Sociology-Beliefs in society-Religion and social change

Question 1

In what two ways can religion be seen as a conservative force?

Answer 1

In the sense of being ‘traditional’ and it functions to conserve or preserve things as they are-stabilising society

Question 2

What are religious beliefs and functions?

Answer 2

Most religions have traditional conservative beliefs about moral issues. Most uphold ‘family values’. The functions are: Religion and consensus, religion and capitalism, religion and patriarchy

Question 3

What did Webers study of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capiralism, lead Weber to say about social change?

Answer 3

Many past societies had capitalism in the sense of greed for wealth, which they often spent on luxury consumption. However, modern capitalism is unique, he argues, as it is based on systematic, efficient, rational pursuit of profit for its own sake, rather than for consumption. Weber calls this the spirit of capitalism. According to Weber, this spirit had what he calls an elective affinity, or unconscious similarity, to the Calvinists’ beliefs and attitudes

Question 4

What are the calvinist beliefs?

Answer 4

Predestination, divine transcendence , asceticism, and the idea of vocation or calling

Question 5

What is predestination?

Answer 5

God has predetermined who will be saved and go to heaven, at birth. Individuals cannot change the decision. Mot through deeds as Catholics believed or through fait as Lutheran Protestants believed. God’s decision is already made and cannot be altered

Question 6

What is divine transcendence?

Answer 6

God is so much greater than the world and any mortal, that no one could claim to know his will, except for what he had chosen to reveal in the Bible. This leaves Calvinists feeling ‘an unprecedented inner loneliness’. Salvation panic

Question 7

What is asceticism?

Answer 7

This refers to abstinence, self discipline and self denial, eg monks

Question 8

What is the idea of a vocation or calling?

Answer 8

Before Calvinism, religious vocation meant renouncing everyday life to join a convent or monastery. Weber calls this other-worldly asceticism. Whereas Calvinists introduce the idea of this-wordly asceticism. So for Calvinists, religious vocation is constant, methodical work in an occupation, this couldn’t earn salvation but was a religious duty. Calvinists led an aesthetic lifestyle

Question 9

How did Calvinism then lead to capitalism?

Answer 9

They worked hard in their jobs, which had psychological function to allow them to cope with salvation panic. They worked harder which made them wealthier, which made them feel like that was a sign from God that they were saved and going to heaven. This meant they systematically and methodically accumulated wealth by the most efficient and rational means possible spirit of modern capitalism

Question 10

Why was Calvinism not the one cause of capitalism?

Answer 10

Because other material and economic factors were necessary, such as natural resources, trade, a money economy, towns and cities, a system of law etc

Question 11

Why is a higher level of economic development also not the one single cause of capitalism?

Answer 11

Eg China an Iindia were materially more advanced than Europe but capitalism did not take off, arguably due to the lack of a religious belief system

Question 12

What was the religion in India?

Answer 12

Hinduism, which was an ascetic religion but other-worldly-directing focus away from material world and towards the spiritual world

Question 13

What was the religion in China?

Answer 13

Confucianism which discouraged the growth of rational capitalism but was a this-worldly religion, but it wasn’t ascetic

Question 14

Why did capitalism fail in India and China?

Answer 14

Hinduism and Confucianism lacked the drive to systematically accumulate wealth that is necessary for modern capitalism

Question 15

What are the evaluation points for Calvinism and social change?

Answer 15

A debate with Marx’s ghost (Marx said economic or material factors are driving forces for change but Weber shows how this isn’t enough on its own to bring capitalism), Kautsky-a marxist argues Weber overestimates the role of ideas and underestimates economic factors (capitalism came before calvinism), and Tawney-technological changes caused the birth of capitalism rather than religious change (Only after capitalism that the bourgeoisie adopted calvinist beliefs in order to legitimise their pursuit of economic gain)

Question 16

How does Bruce investigate religion and social change?

Answer 16

By looking at the American civil rights movement and the New Christian Right

Question 17

When was the struggle of the black civil rights movement?

Answer 17

1950s and 1960s, to end racial segregation, even though slavery ended in 1865, black people were still denied legal and political rights and so it began in 1955 with Rosa Parks and segregation was outlawed in 1964

Question 18

What does Bruce describe as the backbone of the movement?

Answer 18

The black clergy led by Dr Martin Luther King as they had a decisive role, gave support and moral legitimacy to civil rights activists and the churches provided meeting places and a sanctuary from threats and violence. Rituals were a source of unity

Question 19

How did the black clergy lead to change?

Answer 19

They shamed white people into changing the law by appealing to their shared christian values of equality and to ‘love thy neighbour’

Question 20

How does Bruce see that religion can be an ideological resource?

