4. Beliefs in society

Question 1

define substantive definitions of religion?

Answer 1

clear line between religious and non religious beliefs.

to be a religious a set of beliefs must include belief in God or the supernatural.

Question 2

evaluations of substantive definitions of religion ?

Answer 2

accused of western bias as they exclude religions which do not share western perceptions of God.

Question 3

max weber (1905) definition of religion

Answer 3

a belief in a super natural being that is above nature cannot be explained scientifically.

Question 4

define the functional definition of religion?

Answer 4

define religion in terms of the social and psychological functions it performs for individuals and society.

Question 5

emile durkheim (1915) definition of religion

**milton yinger’s

Answer 5

in terms of the contribution it makes to SOCIAL INTEGRATION, rather than a belief in God of the supernatural.

Question 6

advantages of functional religions

Answer 6

they allow us to include a wide range of beliefs and practices.

Question 7

evaluations of functional definitions ?

Answer 7

because an institution interested society into groups it doesn’t make it a religion as collecting chanting at football matches doesn’t make football a religion

Question 8

simone de beauvoir believes that religion successfully maintains gender inequality by

Answer 8

tricking women into thinking that they are equal to men in the eyes of their God and that they will be compensated for any hardship in the afterlife

Question 9

popper believes that … has become the dominant belief system because …

Answer 9

science has become the dominant belief system in the western world because it has an open system, meaning that it is open to being criticised and challenged?

Question 10

postmodernism claims that any  ideology that..

Answer 10

seeks to explain ‘truth’ is a ‘meta-narrative’ due to the fragmentation of society

Question 11

bellah argued  that America has its own civil religion known as ‘Americanism’?

Answer 11

civil religion known as ‘Americanism’?

Question 12

Marx refers to religion as _______________ due its dulling effect on the pain of oppression?

Answer 12

the opium of the masses

Question 13

Lyon discusses the emergence of

Answer 13

a religious marketplace which has developed as religious leaders have had to turn to the media in order to publicise their belief system in order to survive?

Question 14

bruce argues  that the most important people in the civil rights movement were….

Answer 14

black clergymen, led by Martin Luther King, who attempted to influence change by gaining national support from all communities?

Question 15

what is the functionalist perspective of religion?

Answer 15

organic analogy- society needs all it’s institutions to thrive

religion as a conservative force
promoting social harmony

integration, solidarity and harmony
through the reinforcement of the value consensus

part of the culture or way of life of a society,

it helps to maintain cultural traditions and establish the basic rules of social life.

Question 16

in Durkheim’s study of totemism amongst the aboriginal communities in Australia he argued

-that totenism represents..

Answer 16

– religion its most basic form.

– argued that the totem sacred because it is a symbol of the group or society. When worshipping the totem, people are really worshipping society.

– religion acts as a social glue and creating a collective conscience.

Question 17

what is totemism?

Answer 17

the practice of worshipping a sacred object, known as a totem. it’s usually named after the tribe.

Question 18

what is collective conscience?

Answer 18

Durkheim argues it’s the sharing of beliefs which causes moral ties and is a consequence of religion.

Question 19

what reinforces collective conscience?

Answer 19

regular religious rituals reinforce collective conscience and maintain social integration which prevents damaging social change.

Question 20

Malinowski saw religion as..

Answer 20

reinforcing social NORMS, VALUES , SOLIDARITY .

providing explanations and emotional security

WHICH THREATENS SOCIAL STABILITY

Question 21

Durkheim believed that there would be a decline in the supernatural dimensions of religion and that…..

Answer 21

CIVIL RELIGIONS would take on the role.

Question 22

what does civil religions suggests

Answer 22

sacred qualities are attached to aspects of society itself

non-religious rituals and ceremonies

which all :

performing similar functions as religion, though not necessarily having any link with the supernatural.

Question 23

examples of civil religion…

Answer 23

display of devotion royalty, the lives of celebrities, popular music or football in contemporary Britain.

Question 24

what’s parson’s view of religion ?

AND AN EXAMPLE.

