattern
Social class	Disprivileged groups may find sectarian explanations attractive	Theodicy of disprivilege	Class does not produce one religious outcome
Middle class	Secular ideologies may challenge traditional belief	Secularisation	This should not be generalised to all middle-class individuals
Ethnicity and hostility	Cultural defence may strengthen religious identity	Cultural defence	Some may instead adapt or renounce faith

The importance of social context

A strong sociological explanation does not treat a social-group characteristic as the direct cause of religion.

Avoid:

ethnicity → religion

Instead:

ethnicity + migration/hostility → cultural defence → stronger religious identity

Avoid:

gender → New Age participation

Instead:

gender socialisation/patriarchal experiences → attraction to autonomy and personal experience → possible New Age participation

Avoid:

class → sect membership

Instead:

disprivilege → religious explanation of suffering → possible sect appeal

This extra middle stage is the sociological mechanism.

Social groups and religion are mutually related

The relationship can also work in both directions.

Social-group experiences can influence religion, but religion can also contribute to group identity.

For example:

ethnic identity → religious practice

but also:

religious community → strengthened ethnic identity

Likewise:

gender experiences → choice of religious organisation

while:

religious beliefs and practices → possible reinforcement or challenge of gender roles

This two-way relationship is more sophisticated than treating religion simply as an outcome.

A balanced sociological judgement

There are clear differences in religious beliefs, practices and organisational participation between social groups in AQA's assessment material.

However, no single social characteristic provides a complete explanation.

Ethnicity may affect religion through:

• cultural defence;

• cultural transition;

• migration;

• racism or hostility;

• social solidarity.

Gender may matter through:

• socialisation;

• experiences of patriarchal religion;

• religious socialisation of children;

• the appeal of personal spirituality.

Age may influence:

• acceptance of secular worldviews;

• religious participation;

• the transmission of religion between generations.

Class may affect:

• experiences of disprivilege;

• attraction to particular religious explanations;

• exposure to secular ideas.

The strongest overall conclusion is:

Social-group differences in religion are socially produced and context-dependent. Membership of a social group does not automatically determine belief or practice, because religion also interacts with migration, socialisation, inequality, globalisation and secularisation.

Key Words 🔑

Key word	Student-friendly definition	How it may be used in an exam
Social group	People sharing a socially significant characteristic or social position.	Identify the exact group the question requires you to explain.
Cultural defence	Religion being used to maintain identity and solidarity where a group experiences change or hostility.	Explain why religion may remain important among some minority ethnic groups.
Cultural transition	Religion helping migrants adapt to a new social environment.	Link migration to religious belief, practice and organisations.
Cultural hybridity	The combining of influences from different cultural contexts.	Evaluate the claim that migration either preserves or destroys religion.
Apostasy	Leaving or renouncing a religious faith.	Provide an alternative to cultural defence explanations.
Religious socialisation	The transmission of religious norms, values and beliefs to others.	Explain gender or generational differences in religion.
Disprivilege	Social disadvantage that may make particular religious explanations attractive.	Apply when explaining social-class differences and sectarian appeal.
Theodicy of disprivilege	A religious explanation that helps people make sense of disadvantage or suffering.	Explain why sects may appeal to some disadvantaged groups.
Secularisation	The declining importance of religion.	Examine why religious decline may occur at different rates among social groups.
Social solidarity	Bonds and feelings of belonging that connect members of a group.	Explain why religion may become important to ethnic or migrant communities.

Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡

AQA's 2025 examiner report is especially useful because Question 13 explicitly required students to understand the phrase “social groups”.

Examiner hint: Do not answer a social-groups question as if it were simply asking for causes of secularisation. Some students did exactly this in 2025 and therefore failed to address the relationship required by the question.

Your explanation should look like:

social group → relevant characteristic or experience → effect on religion

rather than simply:

factor → secularisation.

Examiner hint: Better 2025 answers often used age and ethnicity. Examples included cultural defence among ethnic minorities slowing secularisation and lower religiosity among young people speeding it up.

This is a useful reminder that different social groups may push religious change in different directions.

Examiner hint: In 2023, the best ethnicity answers applied material from across Beliefs in Society specifically to ethnicity. Weaker responses drifted into a general discussion of secularisation.

It is fine to use secularisation as evaluation, but always bring it back to:

How does secularisation affect the particular ethnic group being discussed?

Examiner hint: In 2022, some students discussed globalisation and religion generally instead of focusing specifically on minority ethnic groups in the UK. Cultural defence and cultural transition produced more focused answers.

Read every qualifier in the question carefully:

• which social group?

• which society?

• belief, practice or organisation?

• what relationship are you explaining?

Examiner hint: In 2020, students sometimes discussed gender and religion generally without showing why their explanation applied to New Age movements. Some also confused New Age movements with sects and cults.

