Marxist and neo marxist theories of Religion Flashcards
Marxist theory of society
From a Marxist perspective, they see a basic conflict of interest between the two main classes in industrial society and religion is one of the institutions that maintain capitalist rule- it is an instrument of domination and oppression which keeps the proletariat in its place.
Karl Marx
Marx argues that religious beliefs and practices arise in response to, and as a protest against, people’s lack of control of their dehumanisation and oppression.
For Marx, people’s religious beliefs reflect their alienation
In pre communist societies, people are alienated or cut off from their work and each other. For example, in Capitalist societies, they work for Capitalists rather than themselves. They do not own the products of their labour, and they work as individual wage earners rather than with each other for the benefit of the community. They have little control over their work and are exploited and oppressed by the ruling class.
Truly liberated Individuals Have no need for Religion
In Marx’s vie, ‘man makes religion, religion does not make man’. In other words, religion is the self consciousness of a man who has either not yet found himself or has already lost himself again. Truly liberated individuals have no need for religion. Thus if the alienation and exploitation associated with classes are eradicated, and people are freed to develop their human potential and ‘find themselves’, religion will no longer be needed and will cease to exist.
Marx claimed that ‘religion is the opiate of the people’
RELIGION AND IDEOLOGY
Although religion represents a protest against a dehumanising social world and human alienation, it leads people in a false direction- the hopes and solutions it promises are illusory. Religion, for Marx, is part of ideology- a pattern of beliefs which distorts the true nature of reality in ways which benefit the ruling class. As members of subject classes accept religious ideas, they suffer false consciousness. Although religious ideas appear to express social consensus, those ideas are essentially tools in the domination of one class by another.
Religion as a social control
Marxists argue that religion functions to maintain ruling class domination because:
- Little can be done to change the existing social order
- Religion lends sacred support to the current social order
- Little can be done to change the existing social order
Religion distorts reality by encouraging the belief that people are dependent upon supernatural beings or sacred powers. For example, the belief that events are controlled by supernatural powers means there is little people can do to change their situation
- Religion lends support to the current social order
Religion often appears to lend sacred support to the current social order, and in doing so it reinforces prohibitions against actions which would challenge those in power
Religion as compensation
While religion operates primarily as a means of social control for the exploiters, for the exploited it has psychological functions as a source of solace and compensation for the misery of their alienation. According to Marx, religion promises happiness, but the happiness it promises is an illusion. True fulfilment is possible only when the exploited shake off the chains of their oppression and seize their freedom.
Louis Althusser
Althusser argued that elements of society, like the education system, mass media, and religion were ideological state apparatuses.
IDA are a tool of Capitalism
The ideological state apparatuses are a tool of Capitalism used to justify, maintain and reproduce class inequalities. For example according to Althusser, education transmits and reproduces in ideology about what it means to be working class, what it means to be middle class and what everyone’s place in society ought to be.
Neo Marxist theories of Religion- KARL MARX
For Marx, religion is part of the superstructure of society, shaped by the infrastructure: the economic base. Neo-Marxists however, have modified this view:
Gramsci
is interested in how the ruling class maintain their control over society through the use of ideas rather than simply through coercion. Gramsci rejects the traditional Marxist view that the cultural superstructure merely reflected society’s economic base. Gramsci argues that hegemonic control isn’t inevitable- and the Catholic church could be used instead for theoretical guidance to inspire a revolt
Maduro
believes that religion can be a revolutionary force that brings about change. Social liberation can be achieved if significant change occurs in the church. This change can occur if the oppressed, finding that all forms of protest are blocked by the central power, take their discontent to the churches, where their anguish may be voiced by the clergy.
