Sociology and psychology of religion

Question 1

who influenced Marx and what was his view on conflict

Answer 1

Hegel - each instance of conflict can be understood as the attempt of the mind (all encompassing consciousness) to get to know itself and overcome alienation
thus history must be understood dialectically - the resolution of conflict represents a moment in history where there was progress, as the mind got to know itself better

Question 2

Young hegelians

Answer 2

believed that religion is the source of alienation

Question 3

What does Feuerbach argue about god

Answer 3

god is nothing but the projection of man’s ideal qualities, magnified and projected onto a heavenly screen
in this way god is nothing but the ideal human

Question 4

Feuerbach and why religion alienates us; what is atheism for him?

Answer 4

1. makes us focus on the afterlife
2. teaches us to negate the physical world
   Affirmation of our humanity

Question 5

What did Marx add to Feuerbach’s thoughts on religion?

Answer 5

Asked why people feel the need for religious faith

Question 6

Two influences of Marx’s idea of labour

Answer 6

Locke - justifies person’s natural right to private property, because they devoted labour into it
Adam Smith - the more labour went into something, the more value it holds

Question 7

Why is capitalism alienation

Answer 7

alienates the worker from his labour - profit motive is exploitative

Question 8

what are the base and superstructure

Answer 8

base - economic realities of a society (relations of production and divisions of labour)
superstructure - the ideology (religion, politics, art, philosophy)

Question 9

explain Marx’s ideology

Answer 9

The hidden ideas that sustains the status quo and conditions of the base society, by pacifying the worker
The ruling class and others alike are enchanted by it

Question 10

give examples of christian teachings that act as superstructure

Answer 10

‘blessed are the poor for the will inherit the kingdom of god’
–>to Marx, this is telling the poor to be happy with what they have and not try to change their positions

Question 11

why is charity a superstructure

Answer 11

it does nothing to address the exploitative conditions that create poverty

Question 12

Summarise Weber’s view on sociology of religion

Answer 12

Argues the teachings of Protestantism are responsible for the emergence of capitalism

Question 13

what are the features of weber’s traditional societies

Answer 13

• rulers of society did so because they received authority from god
• convention and tradition dictated most aspects of life
• once born into a position, remain there
• prior to reformation, religion dictated by tradition -Catholic Church authority was largely accepted

Question 14

what changes did the reformation bring

Answer 14

• Luther and Calvin emphasis on individual salvation - individual can go straight to god rather than seeing a priest
• traditional roles were questioned
• Calvin’s idea of election, and its consequent outward signs of election characterised by hard work, but not spending this money because of a belief in the decadence of consumption

Question 15

what are the three key features of weber’s rationalisation

Answer 15

1. calculability - calculating the best result e.g. how to get the most profit
2. methodical behaviour - focusing on rational type of work e.g. factory production is efficient
3. reflexivity - reflecting on why we do what we do

Question 16

in whose work does weber identify the spirit of capitalism

Answer 16

Benjamin franklin - profit spend is profit wasted because it should be continually reinvested; time spent idle is time wasted

Question 17

to weber what are the risks rationalisation

Answer 17

people get caught in an ‘iron cage’ of bureaucratic, teleological efficiency
–>only concerned with calculating end results - just a cog in a machine, leading to loss of common values, individuality, autonomy

Question 18

Durkheim’s distinction between the sacred and the profane

Answer 18

profane - everyday activities like hunting

sacred - set apart, powerful, forbidden - totem is the symbol of the entire group

Question 19

what is collective effervescence

Answer 19

when aboriginal clan met on rare occasions in the vicinity of the totem, which caused great excitement

Question 20

to Durkheim, what is worship of god equivalent to? what are rituals? religious experiences?

Answer 20

worship of the society; rituals are a way of producing and sustaining group solidarity; RE are experiences of social forces

Question 21

For Durkheim, what kind of force is religion, and what is the soul?

Answer 21

‘conservative moral force’; the soul is the effect of the sacred gathering of the group
–>memory of collective effervescence and anticipation pop next group meeting means the individual always carries the clan with them - this reinforces the values of clan during profane times

Question 22

Durkheim’s anomie

Answer 22

breakdown of traditional values and morals - this happens as religion wanes in western society

Question 23

Which two taboos is the totem associated with for freud

Answer 23

1. taboo against killing/eating totem - eventually turns into murder taboos
2. symbolises taboo against sleeping with your father’s wife, becoming a taboo against incest

Question 24

where did freud find evidence for the oedipus complex

Answer 24

in primal societies, young men in the community instead of being thrown out, banded together and killed and ate dominant men and took their wives for themselves

Question 25

for freud, what does the totem represent

Answer 25

symbolic of the murdered father - rituals and ceremonies are attempts to alleviate guilt

Question 26

for freud, where does religion arise from

Answer 26

a sense of filial guilt

Question 27

for freud, how is god related to the totem and oedipus complex

Answer 27

murdering sons are unable to achieve stratus of their murdered fathers, leading to a longing for the father ideal, and god is invented as the expression of the ultimate father ideal

Question 28

freud - why do humans attribute forces of nature to gods

Answer 28

humanises nature and gives them a way to appease gods e.g. rain-making ceremonies; gave them an illusory control over nature

Question 29

how does religion encourage sublimation of sexual urges

Answer 29

by creating taboos on certain sexual acts, and social institutions to control the acts, the urges can be redirected towards socially useful activity e.g. charity

Question 30

what does sublimation of urges lead to

Answer 30

resentment and frustration - religion denies people what they most desire

Question 31

religion as ‘universal obsessional neurosis’

Answer 31

religious people engage in neurotic behaviour without knowing exactly why - praying, repetitious ritual etc

Question 32

Jung’s personal unconscious and collective unconscious

Answer 32

collective - all of us are born with a tendency to conceive similar kinds of primordial images - god is one of those images; this means that many of our ideas of god will be shared with other people

Question 33

what is the archetype to jung

Answer 33

the part of the psyche that creates primordial images; the mind contains structures, which combined with knowledge gained from experience, construct uniform images

Question 34

name two of Jung’s archetypes

Answer 34

persona - tendency to put up a front to cover true natures for the benefit of society
shadow - disposition to portray the darker sides of our characters

Question 35

does the archetype of god mean that god doesn’t exist?

Answer 35

no - we do not know the derivation of the archetype

Question 36

jung - what is the libido

Answer 36

flow of psychic energy

Question 37

why are religious images necessary for the goal of integration

Answer 37

rejecting religion is rejecting a substantial part of the individuation mechanism, making someone more likely to experience neurosis because of the psychological tension

Question 38

How does Roheim object to Jung

Answer 38

archetype theory is just unnecessary - since all humans share broadly similar experiences, natural that we develop similar myths

Question 39

How does Martin Buber object to Jung

Answer 39

rejects Jung’s argument that any archetypal image may be described as religious - this fails to preserve the uniqueness of religious experience

Question 40

objection against Jung’s individuation

Answer 40

why is individuation a religious process? if it is governed by the self-archetype, then it may have nothing to do with god