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SOC100 > Religion > Flashcards

Religion Flashcards

1
Q

Historically

A

Offered answers to most life’s questions (truth/false, right/wrong, important/trivial)
created meaning in social life(birth, death, rites of passage)
so common that most societies had no word for religion
•Moral code
•Religion varies from place to place
•No consensus on definitions

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2
Q

Substantive definitions – Focus on what religion is

A

1) to ‘believe’ in something
2) entails actions: Practicing beliefs
3) involves emotions: Emotional component, connection
4) religion is a social phenomenon: Something shared with others

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3
Q

Functional definitions – Focus on what religion does

A

1) provides meaning + purpose to life
2) promotes social cohesion + sense of belonging
3) provides social control: setting out guidelines about what’s acceptable + not acceptable
•Helps shape + guide actions leads them to do specific actions
•Social control can be positive/negative

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4
Q

Emile Durkheim: definition

A

system of beliefs, symbols, rituals, based on some sacred/supernatural realm, that guides human behavior, gives meaning to life + unites believers into a community

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5
Q

World’s 6 Largest Religions: Reginald Bibby

A
  1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
  2. Islam: 1.5 billion
  3. Hinduism: 900 million
  4. Chinese folk: 394 million
  5. Buddhism: 376 million
  6. Sikhism: 23 million
    •Interested + be mindful of religion because it plays a big role in interactions, internations relations, small group
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6
Q

Religion in Canada

A

National anthem includes the line “God keep our land glorious and free!”
Religious authority has declined in Canada - governs fewer aspects of life than it used to
•Used to have very strong influence in almost all the aspects of life
Other institutions have grown in importance: Medicine, Psychiatry, Criminal Justice, Education

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7
Q

Religion in Canada

A
  • Religiosity
  • Diff ways to measure + understand religion
  • Plays less of a role now
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8
Q

A PROFILE OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN CANADA: TEENAGERS AND ADULTS,
(IN PERCENTAGE)

A

-

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9
Q

Practices + Beliefs

A

beliefs vary in content + intensity
Religious practices vary in form + frequency
task of sociology of religion is to account for variations
•What ppl do to display those beliefs vary in form + frequency
•We can map out diff + see they vary according to diff factors

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10
Q

Sociology of Religion

A

Bibby: Science and religion are compatible
Religion – about faith
Science – limits itself to perceivable, ‘observable parts’ of religion
•Science limits itself to perceivable, look at observable parts, manifestations
•Science has no right to meddle in ppl’s faith
•It’s not whether it exists or not - It’s this is what ppl believe, what ppl feel
1. Writtentexts
2. Patterns of behaviors
3. Individuals’ opinions about religious matters

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11
Q

Wide array of research

A

Religion and organizations (churches, sects, cults, etc)
•What are the implications of this institution making way for something else
•What are the diff betw churches, sects, cults
•Religion is an institution, it’s a non for profit corporation
Religion + education (role in schools)
Religion + gender (religious leadership): Role of women in religion
Religion + politics (religious terrorism): committing acts seen as positive/negative
Religion and law (Charter of Rights and Freedom)
Religion and mass media (internet): Mass media used to bond

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12
Q

Sociology of Religion

A

•Usually took religion of parents/community
•Consequences + impacts of religion
•Are impacts felt the same?
Analyzes how individuals, social institutions + cultures construe God or the sacred
How these ideas penetrate public culture + individual lives Implications of those interpretations for individual, institutional + societal processes

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13
Q

Durkheim and Collectivity

A

Religion’s origin is social
Ppl living in a community come to share common sentiments that form a collective conscience - ‘God’ is the group experiencing itself
Leads ppl to designate some objects as sacred (deserving of profound respect) + others as profane – (objects of the everyday world)

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14
Q

Durkheim and Collectivity

A

beliefs articulate nature of the sacred + symbols
rituals provide guidelines as to how ppl should act in presence of the sacred
creates + reinforces social solidarity (contributes to social stability through establishment of moral standards + sense of belonging

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15
Q

Durkheim and Collectivity

A
  • Pressure we feel from living with other humans, expectations
  • God is us trying to make sense of that pressure
  • We feel pressured to act in diff ways
  • We externalize demands, power felt in everyday life
  • What are things sacred/profane + see variation + patterns among religions
  • What relationship they have with sacred elements
  • Share something with ppl you don’t know, you have a bond
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16
Q