If the question names an organisation, your explanation must include a characteristic of that organisation.

Examiner hint: For 20-mark essays, AQA recommends selecting a smaller range of relevant views and developing them in depth rather than trying to include everything. Brief planning can also produce a more coherent response.

Common Mistakes ⚠️

Mistake: Treating “social groups” as just another name for society

Why this is incorrect: AQA's 2025 examiner report specifically found that some students failed to interpret this phrase correctly.

How to improve:

Identify a particular group, such as:

• younger people;

• women;

• a social class;

• an ethnic group.

Then explain its relationship with religion.

Mistake: Assuming ethnic identity automatically produces religious commitment

Why this is incorrect: AQA recognises cultural defence but also cultural hybridity, apostasy and secularisation.

How to improve: Explain why religion may become important under particular social circumstances rather than treating ethnicity as destiny.

Mistake: Treating all minority ethnic groups as the same

Why this is incorrect: AQA's 2023 mark scheme specifically recognises differences in levels of religious beliefs and practices between ethnic groups.

How to improve: Use phrases such as:

“some minority ethnic groups”

rather than making universal claims.

Mistake: Describing migration without linking it to religion

Why this is incorrect: Migration alone does not explain a religious pattern.

How to improve: Use concepts such as:

migration → cultural transition

or:

hostility following migration → cultural defence

Mistake: Saying women are simply “more religious”

Why this is incorrect: The AQA material supports more specific gender relationships, particularly women's participation in New Age movements and women's role in religious socialisation.

How to improve: Name the exact form of belief, practice or organisation.

Mistake: Discussing patriarchy without linking it to New Age participation

Why this is incorrect: The 2020 examiner report found that students sometimes gave general gender-and-religion material that did not explain New Age movements.

How to improve: Complete the link:

patriarchal traditional religion → attraction to autonomy/personal experience → New Age participation

Mistake: Treating young people as universally secular

Why this is incorrect: AQA describes a possible generational pattern, not a rule governing every individual.

How to improve: Use qualified wording such as:

“Younger generations may favour secular worldviews...”

Mistake: Assuming social class has one effect on religion

Why this is incorrect: AQA material connects class to more than one outcome, including sectarian theodicies of disprivilege and secular ideologies among sections of the middle class.

How to improve: Explain the mechanism rather than simply naming the class.

Mistake: Writing about secularisation instead of the group

Why this is incorrect: This was a specific weakness identified in both the 2023 and 2025 examiner reports.

How to improve: End every paragraph by returning explicitly to the group:

“This may therefore explain why religious participation among this social group...”

Exam-Style Questions ✍️

Questions

1. Define the term cultural defence.[2 marks]

2. Explain one way in which cultural transition may affect religious practice.[4 marks]

3. Explain one reason why age may be related to religious participation.[4 marks]

4. Outline and explain two reasons why women may participate differently from men in some forms of religion or spirituality.[10 marks]

5. Outline and explain two ways in which social class may be related to religious beliefs or organisations.[10 marks]

6. Read Item A and answer the question that follows.

Item A

A minority ethnic community has experienced migration and hostility within the wider society. Some members use shared religious beliefs and organisations to maintain their identity, while others adapt their beliefs as they become established in their new social environment.

Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which ethnicity may be related to religious beliefs and practices.[10 marks]

7. Read Item B and answer the question that follows.

Item B

Some younger people prefer secular values to traditional religious beliefs. However, some groups continue to transmit religious values between generations, while religion can become particularly important to communities that feel their identity is threatened.

Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways in which social groups may affect the process of secularisation.[10 marks]

8. Read Item C and answer the question that follows.

Item C

Some sociologists argue that religion remains especially important for minority ethnic groups because it provides identity, solidarity and support during migration. However, members of ethnic groups may also change their beliefs and practices or become less religious over time.

Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate sociological explanations of the relationship between ethnicity and religious beliefs and practices.[20 marks]

9. Read Item D and answer the question that follows.

Item D

Religious beliefs, practices and organisations do not have equal significance for every social group. Differences may be related to socialisation, migration, age, social disadvantage and changing religious authority.

Applying material from Item D and your knowledge, evaluate sociological explanations of differences in religion between social groups.[20 marks]

Answers and mark scheme

Question 1

Cultural defence is the use of religion to maintain or protect a group's identity and solidarity, particularly where it experiences change or hostility.

Award credit for recognising:

• preservation or defence of identity;

• the role of religion.

Question 2

A possible answer:

Religion may act as a mechanism of cultural transition by providing migrants with familiar beliefs, practices and communities when they enter a new society. This continuity may help them adjust to an unfamiliar social environment while maintaining some connection with their previous culture.

Credit should be given for:

migration → religious continuity/support → adaptation

Question 3

A possible answer:

Age may affect religious participation because younger generations may be more likely to favour secular worldviews rather than traditional religious beliefs. This may reduce adherence and participation among younger people and contribute to secularisation.

