Religion And Social Change Flashcards
Religion can be seen as conservative
It encourages traditional values in family life etc. And its ceremonies have established patterns
- religious attitudes to abortion and homosexuality can also be quite old-fashioned
- religion also tends to keep things as they are e.g the caste system in Hinduism
- Marxists, feminists and functionalists all agree that it is a conservative force
Max Weber
Different social groups would create different religious ideas in order to understand and explain their differences e.g theodicies of misfortune which explain their poverty
E.g theodicies of misfortune
Christiano and Swatos studied the Pentecostal church which encouraged change through theodicies of misfortune and hoped to inspire their followers to reform elements of their character
Weber and the Protestant work ethic
The development of Calvinism was highly influential in creating modern capitalism
Calvinism preached predestination so that w/c wouldn’t challenge their oppression aswell, they also preached the value of work - the only way to glorify God is to devote themselves to work which created hard working force
Evaluation of Weber
Eisenstadt claimed that capitalism occurred in Catholic countries like Italy before the Protestant reformation happened
Bruce
In some circumstances religion can produce social change e.g the American civil rights movement led by black clergy men like DR Martin Luther King who was used as an ideological resource because he appealed to all Christians regardless of their ethnicity
Although religion can also be force for negative change : reverting backward
E.g the new Christian Right in the 1960s was to resist the changes in American policy that don’t reflect the values of the people : homosexuality , divorce, abortion and teaching evolution and sex education in school
Social change can lead to new religious organisations
The Methodist church was formed partly as a result of the industrial Revolution since a large number of people moved from villages to city and lost much of their community
Roy Wallis : new religious movements
World rejecting = require total commitment and cut themselves from society
World affirming = self help and therapy groups and are tolerant of other religions
World accommodating movement = more traditionally religious
These are thought to be as a result of uncertainties in social change
Marxists
Religion is a conservative force to pass on beliefs that oppress the working class
Feminists
Simone de Beauvoir - promise of the afterlife means that they put up being inferior now
Functionalists
Malinowski : religion deals with situations of emotional stress that threaten social order by causing disruption and promotes stability
