Religion

Question 1

From andro, meaning “man,” a form of sexism that views men as central and more important than women.

Answer 1

Androcentrism

Question 2

Durkheim’s term for shared feeling and understanding among people belonging to a particular religion, fostered by group experiences and rituals.

Answer 2

collective consciousness

Question 3

An account or theory of the origin of the universe.

Answer 3

cosmology

Question 4

Lacking in magic, fantasy, or mystery. Weber used the term to characterize the secular, rationalized West.

Answer 4

disenchanted

Question 5

One of four main elements of Weber’s model of formal rationalization, having to do with the streamlined movement of people and things. See control, predictability, quantification.

Answer 5

efficiency

Question 6

As described by Weber, a model of improving the effectiveness of an organization or process based on four elements: (1) efficiency, (2) quantification, (3) predictability, and (4) control. Weber was critical of the concept, believing that it led to disenchantment and alienation of the individuals involved in the rationalized process or organization.

Answer 6

formal rationalization (or rationality)

Question 7

Not sacred or concerned with religion.

Answer 7

Profane

Question 8

Describing an act or experience that is positively regarded and deemed worthy of respect and veneration, being associated with religion and set apart from ordinary acts and experiences.

Answer 8

Sacred

Question 9

An account or theory of the origin of the universe.

Answer 9

Secular

Question 10

From the Ojibwa word ndotem, meaning “my clan,” an animal or natural object that has spiritual significance for a group and is adopted as the group’s emblem. Durkheim viewed the totem as symbolic both of a particular society and of its god, leading him to conclude that god = society.

Answer 10

Totem

Question 11

o Systematic philosophical study of gods, including whether or not they exist, what their nature is.

o May include metaphysical or moral arguments

Answer 11

Theology

Question 12

o Examines social impact of religion, by seeing how many people belong to religions, and how this affects their behaviour.

o Doesn’t prove/disprove existence of God.

Answer 12

Sociology of religion

Question 13

is a social institution with ritualistic practices, value-driven behaviour, and often socially divisive elements of race, ethnicity, class, and gender.

is a broad movement, bringing individuals together in shared rites and beliefs.

exists independently of individuals and is formalized by laws and doctrines.

 promotes a code of moral values which guides the social behaviour of religious members.
 
  are often hierarchical.

Answer 13

What is religion?

Question 14

o Doctrines and beliefs The ideas, values, and metaphysical claims that any religion makes about its gods.

o Rites and rituals Collective practices, e.g. worship, in which people engage in religion together.

o Institutions Often with authority over those claiming to be part of religion.

Answer 14

What is religion?

Question 15

• What sort of things unite religious believers?
• What do they share with other people who have the same religion?

Answer 15

Sociologists look at the social aspects of religion:

Question 16

• Do members of different religions have other common differences?
• Does religious affiliation predict other factors?

Answer 16

These categories allow us to analyze the social effect of religions:

Question 17

o Organized religion
o Folk religion
o Spirituality

Answer 17

Religion takes a number of different forms in society, depending on the degree of organization and integration of the individual.

Question 18

o Set of social institutions (buildings, hierarchies, official doctrines) and shared worship oriented towards a god.

Answer 18

Organized religion

Question 19

o Religious/mystical beliefs and practices as they are understood among the people, without formal institutions.

Answer 19

Folk religion

Question 20

o Informal, often-personal beliefs about a transcendent realm, perhaps involving spiritual experiences.

Answer 20

Spirituality

Question 21

• Very large; includes everyone in a society.
• Membership by being part of society.
• Recognized and perhaps aligned with state.
• Formally-organized, with a clear, structured hierarchy and trained, full-time clergy.
• Specific doctrines/beliefs.
• Formal religious services, with little direct participation.

Answer 21

Religious organizations: Ecclesia

Question 22

• Large, but not the sole religion in society.
• Membership by accepting doctrines
  . * Tolerated by state, but not connected to it.
• Formally-organized, with a clear, structured hierarchy and trained, full-time clergy.
• Specific doctrines/beliefs
• Formal religious services, with little direct participation.