Credit should be given for linking:

age → beliefs → religious participation

rather than simply stating that age groups differ.

Question 4

Two developed reasons are required.

Gender socialisation

Women may be socialised into expressive roles. AQA material links this with the spiritual, healing and personal-experience characteristics of New Age movements, potentially making these forms of spirituality more appealing.

Patriarchal traditional religion

Some women may experience traditional religious gender roles as patriarchal. New Age movements may offer greater autonomy, authenticity and personal authority, providing an alternative form of spirituality.

Other AQA-supported material may include:

• nature and healing;

• greater status given to qualities traditionally associated with women;

• women's role in religious socialisation.

Students should avoid discussing gender and religion generally without applying the explanation to a particular religious form or process.

Question 5

Possible explanations include:

Disprivilege and sects

Some lower-class or disadvantaged individuals may experience disprivilege. Sectarian theodicies may provide a religious explanation for suffering, increasing the appeal of sects.

Middle class and secular ideas

AQA's 2025 mark scheme suggests that greater educational access among the middle class may expose people to secular ideologies that challenge traditional religious beliefs, potentially contributing to secularisation.

A developed response must explain:

class position → social mechanism → religious consequence

rather than claim social class automatically determines belief.

Question 6

Two developed item applications are required.

First way: cultural defence

Use the reference to hostility and maintaining identity. Religion may provide shared beliefs, practices and organisations through which minority ethnic groups preserve cultural identity and solidarity.

The chain is:

hostility → identity feels threatened → cultural defence → stronger religious identification

Second way: cultural transition or adaptation

Use the reference to adapting beliefs. Religion may provide continuity while migrants adjust to the host society, but beliefs and practices may also be modified through cultural transition or hybridity.

An alternative development could use apostasy to show that some individuals may reduce or abandon religious commitment.

Strong responses will avoid assuming all members of the ethnic group respond in the same way.

Question 7

Two clear social-group relationships should be developed.

First way: age

Use the reference to younger people preferring secular values. Younger generations may show lower adherence and participation, speeding up secularisation.

Second way: ethnicity or gender

Using the reference to threatened identity, some ethnic groups may use religion as cultural defence, strengthening religious commitment and slowing secularisation.

Alternatively, the reference to transmission between generations can be developed through women's role in religious socialisation. If religious values continue to be transmitted to children, secularisation may be slowed. Reduced transmission could instead accelerate it.

The key is to answer:

how does the social group influence secularisation?

not merely:

what causes secularisation?

Question 8

Indicative content may include:

Reasons religion may remain important:

• cultural defence;

• migration;

• cultural transition;

• religious organisations providing community;

• social solidarity;

• hostile social environments;

• racism or marginalisation;

• social deprivation;

• globalisation;

• religion as part of ethnic identity.

Evaluation and alternative outcomes:

• cultural hybridity;

• apostasy;

• accommodation;

• differences between ethnic groups;

• differences within ethnic groups;

• secularisation;

• changing religious commitment;

• religion may adapt rather than remain unchanged.

A strong answer should avoid treating ethnicity itself as the cause of religious belief.

Instead, it should explain the social processes connecting ethnicity and religion.

A reasoned judgement might argue that cultural defence and transition provide strong explanations for why religion can remain important among some minority ethnic groups, particularly in contexts of migration and hostility. However, ethnic groups are internally diverse, and processes such as hybridity, apostasy and secularisation demonstrate that migration does not produce one inevitable religious outcome.

Question 9

Indicative content may include:

Ethnicity:

• cultural defence;

• cultural transition;

• migration;

• cultural hybridity;

• apostasy;

• social solidarity;

• hostility and racism.

Gender:

• expressive socialisation;

• New Age movements;

• autonomy and authenticity;

• patriarchal traditional religion;

• women's role in religious socialisation;

• exclusion of women through some religious beliefs and practices.

Age:

• younger generations and secular values;

• generational religious transmission;

• reduced religious adherence and participation.

Social class:

• sectarian theodicies of disprivilege;

• deprivation and marginality;

• middle-class access to secular ideas.

Evaluation:

• social groups are internally diverse;

• group membership does not determine individual belief;

• different social factors may interact;

• the same process can have different religious outcomes;

• differences may concern belief, practice, organisation or authority;

• secularisation may affect different groups differently.

A strong conclusion should reject both extremes.

It would be too simplistic to argue that social-group membership determines religion. However, it would also be wrong to ignore patterned differences. AQA's assessment material demonstrates that socialisation, migration, inequality, age and social context can systematically shape relationships with religious beliefs, practices and organisations. The strongest explanations therefore focus on the mechanisms linking social position to religion, rather than treating categories such as gender, ethnicity, age or class as causes in themselves.