Answer 20

Provides beliefs and practices that can be used for motivation and support by: taking the moral high ground (love thy neighbour), channelling dissent (MLK funeral=rallying point for civil rights cause), acting as honest broker (churches can provide context for negotiating change as they are often respected by both sides) and mobilising public opinion (black churches in the south successfully campaigned for support across the whole of America)

Question 21

When did The New Christian right gain prominence?

Answer 21

In the 1960s due to their opposition to the liberalising of American society

Question 22

What were the aims of the new christian right?

Answer 22

To take America ‘back to God’ and to make things such as abortion, homosexuality, and divorce illegal again

Question 23

What do the new christian right believe strongly in?

Answer 23

Traditional family and traditional gender roles. Also in creationism

Question 24

What did the new christian right do to convert and recruit members?

Answer 24

Use of media and televangelism

Question 25

What reasons does Bruce give as to why the new christian right has been unsuccessful?

Answer 25

Campaigners find it difficult to cooperate with people from other religious groups-even wen campaigning on the same issues, and it lacks widespread support and has met with strong opposition from groups who stand for freedom of choice

Question 26

What do marxists believe about religion (positive view)?

Answer 26

It had relative autonomy (can be independent of the economic base of society and so can have a dual character and a force for change as well as stability) Marx also saw it as ‘the soul of soulless conditions’ and ‘the heart of a heartless world’ even if the comfort is illusory

Question 27

What sociologist talks about religion having a dual character?

Answer 27

Engels, who argues that although religion inhibits change by disguising inequality, it can also challenge the status quo and encourage social change

Question 28

Who else sees religion as having a dual character?

Answer 28

Bloch, who talks about the principle of hope. religion gives dreams of a better life containing images of utopia, however this can sometimes deceive people with promises of rewards in heaven but again this can help people see what meeds to be changed in this world

Question 29

How can the principle of hope lead to social change?

Answer 29

Religious beliefs can create a vision of a better world, which, if combined with effective political organisation and leadership, can bring about social change

Question 30

What is liberation theology?

Answer 30

A movement that emerged within the Catholic Church in Latin America at the end of the 1960s, with a strong commitment to the poor and opposition to military dictatorships

Question 31

How was liberation theology a major change of direction for the Catholic Church in Latin America?

Answer 31

For centuries it had been an extremely conservative institution, encouraging a fatalistic acceptance of poverty and supporting wealthy elites and military dictatorships

Question 32

What factors led to liberation theology?

Answer 32

Deepening rural poverty and the growth of urban slums throughout Latin America, Human right abuses following military take-overs such as torture and death squads murdering political opponents, and the growing commitment among Catholic priests to an ideology that supported the poor and opposed violations of human rights

Question 33

How was liberation theology unlike traditional Catholicism?

Answer 33

Catholicism supported the status quo whereas liberation theology set out to change society eg priests set up base communities to help the poor, and help workers and peasants to fight oppression under the protection of the church. Priests also set up programmes to develop literacy skills, educate the poor about their situation and raise awareness and mobilise support

Question 34

How did the Catholic church change from 1970s to the 1980s?

Answer 34

In the 1970s priests were often the only authority figures who took the side of the oppressed when murder squads were used however in 1980s, Pope John Paul II condemned liberation theology on the grounds that it resembled Marxism, and instructed priests to concentrate on pastoral activities, not political struggle

Question 35

What has happened to the liberation theology since Pope John Paul II?

Answer 35

It has lost influence. However, as Casanova emphasises, it played an important part in resisting state terror and bringing about democracy. Although Catholicism in Latin America has since become more conservative, it continues to defend the democracy and human rights that were achieved in part by liberation theology

Question 36

What has the success of liberation theology led to?

Answer 36

Some neo-marxists to question the view that religion is always a conservative force

Question 37

What does Otto Believe?

Answer 37

Religion can be a revolutionary force that brings about change. In the case of liberation theology, religious ideas radicalised the Catholic clergy in defence of peasants and workers, making them see that serving the poor was part of their Christian duty

Question 38

What does Löwy question?

Answer 38

Questions Marx’s view that religion always legitimates social inequality

Question 39

How do Maduro and Löwy both see liberation theology?

Answer 39

As an example of religiously inspired social change but other marxists disagree. Much depends on how social change is defined. Liberation theology may have helped to bring about democracy but it did not threaten the stability of capitalism

Question 40

In recent decades, how has liberation theology faced competition?

Answer 40

From Pentecostal churches, which have made big inroads in Latin America among the poor

Question 41

Who contrasts liberation theology and pentecostalism?

Answer 41

Lehmann

Question 42

How does Lehmann describe liberation theology?

Answer 42

It offers an ‘option for the poor’ of community consciousness-raising and campaigning for social change, led by ‘revolutionary priests and nuns in their jeans and sandals’

Question 43

How does Lehmann describe pentecostalism?