Answer 24

— religion provides the underpinning core to values of any culture and norms that regulate behaviour.

— set of moral beliefs and values in religion may become so deeply ingrained through socialisation that it may have an effect on the everyday behaviour of believers and non-believers alike.

[EXAMPLE] - if the social rules about killing, stealing and adultery are broken, most individuals will experience a guilty conscience about doing something wrong, and this is a powerful socializing and controlling influence over the individual.

Question 25

according to Malinowski, what does religion fufill for us?

Answer 25

Religion fulfils a need for emotional security and relieves situations of emotional stress which threaten social stability and solidarity.
Funeral services, for example, act as a source of comfort for the bereaved -. either with beliefs in life after death, or by the support gained in such moments of stress through the gathering of friends and relatives. Church attendances soar during wartime.

Question 26

evaluation of totemism as an example for religion as a conservative force.

Answer 26

while it is possible to see a common religion bringing people together, establishing a value consensus and integrating small-scale communities, it is hard to see how it can perform this role in contemporary societies, where there is a wide diversity of different beliefs and faiths. Indeed, religion can often, and perhaps more often than not, do the opposite. Different religions and religious beliefs and values can tear people and communities apart, and pose threats to social order and stability.
e.g hinduism v muslim in india

Question 27

evaluation of collective conscience as an example of religion being a conservative?

Answer 27

religion can only fulfil some of the functions that functionalists claim if people actually hold and practise religious beliefs.

Religious thinking, practice and institutions are becoming less important both in the lives of individuals and in society as a whole, and those involved are a declining group.

[example] by dramatic declines in attendance at services in all the main Christian churches in the UK; less than half of the population now say they believe in God Religion can be a disruptive and socially divisive influence.

Question 28

evaluation for civil religion?

Answer 28

the abandonment of the belief in super natural or higher beings makes it questionable whether we are still really talking about religion at all

rather than just the various other non-religious ways that people are socialized and integrated into the societies to which they belong.

Question 29

evaluation for parson’s perspective of religion setting the values for society?

Answer 29

many sociologists argue that western societies are becoming more secular and as such it is unlikely that religion still acts as an agent of social control as it may well have done in the past.

In today’s society. People are more likely to be dissuaded from committing deviant acts by either the media or the heavy use of surveillance technology in many towns and cities.

Question 30

examples of conflicts between religions?

Answer 30

muslims and hindus in india

Question 31

examples of conflicts within the same religion?

Answer 31

Anglican Church over homosexuality, and between Sunni and Shia Muslims in Iraq.

Question 32

marxist perspective of religion

[althusser and gramsci]

Answer 32

Marxist Althusser saw religion as an ideological state apparatus – manufacturing what Gramsci called hegemony

Question 33

what is ideological state apparatus?

Answer 33

an institution spreading the dominant ideology

Question 34

what is hegemony

Answer 34

consent and acceptance by people that their positions were unchangeable

Question 35

what did Marx say about religion?

Answer 35

he called it the opium of the masses, cushioning and dulling the pain of oppression and exploitation of an unequal society.

which therefore It legitimized and maintained the power of the ruling class.

Question 36

religion as an opium of the people…

Answer 36

1. promises an eventual escape from suffering with hope of a tranquil afterlife
2. promise of a supernatural intervention e.g JW’s believe that those who survive the battle of armageddon will form a paradise on a heavenly earth where they will be ruled by a heavenly government.
3. blames the pain and suffering on a supernatural being i.e satan, shifting the blame from institutions directly involved reinforcing hegemony.

Question 37

evaluation of Marx’s argument on religion being the opium of the masses

Answer 37

can only act as a drug if people actually take it.

[ if people believe and if religion has some institutional power].

neither of which is true of the majority of people in Britain or most contemporary Western capitalist societies.

Question 38

traditional marxists view on the role religion plays as a tool for the ruling class..

Answer 38

an instrument of social control and oppression, USED TO LEGITIMISE AND JUSTIFY MATERIAL INEQUALITIES

Inequalities presented as God-given and therefore legitimised and inevitable

challenging these would mean challenging God himself.

