functionalist theories of religion Flashcards
what do functionalists see beliefs as
They see beliefs as a necessary and positive aspect of society. Functionalists argue that beliefs serve an important social function in maintaining order and stability in society. Religious beliefs gives societies shared norms and values they provide social cohesion and a value consensus and help reduce social conflict
key theorists
Parsons
Malinowski
Durkheim
durkheim and religion factors
Totemism
Sacred and Profane
Cognitive functions
totemism
The totem is a symbol that represents the collective identity of a group of people. As religion is the foundation of society, when people worship the totem they worship society. Here religion acts as a means of maintaining social solidarity. D. studied the Arunta, an aboriginal tribe and he found that they came together periodically to worship the sacred totem and when they did, they were in reality worshipping society. These totems represent society and God, and according to D when people worship these totems who represent society. Society becomes a key object of religious worship as the totem represents societies collective consciousness - this helps hold a group of people together and reinforces the group’s solidarity. Participating in shared rituals like worshipping the totem binds individuals together reminding them that they are a part of a single moral community
social control
the totem is a source of authority and moral order in society and it serves as a means of social control. It provides us with a set of moral values we judge our behaviour against. Religion stops social change and leads people to accept social order
sacred and profane
The key feature of religion was not belief in gods but a distinction between the sacred and the profane found in all religions. The sacred are things that are considered special and holy they inspire feelings of awe, fear and wonder and are surrounded by taboos and prohibitions such as religious symbols and rituals, it helps us understand the value consensus, what is right and wrong in society and maintains social order by helping us understand our place in the world. While the profane are ordinary everyday things with no special significance. Religion creates a distinction between the two which helps us understand what is right and wrong in society. They also represent the collective conscience without which life would disintegrate.
cognitive functions
Religion is not only a source of social solidarity but also of our intellectual or cognitive capacities. D. argues that religion is the origin of the concepts and categories we need for reasoning, understanding the world and communicating. Religion is the origin of human thought, reason and science. For example, from their book - Primitive Classification - Durkheim and Mauss argue that religion provides basic categories such as time, space and causation. For example, with ideas about a creator bringing the world into being at the beginning of time
psychological functions
This refers to the idea of belief as a source of comfort, helping individuals cope with emotional stress. According to Malinowski, beliefs serve as a source of comfort from stress that would undermine social solidarity and lead to anomie. Events such as birth and deaths mark major and disruptive changes in social groups, religion helps minimise this disruption. For example, funeral rites reinforce a feeling of solidarity among the bereaved, these ceremonies help people deal with significant events. Like Malinowski, parsons sees religion as helping individuals cope with unforeseen events and uncontrollable outcomes by acting as a primary source of meaning. Religion answers ultimate questions about human life, questions that when unanswered can undermine our commitment to society, by doing so religion enables people to adjust to adverse events which maintains stability. Religion serves as a source of comfort for suffering caused by inevitable hardships in human life. For example, by explaining suffering as a test of faith that will be rewarded in heaven.
what else does parsons argue
Parsons also argues like D that religion provides guidelines for human action, it provides the core values of societys culture which promotes social solidarity
evals
- Secularisarion - some argue that religion is less important and influential in society today and so it has lost most of its functions
- Marx - bourg define religion - whatever is deemed as sacred and profane in capitalist society is simply RC ideology used to mask inequality and make the WC docile
- Religion is a false sense of comfort - de Beauvoir
- PM - Mestrovic argues that D’s ideas cannot be applied to contemporary society, this is because the increase in diversity has fragmented the collective consciousness so there is no longer a single shared value system for society to join together on. This means that religion cannot reinforce social solidarity as people have different values and it might be difficult to find one which they can collectively agree with
civil religion
Religion has not died out it has become civil religion. Bellah is interested in how religion unifies society especially a multi-faith society like America. What unifies American society is an over-arching civil religion - a belief system that attaches a set of qualities to society itself. In the American case, civil religion is the American Dream. Bellah claims that people are now united in their worship of society and it is expressed in various rituals, symbols and beliefs such as the pledge of allegiance to the flag and phrases like one nation under God
eval of civil religion
Bellah argues that civil religion is in decline as people now rank personal gratification as more important than obligation to others, there is also cynism about established social institutions. The American dream does not have the same uniting power that it once had
