Religion

Question 1

Religion hinders social change

Worshipping religion is worshiping a stable society

Answer 1

Durkheim functionalist

Collective conscience- shared norms and values that make social life possible ( religious rituals reinforce the collective conscience by reminding people that they are part of society)

Totemism - when clan members worshipped the totem they were actually worshipping society. The totem represents the power of the group on which the individual is ‘utterly dependent’

Question 2

Religion hinders social change

Potential trauma

Answer 2

Malinowski functionalist

Western Pacific
Lagoon fishing - safe and uses the predictable and successful method of poisoning, when the islanders fish in the lagoon there is no ritual
Ocean fishing - dangerous and uncertain, accompanied with ‘canoe magic’. Gives people a sense of control which eases tension. ‘God of the gaps’ - fills the gaps in human beings control of the world

Question 3

Religion hinders social change

Avoiding anomie

Answer 3

Malinowski functionalist

Religion helps to minimise disruption - funeral rituals reinforce feelings of solidarity among survivors, while the feeling of immortality gives comfort to the bereaved by denying the fact of death

Question 4

Religion hinders social change

Religion helps to deal with actual crisis and avoid anomie

Answer 4

Parsons functionalist

Religion creates and legitimated society’s central values and it is the primary source of meaning

Question 5

Religion hinders social change

Civil religion in America

Answer 5

Bellah functionalist

Civil religion integrates society in a way that America’s many different churches and denominations cannot.

American civil religion involves loyalty to the nation - state and a belief in god - both of which are equated with being a true American

One nation under god - sacralises the American way of life and binds together Americans from many different ethnic and religious backgrounds

Question 6

Religion hinders social change

Religion is the opium of the masses

Answer 6

Marx

Religion acts as an opiate to dull the pain of exploitation. Religion masks the underlying problem of exploitation that creates the need for it.

Because religion is a distorted view of the world, it can offer no solution to earthly misery. Instead it’s promises of the afterlife create an illusory happiness and distracts attention from the true source of the suffering - capitalism

Question 7

Religion is a catalyst for social change

Religion is a catalyst of the development of capitalism

Answer 7

Weber
Calvinism - led an ascetic lifestyle shunning all luxury and working long hours

Reinvestedin their business, this and business grow, producing further profit to reinvest

Spirit of modern capitalism

Question 8

Religion is a catalyst for social change

Depends on a range of factors

Answer 8

Thompson

Religion can help social change but it cannot occur with our other factors eg a charismatic leader (Martin Luther king)

Question 9

Religion can provide a way to deal with social change

Hinduism in India

Answer 9

Nanda

Globalisation in India would presumably abandon religion in favour of a secular worldview (secularisation theory)

However Indians are becoming more religious

30% surveyed had become more religious
Due to ambivalence about newfound wealth

Question 10

Religion can resist social change

Cultural defence in Poland

Answer 10

1945-1989 communist rule

Catholic Church was suppressed but form many poles it continued to embody polish nationality

The church served as a popular rallying point for opposition to the Soviet Union

Question 11

religion is a catalyst for social change - maduro - neo - marxist

Answer 11

south america - catholic priests helped workers to stand up to their oppressors

Question 12

religion is a catalyst for social change - billings

Answer 12

miners and textile workers went to church for support

miners got academic help and other help that textile workers didnt get.

Question 13

religions brings social change - thompson

Answer 13

it depends approach - religion can bring about social change but only if other factors are there like a charismatic leader - martin luther king

Question 14

religion brings social change - fundamentalists

Answer 14

ISIS and al qaeda want social change through terrorism

Question 15

cultural defence in iran

Answer 15

western capitalist powers and oil companies had long had influence in iran - including involvement in the illegal overthrowing of a democratic government in the 50s to install a pro - western regime headed by the shah of iran

60s and 70s - successor embarked on a policy of modernisation and westernisation - replacing muslim calendar

islam became the focus of resistance - 1979 election of islamic republic

Question 16

castells - resistant identity

Answer 16

a defensive reaction of those who feel threatened and retreat into fundamentalist communities.eg christian new right in america

x - 1//4 subscribe to evangelical christianity, 3/4 dont

Question 17

typologies - troeltsch

Answer 17

church - large organisation run by bureaucratic hierarchy of professional priests and they train a monopoly of truth
sects - small exclusive groups, hostile to wider society with high levels of commitment

Question 18

typologies - neibuhr

Answer 18

denomination - less exclusive membership to sect but also dont appeal to whole society, not linked to state

cult - individualistic, tolerant, world-affirming

Question 19

wallis - typologies of nrms

Answer 19

world-rejecting, world-accomodating, world affirming

Question 20

stark and bainbridge - sects and cults

Answer 20

sects result from schisms, they break away from churches usually because of disagreements about doctrines.

cults are new religions such as scientology or ones to that particular society that have been imported - such as tm

Question 21

short lived cults and sects - neibuhr - second generation

Answer 21

second generation - who are born into the sect, lack commitment and fervour of their parents who joined voluntariy

Question 22

neibuhr - short lived - protestant ethic

Answer 22

sects that practice ascetism tend to become prosperous and upwardly mobile. members will be tempted to compromise with the world so they will either leave it or it will abandon its world rejecting beliefs

Question 23

neibuhr - short lived - death of a leader

Answer 23

sects with a charismatic leader either collapse on the leader’s death or a more formal bureaucratic leader takes over, transforming it into a denomination

Question 24

stark and bainbridge - sectarian cycle

Answer 24

1) tension between the needs of deprived and priveleged members of the church - deprived members break away to form a world-rejecting sect
2) initial fervour, charismatic leadership and great tension between sects’ belief and those of wider society
3) denominationalism - protestant ethic effect and second generation
4) establishment - sects become world accepting
5) further schism leads to new sect

Question 25

wilson - conversionist and adventist sects

Answer 25

conversionist - sects such as evangelicals, whose aim is to convert large numbers of people, are likely to grow rapidly into formal denominations

adventist - such as the seventh day adventists await the second coming of christ - to be saved they believe they must hold themselves separate from the corrupt world around them. this separatism prevents them from compromising and becoming a denomination

Question 26

heelas - late modernity and new age cults

Answer 26

self spirituality - new agers seeking the spirituality have turned away from traditional religions and look inside themselves to find it

detraditionalisation - new age rejects the spiritual authority of external traditional sources such as priests or sacred texts. instead it values personal experience and believes that we can uncover truth within ourselves

Question 27

gender - greely

Answer 27

women’s role in taking care of the family increases women’s spirituality because it involves responsibility for their ultimate welfare as well as their everyday needs

Question 28

miller and hoffman - gender

Answer 28

gender differences in risk - men more risky, by not being religious risking going to hell

women socialised to be more passive and obedient - values of religion

women’s gender roles - easier to have time to participate in religious activities.

Question 29

heelas - women and the new age

Answer 29

as women are often more associated with nature eg through childhood and a healing role, may be more attracted to new age movements.

gives women a higher status and sense of self worth

Question 30

glock and stark-gender - compensation for deprivation

Answer 30

organismic deprivation - stems from physical and mental health problems. women are more likely to suffer from ill health

ethical deprivation - women tend to be more morally conservative . they are more likely to see the world as being in moral decline and be attracted to sects

social deprivation - sects attract poorer groups, women more likely to be poor