Religion Flashcards
sociological definition of religion
- religion is a form of culture
- Religion involves beliefs that take the form of ritualized practices.
- Religion provides a sense of purpose—a feeling that life is meaningful.
Theism
a belief in one or more supernatural deities (the term originates from the Greek word for God)—as basic to religion, but this is not necessarily the case.
Some religions, such as Buddhism, believe in the existence of spiritual forces rather than in a particular God.
ritual
e.g., fist communion, Bar/bat mitzvah, weddings, funerals, praying at home
Marxist perspectives on religion
Religion and inequality
- religion represents human self-alienation
- religion is the “opium of the people.”
- -> Religion defers happiness and reward to the afterlife, he said, teaching the resigned acceptance of existing conditions in the earthly life. Attention is thus diverted from injustices in this world by the promise of what is to come in the next.
- Religious belief also can provide justifications for those in power
- -> “the meek shall inherit the earth” suggests attitudes of humility and nonresistance to oppression.
Marxist on Alienation
Alienation: The sense that our own abilities as human beings are taken over by other entities. The term was originally used by Karl Marx to refer to the projection of human powers onto gods. Subsequently, he used the term to refer to the loss of workers’ control over the nature and products of their labor.
Durkheim’s perspective on religion
Religion and functionalism:
- concentrated on totemism: the worship of objects, such as animals or plants, believed to embody mystical spirits.
- the god of the clan, the totemic principle, can therefore be nothing else than the clan itself, personified and represented to the imagination under the visible form of the animal or vegetable which serves as totem
- sacred vs. profane
- Durkheim’s theory of religion is a good example of the functionalist tradition in sociology
-religion has the function of uniting a society by ensuring that people meet regularly to affirm common beliefs and values.
key finding of Durkheim’s suicide study
- religious affiliation does not necessarily protect against suicidal ideation
- but does protect against suicide attempts
- depend on the culture-specific implications of affiliating with a particular religion (e.g., minority religious group can feel socially isolated)
sacred vs. profane
Sacred: That which inspires awe or reverence among those who believe in a given set of religious ideas.
Profane: That which belongs to the mundane, everyday world
- A totem, Durkheim argued, is a sacred object, regarded with veneration and surrounded by ritual activities.
thesis of Protestant Ethnic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Weber)
- The Protestant Ethic is the “Spirit of Capitalism” The Protestant Ethic (aka Puritan Ethic, Work Ethic) means:
1. sacrificing and saving for the future and
2. adopting a rational (=calculating) attitude towards life - Spirit (early) modern capitalism distinguished by hard work and asceticism (frugality); not by greed or self-indulgence
- concentrate on the connection between religion and social change, something to which Durkheim gave little direct attention
- They also contrast with those of Marx, because Weber argued that religion is not necessarily a conservative force; on the contrary, religiously inspired movements have often produced dramatic social transformations.
Secular thinking
Worldly thinking, particularly as seen in the rise of science, technology, and rational thought in general.
U.S. sociologists: Religion was believed to reflect and reinforce society’s values, or at least the values of those who were most powerful; to provide an important source of solidarity and social stability; and to drive social change
According to this view, religion is threatened by the rise of secular thinking
Secularization
The classical theorists argued that the key problem facing religions in the modern world is secularization, or the process by which religious belief and involvement decline and thus result in a weakening of the social and political power of religious organizations.
when multiple beliefs systems coexist, it becomes increasingly difficult to sustain the idea that there is any single true faith. According to this view, secularization is the likely result.
religious economy
A theoretical framework within the sociology of religion that argues that religions can be fruitfully understood as organizations in competition with one another for followers.
such as the United States, that offer many different faiths from which to pick and choose
types of religious organizations (church, sect denomination cult)
- Church– large bodies of people belonging to an established religious organization. Also refers to places where ceremonies are carried out (e.g., Catholic church)
- sect– typically described as a religious subgroup that breaks away from the larger organization and consequently follows its own unique set of rules and principle
- Denomination– sect that has become institutionalized (e.g., Lutherans, Baptists are types of Protestants)
- Cult– loosely knit group of people who follow same leader or pursue similar religious ideals. a form of religious innovation
new religious movements (NEM)
Religious movements– associations of people who spread new religion or promote new interpretation of existing religion
-though churches have sen declining membership, new religious movements have emerged
- NRM encompasses a range of religious groups including cults, and range from spiritual and self-help groups in the New Age movement to exclusive sects like Hare Krishnas
- Often have charismatic leaders, who are inspirational yet can capture the devotion of mass followers
- most infamous example: Jonestown mass suicide - cults flourish when there is a breakdown in well-established societal belief systems
Jonestown massacre and its sociological explanations
Charismatic preacher Jim Jone attempted to build a socialist utopia–> ended with the death of more than 900 people in a remote settlement in Guyana known as Jonestown.
