Social Change & Conservative Force

Question 1

Functionalist view of social change

Answer 1

• religious affiliation increases in times of social upheaval

Durkheim - collective worship reaffirms collective conscience

Parsons - religion legitimates the core values of society

Question 2

Marxist view of social change

Answer 2

Marx - sees religion as conservative ideology that prevents social change, by legitimating and disguising inequality
- creates false class consciousness and prevents revolution
- offers a sense of hope for salvation in the next life, consequently preventing change in this life
eg. The Divine Right of Kings

Question 3

What is a conservative force?

Answer 3

‘traditional’, upholds moral values, functions to preserve things the way they are, maintains status quo, stabalises society

Question 4

Feminist view of social change

Answer 4

• see religion as a conservative force
• see it as an ideology that legitimates patriarchal power and maintains women’s subordination in the family and wider society
  (feminists to link: El Sadaawi, Armstrong, Daly)

Question 5

Neo-Marxist view on social change

Answer 5

• they stress hegemony
• religion can encourage social change
• religion can ‘side with the oppressed’ + give them a focus from oppression

Maduro - liberation theology
Bloch - principle of hope
Billings - dual character

Question 6

Who talks about Calvanism? (they argue that religion can be a force of change in this)

Answer 6

Weber