Beliefs Flashcards
Popper
Ideology and religion
- Science replacing religion > reason > its open nature > open to questioning whereas religion is closed, not open to interpretation
- Science built on ‘falsification’ > if a theory is wrong, another replaces it
Criticism: Kuhin > science is a closed belief system due to paradigms
Kuhin
Ideology and religion
- Science is closed belief system due to paradigms
- Paradigms is pre-existing framework that doesn’t encourage freedom of thought
- Questioning how science should works > ridiculed and marginalised
Marxism
Ideology
Marxist
- All ideologies are manipulated by the ruling class to maintain and reproduce social class inequality
- Feeds into the proletariats false consciousness
Criticism: WC passively accept their indoctrination
Feminism
Ideology
Feminism
- All ideologies have promoted patriarchy in society for generations
- Science and religion are male stream > representing women as weak and impure
- Monotheistic religion: God is a man, sacred texts portray women negatively
Criticism> Early religions are women-centred > Mother nature > it’s only the growth of monotheistic religions that saw growth in an all powerful male
Postmodernism
Ideology
Postmodernism
- Any ideology that seeks to explain ‘truth’ is a ’meta-narrative’ due to the fragmentation of society
- ‘meta-narrative’ are dangerous as they do not allow for individual thought and free will
Woodhead
Religion
feminism (critique)
- Religion can liberate women
- the hijab is a symbol of liberation > people wear it to gain approval and allow them to enter the workforce
- Brusco > Women can use religion to gain status and respect in the home
El Saadawi
Religion
Feminism critique
•religion was never patriarchal > it was reinterpreted to be patriarchal
Postmodernism
Religion
- Traditional religions lost their significance in society > thus lack the ability to encourage social stability and change
- Religions are meta-narrative > impossible within our fragmented society where there’s no generalisation
Hervieu-leger
Religion
postmodernist
- Religions reluctance to change led to its unpopularity in today’s postmodern world
- ‘cultural amnesia’ > so many alternative world views to compete with religion’s teachings
Lyon
Religion
Postmodernism
- The emergence of a religious marketplace which has developed as religious leaders had to turn to the media to publicise their belief system to survive
- Today’s identities are fluid > individuals constantly constructing new identities through consumption
- ‘pick and choose’
Weber
Secularisation UK
- Rationalisation
- Enlightenment led to science becoming the dominant belief system > public don’t believe in ‘sacred’ qualities of religion due to lack of evidence
- Process of ‘desacralisation’ > process where sacralised entities change or lose their status
Bruce
Secularisation UK
- Cultural defence and transition
- People use religion for secular reasons > many affiliates may not believe in god
- Use religion for:
- Cultural defence > against change
- Cultural transition > migration
Day
Secularisation UK
‘Believing in belonging’
Many people in the UK claim to be Christian, however hold no religious beliefs > 3 types of ‘Christians’
- Natal Christians: affiliate because they were christened > state they’re ‘Christian’
- Ethnic Christians: immigrants who want to belong to British Culture
- Aspirational Christians: want to seem moral & respectable > women ‘good mothers’
Berger
Secularisation UK
- Religious Pluralism
- Vast number of religious organisation contributes to secularisation
- In the past, countries were dominated by one religion > enabled the ideology to maintain grip
- Caused “crisis in credibility” > no-one knows what to believe
Davie
Against secularisation
- ‘Believe without belonging’
- ‘vicarious religion’ is now the norm > it’s the duty of the ‘active minority’ to pray on behalf of them
- True extent of religious belief can be seen in ‘interruptions to normality’
- Natural disaster > church attendance spike for short time
Helland
Against secularisation
Religious beliefs are becoming removed from places of worship and transported to a digital space online> 2 ways:
- Religion online > established religious movements use the internet to communicate messages to their followers
- online religion > like-minded people interact in forums to discuss their beliefs in an unstructured format >do not exist in the real world
Hodaway et al
Secularisation US
- 40% of US claimed they attend church
* Found this is not the case > many stated they do, but church attendance was lower
Bruce
Secularisation US
- Religion in America has become ‘secularised from within’
- Churches had to compromise their beliefs in order to remain popular amongst believers
- US contemporary Christianity > more about personal development than traditional beliefs
Norris and Inglehart
Secularisation US
- Existential security theory > Americans more likely to be genuinely religious than Europeans
- Less support from welfare sate > lack access to free healthcare > make them feel less secure
Stark and Bainbridge
Secularisation US
- People are naturally religious > there will always be demand for some form of religions > Religious market place theory
- Secularisation is Eurocentric > criticised theorist for fooling people > “there was a ‘golden age’ of religion and it has declined”
Durkheim
Social Stability and religion
Functionalist
- Religion creates a collective conscience through secondary socialisation > reinforcing value consensus > creating social order
- Australian aborigines > Totemism > chosen symbol represent themselves as a society > worshiping society
Malinowski
Social Stability and religion
Functionalist
- Psychological functions > faced with a life crisis > religion help overcome it
- i.e. after a funeral, helps community return to normality faster > maintain social order
Bellah
Social Stability and religion
Neo-functionalist
- Argued America has its own civil religion
- “Americanism” > avoid conflict and promote integration > worship of American culture unites its citizens > the flag, the American dream
Karl Marx
Social Stability and religion
Marxist > Supported by Lenin
- Religion acts as a form of consolation> acts as a way in which WC can control freely.
- It is a product of alienation > Religion is the ‘opium of the masses’ > Dulls the pain of oppression
Functionalism criticism: Religion can bring people together and increase social solidarity as people feel part of a group with shared values
Lenin
Social Stability and religion
Marxist
- Religion is a ‘spiritual gin’
- Religion maintains capitalism in two ways > 1. teaches the poor that poverty is a test from God > 2. inequality is god given and unchangeable
Neo-Marxism: religion can assist and not hinder the development of class consciousness. Religion can be a force for change.
Beauvoir
Social Stability and religion
Feminism
•Religion maintains gender inequality by tricking women into thinking that they’re equal and their hardship will be compensated in the afterlife
Armstrong
Social Stability and religion
Feminism
- Studied the church of England > women in religion are blocked from progressing to the top religious positions
- Woodhead: exclusion from priesthood shows that the church is worried about giving women more rights
Weber
Social Change and religion
Marxism
- Before Calvinism, wealth was a sign of greed/sinful
- Calvinism > its development was influential in the creation of modern capitalism
- Predestination (‘the elect’) > Divine transcendence > devotion to work > ‘spiritual capitalism’
Bruce
Social Change and religion
- Religion leads to social change > The American civil rights movement > MLK used religion as an ideology > appealed to all Christians > negotiated with opposition and achieved public support
- New Christian right > fundamentalist > creating conflict > not achieve mainstream cultural support
Bloch
Social Change and Social Stability
- Religion has both positive and negative influence on society > Dual nature of religion
- Can act as a conservative force to maintain status quo, but also as a force for social change
- offering a “principal of hope” > in extreme cases can lead to revolution
Maduro
Social Change
- societies where protests are against the law > the church act as a safe outlet for frustration > religious leaders can act as charismatic leaders
- religious leaders in those societies are also seen as untouchable > harming them would lead to a revolution
Liberation Theology
Social Change
- radical movement grew as response to poverty and ill-treatment
- Priests encouraged people to enforce change upon society, including the use of violence, to overthrow the dictators oppressing them