Question 39

example of religion justifying inequality of death and power

Answer 39

religion has justified the power of kings through THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE which suggested it was the will of God that gave monarchs the right to rule. Religion has even turned kings into gods – for example, the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt.

Question 40

examples of religion as a tool for social change

Answer 40

In Iran, Islam produced revolutionary change, with a revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini leading to the overthrow of a dictatorial monarchy (the shahdom) and the establishment of an Islamic republic in 1978—9.

This shows how religion can act as what Gramsci calls a ‘counter-hegemony’ in showing oppressed peoples alternative ways of organizing societies.

Question 41

what is patriarchy

Answer 41

society purely male dominated.

Question 42

what’s the feminist perspective of religion?

Answer 42

many feminists regard religion as a patriarchal institution that reflects and perpetuates inequality.

Question 43

evidence of patriarchy in religion?

Answer 43

mainly male-dominated despite the fact that women often participate more than men n these organisations

[e.g orthodox judaism and catholicism forbid women from becoming priests/rabbi’s. ]

taboos surrounding childbirth and menstruation

[e.g in islam women who are menstruating are not allowed to pray or touch the Qur’an.]

Religious influences on cultural norms may also lead to unequal treatment,

{ genital mutilation or punishments for sexual transgressions. many legitimate unequal gender roles}

Question 44

karen armstrong (1993) see’s women’s exclusion from priesthood in religion as evidence of…

Answer 44

marginalisation in religions

Question 45

jean holm (1994) see’s the taboo surrounding menstruation and childbirth in islam as evidence of devaluation of women in contemporary religion?

Answer 45

devaluation of women in contemporary religion?

Question 46

woodhead (2002) argues that the exclusion of women from the Catholic priesthood is evidence of the Church’s …

Answer 46

deep unease about the emancipation of women generally.

Question 47

woodsheds evaluation of the feminist perspective.

Answer 47

that there are ‘religious forms of feminism’

– ways in which women use religion to gain greater freedom and respect.

e.g the hijab or veil worn by many Muslim women. While Western feminists tend to see it as a symbol of oppression, others perceive it as a symbol of liberation that enables them to enter the public sphere without losing their culture and history.

Question 48

Helen Watson who argues that the veiling of Islamic women can be interpreted as

Answer 48

Helen Watson who argues that the veiling of Islamic women can be interpreted as beneficial to Muslim women. She argues that veiling is often a reaction against the increasingly pervasive Western culture. and muslim men too are rejecting western clothing ‘standards’

Question 49

weber argues the adoption of calvinists ideas lead to the rapid accumulation of capitalism. what were these ideas?

Answer 49

Calvinists believed in predestination
– that only some people were chosen by God for salvation.
Calvinism encouraged asceticism values such as self‑discipline, hard work, thrift, modesty and the rejection of self‑indulgence, pleasure, idleness and lavish spending.

Question 50

who suggested that suggested that capitalism pre‑dated Calvinism. [evaluation]

Answer 50

kautsky.

Question 51

evaluation points for Webers theory on calvinism

Answer 51

Some countries with large Calvinist populations did not industrialise, which is cited as evidence that Weber’s thesis is wrong.

Question 52

civil right movement as an example of religion being a force for social change.

Answer 52

Steve Bruce argues that the black clergy in the United States in the early 1960s were the backbone of the civil rights movement.

he sees religion as an ‘ideological resource’ for the civil rights movement because they provided beliefs and practices that believers could draw upon for motivation and support

Question 53

an example of social change not being positive

Answer 53

the Taliban in afganistan in 1990s

Women were forced to dress themselves head to foot in traditional dress to hide their identity, men were forced to grow beards, children were forbidden to fly kites, all music was banned, and people were forbidden to own any pictorial representation of any living being.

Question 54

what were the Talibans harsh punishments

Answer 54

amputation for theft, beatings for not wearing traditional clothing
no education for girls over the age of 8 and no work for women even widows.