Religion and social order Flashcards
What are the functionalist view on religion
According to functionalists religion socialises individuals into the value consensus. A value consensus is an agreement about the norms , values , beliefs and ideas that exist in society.
Who are the three main functionalists
-Durkheim
-Malinowski
-Parsons
What are Durkheim’s views on religion
-According to Durkheim by worshiping in a group individuals build a shared identity and social solidarity , which creates social order.
-He argues that religion creates a collective conscience ; that is everyone in society shares the same sense of what is right and wrong.Which reduces social conflict and maintains social order.
What are Malinowski’s views on religion
-According to malinowski religion provides emotional support during times of uncertainty or crisis which prevents social disruption.
-For example religion deals with crisis like death by promising immortality.
–Events/circumstances that cannot be easily predicted or controlled also cause tension and anxiety. He observed that such events were always surrounded by religious rituals which provided answers and made the events more tolerable.
What are Parsons views on religion
Persons argues that religion performs
important functions for the society. He suggests that religion performs three key functions: leads to value consensus, creates social order, and provides meaning to life.
i) Religion and value consensus
▪ Argued that human action is controlled by norms provided by the social system.
▪ He sees religion as part of the social cultural system providing guidelines for human action and standards of which human behaviour can be evaluated. For instance, the ten commandments prohibit some forms of behaviour.
ii) Religion and social order
▪ Views religion as being addressed to particular problems in the society that disrupt social life.
▪ The problems fall under two categories: firstly, unforeseeable events like death, where religion helps individuals to adjust thus restoring normal life. Secondly, important initiatives with
uncertain outcomes e.g., effects of weather on Agriculture.
▪ By this, religion maintains social stability by relieving the tension
and frustrations that could disrupt social order.
iii) Religion and meaning
▪ Parsons says that life is full of contradicting meanings of different events in life.
▪ He says that one function of religion is to make sense of all experiences, no matter how meaningless or contradictory they
may appear.
▪ For instance, the meaning religion gives to pain and suffering (suffering is given by God to test a person’s faith) that make people to endure them.
▪ Religion also promises punishment to evil things committed by people, making people to live knowing that all evils will be punished.
What are the marxist views on religion
-Marxists see the role of religion in society as promoting a consensus that ultimately benefits a ruling class.
-Marxists view religion as a conservative force performing certain functions to maintain the status quo.
who are the main Marxists
-Karl Marx
-Louis Althusser
What are Karl marx’s views on religion and social order
-According to Karl Marx religion is an illusion that is socially constructed by the bourgeoisie to serve their own interest in maintaining capitalism.
-He believed that religion is a illusion that eases the pain produced by exploitation and oppression.
Louis Althusser views on religion
-Althusser saw religion as an ideological state apparatus which helped to spread hegemony (leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others)
-It kept the proletariat oppressed by:
- Legitimizing social inequality
- Disguising the true nature of exploitation
- keeping the working class passive and submissive.
What is the Neo-Marxists perspective on religion
While functionalists and traditional Marxists both believe religion plays a conservative role in society, Neo-Marxists believe it can be used to about social change. In short, they emphasize the revolutionary potential of religion.
Neo-Marxists rejected Marx’s historical materialism which suggests superstructures, like religion merely reflect society’s economic base.
Instead, Gramsci developed the theory of relative autonomy which suggests that superstructures of society, like religion, have some independence from the economy rather than being directly determined by it.
- Gramsci argued that religious beliefs were no less real or important than economic forces and that action must be guided by theoretical ideas.
- He noticed the ideological control the church exercised over the Italians, which he called hegemony, and argued that religious beliefs and practices could be used to fight back bourgeois oppression.
• Maduro also argued for the relative autonomy of religion. He asserted that religion is not a functional, reproductive, or conservative factor in society, but Is often used as the main available channel to bring about social change.
Maduro believed that in a situation where there is no any other outlet for grievances, such as Latin America, the clergy joined Marxist intellectuals and provided guidance for the oppressed in their struggle against dictatorship.
‘Religion serves to maintain the existing social order.’ Evaluate this view. 35mks
For :
Functionalists claim that religion contributes to a sense of collective identity and value consensus; it helps bind people together in support for the existing social order.
• Marxist sociologists argue that religion is a form of ideology that deters the working class from rising up and overthrowing the capitalist economic system. Religion makes people passive and disinterested in radical social change.
• Religious organisations are often reliant on donations from rich benefactors, thereby helping tie them into the existing power structure in society.
• Established religions are often closely linked with the dominant institutions of society, contributing to the maintenance of the status quo and social order.
• Arguments that the nature of religious belief and practice encourage conformity, respect for authority, and acceptance of the existing social order.
• Examples of where religious organisations have supported conservative values as opposed to promoting social change, e.g. opposition to the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century
Against
Some religions have been quite radical in their opposition to poverty and exploitation, speaking out against perceived deficiencies in the capitalist economic system and seeking to bring about social change.
• Labour movements in western Europe historically had a close connection with non-conformist religions and were influenced by religious teachings and values. Many of the great social changes of the twentieth century were driven by labour movements.
• Liberation Theology in Latin America is an example of where religion has been used directly to oppose the status quo and to side with those who are socially deprived in their quest to achieve social change.
• Arguments that many religions have been open to change within their own organisations and ‘liberalisation’ within certain religions has helped to support the adoption of progressive values in the wider society. For example, the ordination of female priests might be seen as one example of change within religion that is also supportive of change in attitudes to gender in the wider society.
• Supporters of the secularisation thesis would argue that the declining social significance of religion means that any power that religious organisations must defend the status quo and prevent social change
today is considerably diminished.