Answer 22

Religious organizations: Denomination

Question 23

• Smaller, often new.
• Membership by accepting doctrines.
• Somewhat outside society, even if tolerated
• Some formal organization, perhaps with a degree of training for clergy.
• Emphasis on purity of doctrines
• Religious services may be less formal and involve more emotional engagement.

Answer 23

Religious organizations: Sect

Question 24

• Small, enclosed, suspicious of outsiders.
• Membership by emotional commitment as well as accepting doctrines.
• May be in opposition to state and society.
• Less likely to have formal organization and trained clergy.
• Innovative, new doctrines, often stemming from a charismatic leader.
• Variety of forms of religious service

Answer 24

Religious organizations: Cult

Question 25

refers to ‘Cult’ as new religious movement (NRM)

Four types of new religious movement:

oAssociated with Asian philosophy, meditation, and magic (e.g. the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON, whose beliefs are based on Hindu scripture)

oDrawing on pop psychology’s “human potential movement” (the Church of Scientology fits here)

types of new religious movement:

oAssociated with occult revival (e.g. Wicca)

oSeeking spiritual salvation through contact with extraterrestrial beings (e.g. Heaven’s Gate)

Answer 25

Lorne Dawson New Religious Movement: What Is a ‘Cult’?

Question 26

Religious organizations may start out as NRMs, but stabilize and institutionalize as they grow and become more socially accepted.

argues that many religious groups start with a charismatic leader to whom followers feel personally bound.

Charisma is ‘revolutionary’: it undermines traditional authority, and operates without formal structures.

However, this is unstable in the long run, particularly when the original charismatic leader dies.

Therefore, the followers ‘routinize’ charisma by setting up rules, doctrines, stories etc that are sanctified by relation to charismatic founder and those closest to them: stabilizes group and reinforces authority of successors.

Answer 26

Weber From cult to ecclesia: Routinization of Charisma

Question 27

o The gradual transformation of extraordinary charismatic authority into regular, bureaucratized forms, for the sake of stability.

Answer 27

Routinization of Charisma

Question 28

sociological work on religion was published in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912)

Theorized that social phenomena (such as religion) were rooted in the group or society, not the individual.

He studied the Aborigines of Australia to develop a sociological model of religion that could be applied to all religions.

Answer 28

Émile Durkheim and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life

Question 29

• “…a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them.”

Answer 29

Durkheim ([1912]/1995) defined religion as

Question 30

This represents an absolute difference in kind: they are two entirely different kinds of object

Mutually exclusive: what is sacred cannot be profaned or exposed to the profane world.

Only certain people are allowed access to sacred things.

The sacred is only open to members of a restricted community.

Sacred experiences foster collective consciousness.

Sacred objects and acts are set apart from more ordinary (profane) ones as being positively regarded, holy, and therefore deserving of reverence or respect. Sacred can also mean forbidden or taboo.

Answer 30

Durkheim and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life

Question 31

o Considered ‘holy,’ and treated as if they have mystical power
. o Set apart from daily life: they should not be treated lightly

Answer 31

Sacred

Question 32

o Objects of everyday use.
o Cannot come into contact with sacred objects, so they don’t make them ‘unclean.’

Answer 32

Profane

Question 33

he purest form of sacred/profane distinction is found in totemistic religions, which venerate the totem of their tribe or group as sacred. Members of the group display the totem on themselves, their clothes, their dwellings etc. It is part of their identity.

• Each tribe has its own totem animal; the characteristics associated with the animal are attributed to tribe.

Answer 33

Durkheim and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life

Question 34

o A sacred object, symbol, animal etc, which represents the group as a whole.

o Often represents certain characteristics, which are also implicitly characteristics of members of that society.

o Totems are symbolic representation both of a god and of the society that reveres it.

