Nature of religion Flashcards
What is the nature of religion?
1)Conservative force:
Religion prevents social change and maintains the status quo, i.e. it supports the basic institutions in society.
2)Force for social change:
Religion can lead to developments, advances and transformations in social policies, institutions, values and even types of society.
What are the sociological perspectives for religion as a conservative force?
- Functionalist
- Marxist
- Feminisit
Explain the sociological perspectives for religion as a conservative force?
Functionalism - religion is a conservative force because it functions to maintain social stability. It protects social solidarity by passing on collective conscience thus protecting the society from social change which would undermine social solidarity by creating anomie. Moreover, religion also helps individuals by reducing anxiety in times of life crisis such as death by bringing the community together. In a modern multi-faith society, civil religion also acts as a conservative force by binding together people of different cultures and faiths. Marxism – religion is a conservative ideology because it prevents revolution. It legitimates the position of the ruling class and disguises the exploitation of the proletariat. It does so by creating false class consciousness. Feminism - religion is a conservative force because it socialises women to conform to patriarchal norms. For example, religious doctrines proclaim male superiority, the organisation of religions is male-led and religious practices are more controlling of women’s behaviour.
What are the three points for religion as a force for change?
- Bruce
- Neo-Marxism
- Weber
What’s Bruce’s theory?
Bruce uses the example of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA in the 1950s to show how religion can bring about social change.
Civil Rights Movement included protest marches, boycotts and demonstrations demanding equal political and legal rights for black people.
Bruce argues that the clergy (preachers), such as Dr Rev Martin Luther King, were the leaders of the Movement.
Their churches were used as meeting places, as well as providing a source of unity and support through prayer.
The black clergy were also able to shame the whites into changing the law by appealing to their shared Christian values of equality.
Bruce therefore claims that religion acted as an ideological resource – providing beliefs the campaigners could turn to for inspiration and support.
Explain the Neo-Marxist theory?
Neo-Marxist theory argues that religion does not always help maintain the status quo, it can be a revolutionary force.
Maduro argued that religion can be used to bring about social change and used the example of liberation theology to back up his views.
Liberation theology is a movement that started within the Catholic Church in Brazil in the 1960s. At the time, there was extreme poverty and a dictatorial government which committed human rights abuses.
As a result, Catholic priests in Brazil developed a theology based on praxis – practical action guided by theory. They helped the poor establish support groups called base communities, developed educational programmes teaching the poor about how to improve their situation.
Therefore, religion acted as a force for social change because the priests helped improve the lives of the poor.
What’s Weber’s theory?
Weber argues that religion can have an effect on society by bringing about social change.
Weber studied Calvinism, a branch of Protestant Christianity.
Calvinists believe in predestination – God had decided (predestined) which souls will go to heaven before they were even born. There is nothing people can do to change that – regardless of how good or bad they are in their life on Earth. This created a salvation panic among Calvinists – the burden of not knowing what God had predestined for them.
To help them cope with this panic, Calvinists practiced asceticism – abstinence, self-denial and self-discipline. For example, dancing, music, theatre, alcohol, etc. were all banned.
They also believed that it was their religious duty to glorify God through their work. Weber referred to this as the Protestant work ethic.
Weber argued that Calvinist religion helped bring about major social change - it helped create capitalism!
Capitalism is an economic system based on the systematic, rational and efficient pursuit of profit. Weber referred to this pursuit of profit as the spirit of capitalism – making money for its own sake.
Therefore, Calvinist religion had an elective affinity (unconscious similarity) with capitalism.
The ascetic aspects of Calvinist doctrine actively promoted capitalist development. As Calvinists had to work hard and yet there was little to spend their money on, many reinvested in their businesses - helping them to grow.
This created capitalism thus causing social change.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Weber’s theory?
ADVANTAGE - Points out that material factors are not enough to bring about social change, that cultural factors are also important.
DISADVANTAGE - It can be argued that it was technological changes that brought about capitalism, not religious beliefs.
It is possible that capitalism developed first, then capitalists adopted Calvinist beliefs in order to justify their pursuit of profit.
What comes up in Religion as a conservative force?
Christian fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism
Explain Religious Fundamentalism
In some circumstances, religion can encourage social change while at the same time promoting conservative, traditional values. This occurs when there is a revival in fundamentalist religious beliefs.
Religious fundamentalism is a return to the basics (or fundamentals) of religion. It involves a literal interpretation of religious texts and strict moral codes of behaviour.
Fundamentalism is a conservative form of religion as it looks backwards, rejecting the changes occurring in modern society. So fundamentalists aim to make things the way they once were.
However, the only way to do this is by changing society. So, fundamentalism, as an extreme form of religion, is also a force for social change.
Explain Christian Fundamentalism
The New Christian Right is a politically and morally conservative, Protestant fundamentalist movement in the USA.
It is opposed to the liberalising of American society, e.g. they are opposed to abortion, same sex marriage, divorce, women working, etc.
It started in 1979 when Jerry Falwell and a small group of preachers founded the Moral Majority Movement – a conservative political movement which aimed to return to traditional values.
The election on Reagan as President of the USA in the 1908s has been seen by some as an indication of the MM’s power. Reagan shared many of their views.
Moreover, Christian Fundamentalism had a significant influence on the election of George W. Bush.
The influence of the New Christian Right is exemplified by the following: in 2005, the California Assembly passed a law allowing same-sex marriages. The right-wing Christian opposition was such that the law was reversed. They claimed the law ‘threatened the sanctity of the family’.
What are the criticisms of the New Christian Right?
However, the New Christian Right has been largely unsuccessful in taking America ‘back to God’.
Bruce argues this is because:
The Moral majority is actually made up of only 15% of US citizens.
It does not cooperate with people from other religions.
It has faced strong opposition from liberal organisations.
Explain Islamic Fundamentalism
In the 1920s the Shah (ruler) of Iran felt that traditional Islamic culture was holding back the modernisation of the country. He introduced a process of social change via westernisation of attitudes and laws. These changes helped create a small wealthy elite, while the majority of the population lived in poverty.
By the 1970s the ayatollahs (religious leaders) blamed the poverty of the masses on the decline of Islam and on western influences.
As a result, in 1979, the ‘Islamic Revolution’ led by the Ayatollah Khomeini deposed and exiled the Shah. The new state reversed the previous trend of liberalisation and reintroduced Islamic law according to the Qur’an.
Therefore, religious beliefs contributed to producing revolutionary social change, while at the same time, in terms of supporting traditional values, it did act as a conservative force.
