Sociology-Beliefs in Society-Sociologists Flashcards
Weber 1905
Defines religion as belief in a superior or supernatural power that is above nature and cannot be explained scientifically
Durkheim 1915
Defines religion in terms of the contribution it makes to social integration, rather than any specific belief in God or the supernatural
Yinger 1970
Identifies functions that religion performs for individuals such as answering the ‘ultimate questions’
Aldridge 2013
Shows how, for its followers, scientology is a religion, whereas several governments have denied it legal status as a religion and sought to ban it
Durkheim 1858-1917
Religious institutions play a central part in creating and maintaining value consensus, order and solidarity
Durkheim 1915; 1962
Key feature of religion is the distinction between the sacred and the profane. Also talks about totemism, collective conscience, and cognitive functions of religion
Durkheim and Mauss 1903; 2009
Wrote a book-primitive classification. Argue that religion provides basic categories such as time, space and causation
Worsley 1956
Evidence on totemism is unsound, there is no sharp division between the sacred and the profane, and also different clans share the same totems
Mestrovic 2011
(Postmodernist) Argues that Durkheim’s ideas cannot be applied to contemporary society, because increasing diversity has fragmented the collective conscience, so there is no longer a single shared value system for religion to reinforce
Malinowski 1954
Agrees with Durkheim that religion promotes solidarity, however in his view, it does so by performing psychological functions for individuals, such as coping with emotional stress that would undermine social solidarity (religion performs this role where the outcome is important but uncontrollable, and at times of life crises)
Parsons 1967
Sees religion helping individuals to cope with unforeseen events and uncontrollable outcomes, like Malinowski, but also identifies two other essential functions that religion performs in modern society (It creates and legitimates society’s central values, and it is the primary source of reason)
Bellah 1991; 2013
Interested in how religion unifies society, especially a multi-faith society like America-civil religion integrates society in a way that America’s many different churches and denominations cannot. Also says that although in America civil religion involves a belief in God, he argues that this doesn’t have to be the case
Marx (theories of religion)
Religion as ideology
Lenin 1870-1924
Describes religion as ‘spiritual gin’
Marx 1844
Religion as the product of alienation
Althusser 1971
Rejects the concept of alienation as unscientific and based on a romantic idea that human beings have a ‘true self’
Abercrombie, Hill and Turner 2015
Argue that in pre-capitalist society, while Christianity was a major element of ruling-class ideology, it had only limited impact on the peasantry
Armstrong 1993
Sees exclusion from the priesthood as evidence of women’s marginalisation
Holm 2001
Describes this as the devaluation of women in religion
Woodhead 2002
Argues that the exclusion of women from the Catholic priesthood is evidence of the Church’s deep unease about the emancipation of women generally
Armstrong 1993
Argues that early religions often placed women at the centre eg female priesthoods in the middle east until about 6,000 years ago
Nawa El Saadawi 1980
Argues that religion is not the direct cause of their subordination, rather it is the result of patriarchal forms of society coming into existence in the last few thousand years
Woodhead 2009
Criticises feminist explanations that simply equate religion with patriarchy and the oppression of women-she emphasises that it is not true in all religions and argues that there are ‘religious forms of feminism’
Gilliat-Ray 2010
Some young British muslim women choose to wear the hijab in order to gain parental approval to enter further education, especially employment
