Beliefs In Society Flashcards
Toteism
Belief that natural phenomena are made up of spirits and souls which can affect society
Atheism
Belief that no god or supernatural being exists
Agnostism
Neither a belief in nor a denial of god or other supernatural beliefs. They’re prepared to believe if evidence is produced
Monotheism
Belief in one god
Polythesicm
Belief in more than one god
Supernatural
Belief that science and rationality cannot explain all events and experiences
Functionalist view on religion
- religon is a conservative force
- promotes social harmony, integration and solidarity through value consensus
Durkheim on religon
- religion helps to integrate people into society through value consensus
-all societies divide into sacred and profane
Berger and luckmann (1967)
The social construction of reality- beliefs are formed in a context e.g. a certain time and place
Ideology
An ideology is a set of opinions or beliefs of a group or an individual
The enlightenment
Intellectual and cultural movement in the 18th century that emphasised reason over superstition and science over blind faith
Karl Popper
-Science is governed by falsificationism
- there is no absolute truth
- knowledge grows through an objective system of theory testing
- science is an open belief system based on data and information whereas religion is a closed one
Merton (1973)
- science could only work in democratic societies as they could uphold the Ethos of Modern Science
Falsificationism
A scientific philosophy based on the requirement that hypothesis must be falsifiable in order to be scientific
Universalism
Scientific claims must be held to objective and pre-established impersonal criteria
Communality
Finding of science are common property to the scientific community and that scientific progress relies on open communication and open sharing
Disinterestedness
Science should limit the influence of bias as much as possible and should be done for the sake of science rather than self-interest or power
Organised skepticism
The necessity of proof or verification subjects science to more scrutiny than any other field. This norm points once again to peer review and value reproducibility
definition of religon
sociologists argue that religion is a social construsct therefore it isnt possible to produce a universal definition of religon as differant groups interpret ‘religon’ in a different way
substansive definitions
aim to identfiy the core characteristics shared by major religons. Max Weber (1905) defines religon in a sunstantive way. He claims that belief in a supernatural power cannot be proven scientifically
constructionist definition
interprevists are mainly concerned in hoe definitions of religon are contructed, challanged and fought over. Aldrige (2007) shows how for its followers scientology is a religon despite many governments denting its legal status e.g. Germany banned scientology. interprevists conclude that whether a belief system is defined as a religon depends on who has the power
functionalist definition
they analyse what the religon does for the society it exists in. it may bring comfort, reinforce social values or maintain inequality. these definitions are critisised for being mainly inclusive as any belief system can be classed as a religon if it performs certain functions
what is a ‘closed belief system’?
a closed belief system is a religon that rejects any other belief as a result theyre often regarded as too conservative, inflexible and resistant leading to secularisation
what is ‘monopoly of the truth’?
monopoly of the truth is when a religon sees themselves as the one true representative of God