Answer 34

Totem

Question 35

The totem thus symbolizes the group as a whole. Thus, veneration of the totem is unconscious veneration of society. The totem is sacred because it represents the social group as a whole (though we are not always conscious of this.)

Answer 35

Durkheim and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life

Question 36

analysis of religion: the equation god = society

This idea was formulated in the context of the totems of the Australian Aborigines

• The word Totems meaning “my clan” in Ojibwa
• Totems symbolize two different things Outward and visible form of god Symbol of a particular society, that distinguishes it from other societies

Answer 36

Durkheim and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life

Question 37

notices that different religions have different rates of suicide: across Europe, Protestants committed suicide at a much higher rate than Catholics.

He rules out other explanations: e.g. both denominations are equally-strict in forbidding suicide. The only difference he finds is that Protestantism places more emphasis on the individual, while Catholicism emphasizes collective forms of worship.

concludes that religion serves to protect us against suicide by integrating us fully into society.

Individuals need society to provide a broader context of meaning and purpose for their lives.

He uses this to identify forms of suicide, classified in terms of the integration of individual in society.

Answer 37

Durkheim The need for religion: The power of society

Question 38

when we come together to celebrate sacred events, we feel thrilled and excited.
* Normal daily life is profane, boring, uninspiring.

• But in religious festivals such as Australian Aboriginals’ corroborree, everyone comes together, wearing totem etc.
• Normal rules don’t apply: total freedom to express feelings.

Answer 38

Durkheim The need for religion: The power of society

Question 39

o A feeling of intoxicated rejoicing, and of almost losing yourself in the crowd. o Experienced above all in huge group or social celebrations, where usual rules are suspended.

Answer 39

Collective Effervescence

Question 40

see religion as uniting society. But in a modern, pluralist society with many religion, it cannot do so. However, we can see many similar collective rites

calls festivals civil religion: whilst not focused on gods or spirits, they are like Durkheim’s collective rites, in that individuals lose themselves in shared celebrations.

• They have the same function as religion, encouraging solidarity

Answer 40

Structural Functionalists Robert Bellah Civil Religion: The religion of today

Question 41

o Collective festival that isn’t necessarily explicitly religious, but shares features of religious rites.

o May include big sports events or nationalism: people celebrate group identities.

Answer 41

Civil Religion

Question 42

o Weber’s term for a specific set of beliefs and values held by Protestants in Europe, placing moral worth on hard work for its own sake, and prudence in saving money.

Answer 42

Protestant Ethic

Question 43

argued that Protestant Ethic was crucial in emergence of modern capitalism

Previously, society did not place as much emphasis on the constant growth of capital/money, and prudent investment.

Protestantism doesn’t explicitly endorse capitalism and profit, but it does encourage people to act in ways suitable to capitalism

Answer 43

Weber Protestant Ethic

Question 44

Protestants thus worked hard, saved and invested money instead of spending it, built up their businesses, and the economy grew.

Over time, their success forced others (non-Protestants) to act similarly, and built up a modern capitalist system.

This now traps us in an ‘Iron Cage’ in which we are compelled to work hard and act capitalistically.

Answer 44

Protestant Ethic - Iron Cage

Question 45

all understand religion in terms of human need to make sense of world, and find meaning in life.

Religions serve to meet this need: they offer an account of the cosmos as meaningful whole.

Answer 45

Marx, Weber, and Durkheim Symbolic universe

Question 46

But if there is a divine power, this raises the question of why evil and suffering continue to exist in the world.

people turn to religion to explain this suffering: religions provide a theodicy.

Answer 46

Weber Symbolic universe

Question 47

agreed with Weber on human need to see world as meaningful.

As social constructionists, their theory is about the way humans make sense of and understand interactions.

For them, religion as a whole emerges as a society seeks to explain itself and its order/structure.

Religion serves to provide a story about the cosmos.

As such, religion is part of the symbolic universe: it presents a coherent narrative that explains different phenomena in a way that legitimates the social order as a whole.

