6.2 THEORIES OF THE ROLE AND FUNCTION OF RELIGION

Question 1

How do functionalists see society?

Answer 1

Functionalists regard society as a social system - a set of parts which work together to form a whole. Functionalists assume that society had basic needs/prerequisites that must be met in order to survive.

Question 2

How is social order made possible according to the functionalist theory?

Answer 2

Value consensus

Social integration

Question 3

What is Durkheim’s view of religion?

Answer 3

Set of myths/imaginary forces

He believed that the divine and supernatural had no foundation in reality.

Food for physical life

Question 4

According to Durkheim, what was the totem a symbol of?

Answer 4

God and society

Sacred

Power of the divine and supernatural

collective conscience

Question 5

What does Durkheim view worshipping a god and venerating the sacred and divine the equivalent of?

Answer 5

Worshipping society

Question 6

What does Durkheim argue that religion is an important agent of?

Answer 6

Secondary socialisation

Question 7

What is the main function of religion according to Durkheim?

Answer 7

The major function of religion is to socialise society’s members into a collective conscience by investing particular values with a sacred quality, or by encouraging a sense of belonging to society.

Question 8

Why are moral codes important?

Answer 8

Moral codes provide codes of behaviour that people and societies can use to regulate both personal and social life.

Question 9

What does Durkheim claim that religion and its associated rituals help people to do?

Answer 9

Understand the reality of social relations

Communicate with one another

Establish obligations

Maintain stable boundaries

Avoid conflict with other belief systems

Question 10

What three functions does religion perform according to Parsons?

Answer 10

Religion provides moral guidelines into which people can be socialised.

Religion provides a means of adjusting to events that cannot be predicted/controlled and that may disrupt social order.

Religion may function by applying a higher meaning and purpose to events that have the potential to disrupt society.

Question 11

What function does religion perform according to Malinowski?

Answer 11

Malinowski argues that religion functions to relieve the tensions and fears that arise from unpredictable situations.

Question 12

What do functionalists argue that the status quo is based on?

Answer 12

Consensus

Question 13

How can the functionalist theory of religion be criticised?

Answer 13

Bruce (2002) - secularisation

Religious practice and belief are not the same thing.

Hamilton (2012) - dysfunctional

Religious pluralism

Flawed evidence

It is rare that followers of ‘new-age’ religions come together as a group.

Marxists and feminists argue that religious belief systems are ideologies that aim to justify and produce inequality.

Question 14

What is a civil religion?

Answer 14

A civil religion refers to a belief system that induces a mass response, with similar levels of passion, dedication and commitment to those found in mainstream religions.

Question 15

What are the names of the sociologists who criticise the concept of a civil religion?

Answer 15

Beckford

Moosa (2010)

Question 16

What does Feuerbach (1854) argue that God is?

Answer 16

Feuerbach (1854) argued that God is merely a projection of humanity, while Christianity is a form of wish fulfilment. He believed that God is a fictive being who is socially constructed by societies.

Feuerbach argued that God is a representation of human fears, anxieties and aspirations.

Question 17

What does ideology refer to?

Answer 17

Ideology refers to a set of powerful ideas which are essentially false but which are widely accepted as true.

Question 18

What is the role of the superstructure

Answer 18

It hides inequality; it legitimises inequality, and it reproduces inequality generation by generation.

Question 19

Why does Marx argue that religion is a form of ideological power?

Answer 19

Class-system - God-given

Poverty was viewed as an outcome of sin.

Convinces the proletariat that they will be compensated for their suffering by God in an afterlife - by explaining poverty in supernatural terms.

‘chosen ones’

Higher authority

Question 20

Why does Marx compare religion with opium?

Answer 20

The comfort religion provides is only temporary and is blinding people to reality.

Question 21

Name the sociologist who argues that there is a strong connection between the ruling class/Establishment, state and religion in the UK.

Answer 21

Leach (1998)

Question 22

What type of theology are the poor attracted to?

Answer 22

Prosperity theology