Beliefs theorists Flashcards
Joshua Bell
‘The Tory Party at prayer’ –> Studied connections between Anglican Christians and conservative voters and found that Anglicans were significantly more likely to vote convservative.
Voas & Watt (Church attendance)
Found that churches linked to successful schools had higher attendance.
Durkheim
Religion improves social cohesion by teaching value consensus
Lawes
Lifelong theists are predominantly w/c. Lifelong atheists are predominantly m/c
Gramsci
Religion can be used to challenge the hegemony of the ruling class.
O’Bierre
White Christians in the UK are less likely to rank their faith as central to their identity compared to Muslims and Afro-Caribbean Christians.
Modood
Ethnic minorities are more likely to be religious but this decreases with each passing generation
Bruce
cultural defence and cultural transition
Chrysside
Three reactions of religious belief to migration
Apostasy –> abandonment
Accommodation –> Views change for new society
Renewed vigour
Voas & Crokett (Old people)
‘The ageing effect’
‘The generational / period effect’
Miller & Hoffman
Gender role socialisation means women are more suited for religion as they are more nurturing and have more time as they are housewives.
Greely
Women are more likely to be religious as it fits society’s image of an ideal mother.
Glock and Stark (women)
Three types of deprivation leads women to be more religious
Organismic deprivation -> Women are more health centred.
Status deprivation –> Lack status
Ethical deprivation –> The traditional values surrounding women have been eroded and women that seek these values find them in religion.
Arweck and Beckford
‘The virtual collapse of religious socialisation’
Each generation is less likely to enforce its religious views on the next.
Mayo
As part of a wide societal trend of growing individualisation faith has become more of a personal choice and less of a form of identity.
Woodhead
Counter Stark and Glock’s views on women’s deprivation arguing instead it is women’s new roles in society that dictate their faith.
Home-centered = traditional religion
Work-centered = secular
Jugglers = New Age movements as they don’t have the time to commit to traditional religion.
Bind
Ethnic minorities are more religious as it reflects the religiosity of their country of origin.
Elieen Baker
Studied the moonies and found both w/c and m/c participants showing how New Age religious movements offend trascend class.
Thomas Kuhn
Science is a closed system based off of established paradigms that rejects theories outside of them.
Karl Popper
Science is an open system based off of principles of falsifications. Scrutiny is accepted and knowledge is collected cumulatively by a collective that seeks to disprove one another.
Lyotard
Ideologies are meta-narratives and have no place in fragmented post modern society. Moreover, the failure of ideologies such as fascism and communism to improve humanity has lead to their unpopularity
Traditional Marxist view of ideology.
Ideology is a tool of the bourgeoisie
Gramsci (Ideology)
The idea that society has one dominant ideology is supported by Gramsci. However, he argues that the working class have a dual identity. The part affected by upper class hegemony and the part formed by their experiences as workers.
Merton (Science)
Argued alongside Popper that science was an open system based on CUDOS.
Communism
Universality
Disinterestedness
Organised Scepticism
Marx (Religion and social stability)
Marx argued that religion was the opium of the masses and that it painted poverty as inevitable and as a challenge from God. This encourages the w/c to accept their exploitation and therefore society and it’s capitalist super structure remains unchallenged. The Story of Job in the bible evidences this.
Durkheim (Social stability)
Religion provides social stability by providing a space in which society’s values can be reinforced. Moreover, it provides secondary socialisation of these values.
Malinowski
Religion has psychological functions that maintain society. Rites of passage such as Weddings, baptisms, and funerals provide psychological aid for life changing events Malinowski deems these life crisis’s.
Bellah
A new functionalist, who argues that society’s can create a culture of self worship where the nation itself is idealised. Bellah argues that America’s main religion is Americanism and this reinforces society. Evidence include’s: swearing allegiance to the flag, patriotism, art such as the apotheosis of washington. He deems this “Civil religion”.
