Religious market theory
- Stark and Bainbridge say that religion is attractive as it provides us with compensators,
- which is when real rewards are unobtainable, religion compensates by promising supernatural rewards
- They put forward the cycle of religious decline, which is revival and renewal
- There is a perpetual cycle throughout history with some religions declining and others growing
- According to Stark and Bainbridge, churches operate like companies selling goods in a market
- While some sociologists see competition between religions as undermining religion,
- religious market theorists would argue that this competition leads to improvements of the religious goods on offer.
- Churches will make their ‘products’ more attractive
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