Answer 47

Social Constructionists Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann Symbolic universe

Question 48

o The total, internally-consistent set of values and beliefs that members of a society draw on.

o Explains and justifies order and habits of that society; how individuals ‘explain’ society to selves

Answer 48

Symbolic universe

Question 49

Karl Marx’s general theory of societies across time: human activity and social change are best understood as a set of systems of production, with social relations built on top of them.

Answer 49

Materialist Conception of History

Question 50

theorized that religion functions as an instrument of hegemony.

• Serves interests of the ruling-class by dissuading oppressed members of the working class from organizing around their own class-based self-interests to challenge the inequality of society.
• Religion thus helps instill a false consciousness by promoting the belief that class-based hierarchy was God’s plan and thus justified: God determined appropriate position within the class system for the poor and the rich.

Answer 50

Marx Materialist Conception of History

Question 51

Marx described priests as ‘the first ideologists,’ recognizing their role in generating stories that justified inequality and oppression.

develops this in theory of ideological hegemony.

• Every society contains Intellectuals, who we often look to for moral guidance, understanding of the world and society, etc.
• But Traditional Intellectuals, including priests, are in the pocket of dominant classes, and make us believe things that justify oppression. Workers must develop own Organic Intellectuals to counter this hegemony.

Answer 51

Antonio Gramsci ideological hegemony

Question 52

the rise of capitalism means ‘all that is solid melts into air, all that is sacred is profaned.’

The capitalist rejects ancient feudal traditions, hierarchies, beliefs etc, and cares only about making profit.

As a result, capitalism sweeps away old system.

Answer 52

Marx Rationalization

Question 53

describes similar processes as rationalization.

The disordered, ad hoc nature of traditional beliefs is replaced by systematicallyordered, consistent, rationalized theories.

However, thinks rationalization originated in religion

Monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) systematized beliefs in philosophical theology; they attacked folk beliefs as ‘superstition’ or ‘witchcraft.’

Answer 53

Weber Rationalization

Question 54

The social decline of traditional motives, values and beliefs, justified by appeal to divine authority, and their replacement by motives of efficiency, calculation, and systematic explanation.

Answer 54

Rationalization

Question 55

such rationalization leads to disenchantment of the world

• Scientific method is more effective in helping us achieve our goals in the world than explanations based on magic/religion.
• Consequently, it pushes out traditional beliefs.

However, argues, this undermines the foundations of our values and our general sense of meaning in life.
* Moral values now seem arbitrary: No reason to pick one value over others. In a cold, uncaring universe, why do they matter? In a cold, uncaring universe, our brief lives are pointless

Thus, the Iron Cage of modern society offers no purpose to us.

Answer 55

Weber, Rationalization: Disenchantment of the World

Question 56

• Literally ‘de-magicalization’: Increasing use of science to explain world, not supernatural forces.
• Results from rationalization / rise of science.
• Leads to a general decline in meaning, as all our values are undermined and lose their foundation.

Answer 56

Disenchantment of the World

Question 57

Religion appears to have less influence over society:
* Declining influence of established religions (ecclesia) over government policy.

• Declining attendance at religious services.

Religious rules often seen as restrictive or prohibitive: they set down strict standards of acceptable behaviour.

• Decline in religious practices and beliefs in society in recent centuries.
• Often seen as societies become more pluralist or more industrialized and capitalist.

Answer 57

Secularization

Question 58

Organized world religions are generally characterized by patriarchal power structures As a result, women tend to have subordinate roles that marginalize their participation.

Feminists in the 1960s and 1970s became critical of Christianity and its practices

• Viewed Christianity as an influential cultural factor in the reproduction of gender inequality

Answer 58

Religion and Gender

Question 59

was the first woman consecrated as a bishop in Canada.

As of 2019, Canada and the United States have had more women bishops (8) than any other province.

England itself did not have a woman bishop until 2015, and presently just half of the 44 Anglican provinces allow the consecration of women bishops.

Answer 59

Victoria Matthews Religion and Gender