Answer 43

It offers an ‘option of the poor’ for individuals to pull themselves out of poverty through their own efforts, supported by the congregation and led by the church pastors, ‘uniformly respectable in their suits, white shirts, and black ties’

Question 44

What is a summary of the pentecostal challenge?

Answer 44

Liberation theology offers a radical solution to poverty: collective improvement through political action in the public sphere, while Pentecostalism’s solution is conservative: individual self-improvement through the private sphere of family and church

Question 45

Why are millenarian movements important?

Answer 45

Because religion raises the hope of a better world in the afterlife, it may also create a desire to change things here and now. Eg to bring about the kingdom of God on earth. Millenarian movements are an important example of this desire

Question 46

What are millenarian movements?

Answer 46

Take their name from ‘millennium’, meaning thousand years. In Christian theology, this refers to idea that Christ would come into world for second time and rule for thousand years before Day of Judgement and end of world. According to Worsley, such movements expect total and imminent transformation of this world by supernatural means. This will create heaven on earth, a life free from pain, death, sin, corruption and imperfection. The transformation will be collective-group will be saved, not just individuals

Question 47

Who do millenarian movements largely appeal to?

Answer 47

The poor because they promise immediate improvement, and they often arise in colonial situations. European colonialism led to economic exploitation and cultural and religious domination, eg through Christian missionaries and their schools. At same time, it shattered traditional tribal social structures and cultures of colonised people. Local leaders and local gods lose power and credibility when their people are forced to work for colonists who live in luxury

Question 48

What did Worsley study?

Answer 48

The millenarian movements in Melanesia known as cargo cults. The islanders felt wrongfully deprived when ‘cargo’ (material goods) arrived in islands for colonists. A series of cargo cults sprang up during 19th and 201th centuries asserting that cargo had been meant for natives but diverted by whites themselves, and this unjust social order was about to be overturned. These movements often led to widespread unrest that threatened colonial rule

Question 49

What did Worsley note about the movements he studied?

Answer 49

They combined elements of traditional beliefs with elements of christianity, such as ideas about heaven where suffering of righteous will be rewarded, Christ’s imminent second coming to earth, the Day of Judgement and punishment of wicked. He described these movements as pre-political-they used religious ideas and images, but united native populations in mass movements that spanned tribal divisions. Many of the secular nationalist leaders and parties that were to overthrow colonial rule in 1950s and 60s developed out of millenarian movements. Similarly, from Marxist perspective, Engels argues they represent the first awakening of ‘proletarian self-consciousness’

Question 50

What ids Gramsci interested in?

Answer 50

How the ruling class maintain their control over society though the use of ideas. He uses the term hegemony to refer to the way the ruling class use ideas to maintain control

Question 51

What does Gramsci mean by hegemony?

Answer 51

Ideological domination or leadership of society. When hegemony is established, the ruling class can rely on popular consent to their rule, so there is less need for coercion. Eg writing in Italy in the 1920s and 30s, Gramsci notes the immense conservative ideological power of Catholic Church in helping win support for Mussolini’s fascist regime

Question 52

Why is hegemony never guaranteed?

Answer 52

It is always possible for working class to develop alternative vision of how society should be organised (a counter-hegemony)

Question 53

How does Gramsci see religion similarly to Engels?

Answer 53

Sees religion as having a dual character and he notes that in some circumstances, it can challenge as well as support the ruling class. He argues that popular forms of religion can help workers see through ruling class hegemony by offering vision of better fairer world. Similarly, some clergy may act as organic intellectuals (educators, organisers, leaders). They can help workers see the situation they are in and support working class organisations such as trade unions

Question 54

How does Billings apply Gramsci’s ideas?

Answer 54

Applies them in a case study comparing class struggle in two communities (one of coalminers, and the other of textile workers) in Kentucky during 1920s and 30s. Both were working class and evangelical protestant, but the miners were much more militant, struggling for recognition of their union and better conditions, while the textile workers accepted the status quo

Question 55

Followng Gramsci, what did Billings argue?

Answer 55

That the differences in levels of militancy can be understood in terms of hegemony and the role of religion. Billings identifies three ways in which religion either supported or challenged employers’ hegemony: leadership, organisation, support

Question 56

What did Billings say about leadership?

Answer 56

The miners benefited from leadership of organic intellectuals, many of them lay preachers who were themselves miners and trade union activists. These clergy helped to convert miners to union cause. Textile workers lacked such leadership

Question 57

What did Billings say about organisation?

Answer 57

Miners were able to use independent churches to hold meetings and organise, whereas the textile workers lacked such spaces

Question 58

What did Billings say about support?

Answer 58

The churches kept miners’ morale high with supportive sermons, prayer meetings and group singing. By contrast, textile workers who engaged in union activity met with opposition from local church leaders

Question 59

What does Billings conclude?

Answer 59

That religion can play a ‘prominent oppositional role’. His study shows that the same religion can be called upon either to defend the status quo or justify the struggle to change it