Criticisms of Functionalist Account

A

Overemphasizes religion’s role in maintaining social cohesion
Downplays religion’s dysfunctions - strongly held beliefs can generate social conflict (Fundamentalism)

17
Q

Criticisms of Functionalist Account

A

When religion does increase social cohesion, it often reinforces social inequality
•Fundementalism: there is no room for other beliefs, my beliefs are absolute truth
•We are brothers + sisters in this faith, it can overlook some important diff within this community

18
Q

Marx and Conflict

A

human creation
“the opium of the people”: it soothes disadvantaged by minimizing importance of “this world”
encourages people to accept existing social inequalities instead of changing their oppressive conditions

19
Q

Marx and Conflict

A

Religion unites ppl under ‘false consciousness: what you believe in, you were fooled into believing it, but it’s not good for you’
Historically some religions teach that the existing social arrangements of a society represent what God desires
Many rulers have historically declared their rule was legitimated by God

20
Q

Marx and Conflict

A

Conflict betw religious groups (religious wars)
within religious groups (splinter group leaving)
betw religious group + society (conflict over religion in classroom)
•assumes that religion is a tool
•If you behave right now, you are promised an eternity in the kingdom of Heaven
•Appetizer to eternity, I could probably live with this

21
Q

Critique of Marx

A

can promote change towards equality (abolish slavery, civil rights movements)
Sense of community that some people find in religion is positive force
•Assumes that ppl take on religion are satisfied with status quo

22
Q

Critique of Marx

A

Some contemporary religious movements challenge rich + powerful by advocating for income redistribution in society
•Religion can be a motor of change

23
Q

Weber and Ideas

A

oriented toward this world – religious ideas and behaviour evident in everyday conduct
examined possibility that Protestant Reformation strongly influenced capitalism in Western world through adoption of Protestant ethic
•Calvinism: through one aspect, people came to believe that you should work as hard as you can + spend as little as you can

24
Q

Weber and Ideas

A

•Making money to accumulate it, played role in development of capitalism
ideas + beliefs represent person’s definition of reality, how we think about the world, aspirations + influence behaviour
Need to interpret action by understanding actor’s motives (Verstehen)
•Need to figure ppl out, talk to ppl, how do they make sense of life, what are their motives

25
Q

Weber and Ideas

A

Researchers should place themselves in roles of those being studied
•Suspend judgement + try to understand why they believe what they believe
Comparative + historical studies of religion + found that god-conceptions strongly related to economic, social + political conditions in which people live

26
Q

Criticism of Weber

A

Correlation betw Protestant ethic + strength of capitalist development is weaker than Weber thought
•Never made a causal relationship

27
Q

Criticism of Weber

A

Weber’s followers have not always applied the Protestant ethic thesis as carefully as Weber did
•Capitalist development happened in places where protestant ethic wasn’t present

28
Q

Religiosity

A

Refers to how important religion is to people
•Religious identification
•Easier to practice if there is a place of worships
•If there are other ppl to share religion with
•Moments in life where they have more spiritual needs
•More likely if parents attended religious services

29
Q

Religiosity: operationalization

A 
Strength of belief
Emotional attachment to a religion 
Knowledge about a religion
Frequency of performing rituals
Frequency of applying religious principles in daily life
30
Q

Religiosity: Social factors

A

i. Obligation: Those obligated to attend religious services attend more regularly
ii. Opportunity: Those with more opportunity for religious service attendance, such as seniors, attend more often
iii. Need: Those who have more need of religion, such as seniors, attend more often
iv. Learning: Those whose parents attended religious services frequently are more likely to do so

31
Q

Future of Religion

A

two contradictory social processes occurring today:
i. Secularization: Increasingly, secular institutions are
taking over some functions formerly performed by religion
ii. Revival: Intensification of religious belief, starting to play bigger role now

32
Q

Future of Religion

A

Both likely to persist for some time, giving rise to world neither more religious nor more secular, but one clearly more polarized
•Religion is not going anywhere
•May not practice as much, but beliefs are strong
•Maybe more intolerance

33
Q

Religion in the News

A
  • Constantly in the news

* Shows religion is important

34
Q

Demoninationalism

A

•Interdenomination

35
Q

Deprivation

A
  • Provides deprived with compensation
  • Economic, social, organismic, psychic + ethical
  • Psychic deprivation: lack of meaninful system of values
  • Ethical deprivation: values in conflict with those of dominant society

SOC100 (20 decks)

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