Sociology/Religious Studies: Believing in Connected Selves: How Young People are Shaping the Religious Landscape with Dr Abby Day from Goldsmiths, University of London

Today’s youth are, generally, less religious than their parents, with some exceptions. The growing number of young people who say they have no religion produces all sorts of questions.

This lecture presents evidence from a 10-year study probing ‘belief’ and explores how belief is socially constructed, embedded, and reproduced. We show how beliefs may reflect a postmodern turn, where young people are themselves defining and locating legitimate sites of power, meaning and authority.

But what does this say about those young people who are becoming more religious than older generations? What are they searching for? Research into this question reveals deep longings for belonging, which may speak to a need for greater and stronger connections.

Come along to find out how our BA Religion programme is interdisciplinary, bringing essential theories and contemporary research from historicised sociology, anthropology, politics and media.

Suitable for: This lecture would be appropriate for Year 12 and Year 13 students studying, or thinking about studying, Sociology, Religious Studies, Politics and/or Media.

Lecture Biography (Please click): Dr Abby Day

Preparation or Pre-Reading: Abby has asked whether students can consider the following questions to be discussed at the beginning of the talk:

What does it mean, for young adults today, to believe? How do they talk about that? How does that
differ from oldest generation? How does it matter?

Students can also consider some questions in advance relevant to the subject matter and their particular interests in further study of Religion/Sociology.

The IT Setup: The setup is similar to Skype, using a pc and webcam, although students take part as a group with the image projected on a whiteboard rather than as individuals in front of lots of pcs. Dedicated videoconferencing equipment is also compatible if available to the school. We will work with your IT department to ensure everything is set up and working prior to the event. The sessions are generally limited to 3 or 4 schools to maintain the interactive nature of the experience.

Booking a Place: If you have a group of students that you would like to take part in this event, please contact us via email or via the contact form at the top right of this webpage. Subject to availability we will book a place for you.