Neo Marxist View of religion Flashcards
What does this theory argue?
Religion has the potential to be dynamic at certain times and places.
Does religion bring about social harmony or conflict?
It can sometimes bring about conflict e.g Liberation Theology + Father Torres
What is wrong with the Traditional Marxist view of the relationship between the infrastructure and superstructure?
ECONOMIC DETERMINISM
The view that economic factors are the sole cause of everything in society, including social change.
This fails to recognise that humans have free will and can bring about change through their conscious actions.
What is the difference between Marxists and Neo-Marxists?
Trad Marx = Marx argued that whoever controls the infrastructure controls the superstructure.
However Neo Marxists argue that at certain times and places the superstructure can bring changes to the infrastructure. (E.g. religion can be used to bring about social change and revolution, thus affecting the infrastructure.)
The best example of this is Liberation Theology.
What is relative autonomy?
Gramsci argues that sometimes the superstructure can bring about changes to the infrastructure. The superstructure is more autonomous and independent than Marx acknowledged.
What two people do we look at?
Gramsci
Maduro
What key terms does Gramsci talk about?
Relative Autonomy
Hegemony
Dual Consciousness
What did Gramsci say could happen to religious beliefs and practices?
Religious beliefs and practices could develop and be popularised, particularly by wc intellectuals, to challenge the dominant ruling class ideology and support working class consciousness and liberation.
What is hegemony?
The way the ruling class use ideas such as religion to maintain control. It is ideological domination or leadership of society. People accept the moral and political leadership of high-status groups without question because the ruling class control the ideas and beliefs held by members of society, using state agencies and the mass media.
However, why is hegemony never guaranteed?
It is always possible for the working class to develop an alternative vision of how society should be organised = a counter-hegemony. Gramsci sees religion as having a dual character: it can challenge as well as support the ruling class.
What does Maduro believe?
Believes religion can be a revolutionary force that brings about change. For example, religious ideas radicalised the Catholic clergy in defence of peasants + workers, making them see that serving the poor was part of their Christian duty.
He sees Liberation Theology as an example of religiously inspired social change.
In developing countries where religion is a dominant and conservative institution, what needs to happen if social liberation can occur according to Maduro?
Social liberation can only be achieved if significant change occurs within the churches. The oppressed must take their discontent to the churches.
What is Liberation Theology?
A religious justification for the liberations of oppressed people. It’s a movement that emerged within the Catholic Church in Latin America at the end of the 1960s, with strong commitment to the poor and opposition to the military dictatorships of the time.
Catholic Priests developed this theology in response to the failure of the Vatican to respond critically to the oppression of the poor by right-wing dictators. It combines the teachings of Jesus + Marx and encourages people to actively change their societies, through violence if needed.
What do Liberation Theologians use to justify their actions?
Christian Theology
Teachings of Jesus
Where has Liberation Theology been most influential?
Latin America
Give some examples of Liberation Theologists
Father Torres
Archbishop Romero
Martin Luther King
Gandhi
What sort of action would Liberation Theologists support?
Violent revolutionary action
peaceful protests
strikes
What did Father Torres do?
Believed the vast majority of Colombian people being poor was unjust so his solution was a Christian Revolution. The Catholic Church didn’t support him and he believed the government would crush peaceful protest so he joined guerrilla movement. He was killed fighting. The peasants saw him as a martyr and many priests followed his example.
What is Liberation Theory challenged by?
The Pentecostal Challenge
Explain the Pentecostal Challenge
David Lehmann contrasts the two:
Liberation - offers an ‘option for the poor’ campaigning for social change lead by revolutionary priests and nuns.
Pentecostal - offers an ‘option of the poor’ for individuals to pull themselves out of poverty through their own efforts, supported by the congregation and led by church pastors.
Summarise the difference between liberation theology and Pentecostal challenge.
Liberation offers a radical solution to poverty: collective improvement through political action in the public sphere, while Pentecostalism’s solution is conservative: individual self-improvement through the private sphere of family and church.
What does Engels argue?
Although religion inhibits change by disguising inequality, it can also challenge the status quo and encourage social change. For example, religion preaches liberation from slavery and misery. Also, although senior clergy support the status quo, lower ranks within the church have supported organised popular protest.
What does Ernest Bloch say about religion?
Ernst Bloch sees religion as having dual character, he recognises religion’s positive and negative influence on social change. It inhibits change but it can also inspire protest and rebellion.
For Bloch, religion is an expression of ‘the principle of hope’ - our dreams of a better life that contain images of utopia
What does Ernest Bloch say about religion?
Ernst Bloch sees religion as having dual character, he recognises religion’s positive and negative influence on social change. It inhibits change but it can also inspire protest and rebellion.
What is Bloch’s famous expression?
For Bloch, religion is an expression of ‘the principle of hope’ - our dreams of a better life that contain images of utopia.
What does Bloch mean by “the principle of hope”?
Images of utopia can sometimes deceive people with promises of rewards in heaven, but may also help people see what needs to be changed in this world.
Religious beliefs may therefore create a vision of a better world and if this is combined with effective political organisation and leadership, it can bring about social change.
What is false class consciousness?
Proletariat aren’t aware they are exploited
What is dual consciousness?
(middle stage added by Gramsci)
The Proletariat are aware they are exploited but do nothing about it
What is class consciousness?
The Proletariat are aware they are exploited.
