Theories Of Religion Flashcards
What did Durkheim consider main function of religion and the sacred and profane?
Socialise members into collective consciousness and does this by
- setting values apart and infusing them with significance
- encouraging collective worship
A key feature of religion was the distinction between the sacred and profane: sacred=objects animals and places considered apart and inspire awe or wonder eg Mecca or cows
Profane is normal object animals or places
What did Durkheim say was Totenism
Sacred evokes powerful feelinsg as it associates something greater than them
So when ppl worshiping sacred items they’re worshipping society itself
Study of aboriginal Australia where belief system is around totemism (animal or plant with significance) which helps bring the group together and worshiping it worshiped their society
What does Malinowski believe about religion and it’s functions
Studied pre industrial trobiand islanders, agreed with Durkheim that religion reinforced norms and values creating value consensus but doesn’t see religion as reflecting wider society
Believes religion performs psychological functions like:
- where outcome is uncertain: as when islander fished they didn’t do ritual but when ocean fishing they did canoe magic, this fills in our lack of control
- in times of crisis: in births, marriages or deaths which disrupt social order religion minimises this and unites members in solidarity eg funerals and life after death gives comfort
What is civil religion?
Non religious events which develop loyalty and national sentiment similar to religious ceremonies
Bellah coined the term when studying America which involves loyalty to nation, and belief in god
Civil religion involves shared traditions rituals symbols and places of worship but aren’t specifically religious
Eg presidents, constitution, 4th July, national anthem
What are the two values of religion from talcott parsons?
Creates value consesus and social stability eg protestism promotes USA ideas of infidualism or 10 commandments “thou shall not kill”
Gives primary source of meaning and answered ultimate questions like why do good people suffer or why do people die young
What are 3 functions of religion to Karl Marx?
Unlike functionalist Marxism see religion as function of class divided society
- Religion legitimises class inequality: creates false class consciousness through its scripture and hymns giving fake solutions, all part of ruling class ideology saying if we accept place in world we will be rewarded in afterlife
- Religion is social control: legitimises power and privilege eg 16th century divine right of kings, less of case in today society but institutions like House of Lords being lots of bishops show connection between religion and power
- Helps us deal with alienation: religion is “opium of the people” dulls pain of exploitation and masks it, religion doesn’t offer earthly solutions and promises a fake afterlife which distracts from capitalist oppression
What is supporting of Marxist view (India) and negative (communism and neo Marxism)
Caste system in India shows how religion can legitimise class inequality as they cannot change their caste in their life time
Neo Marxists say religion can be used for good eg liberation theology
Religion is in communist countries so serves more than one purpose :(
What does Gramsci belive about religious ideas and the revolution
Said superstructure more independent and beliefs important as economic factors
Communist age woukd require proletariat action driven by theoretical ideas of the proletariat
Noted how churches like the Catholic Church subservient to the state but this could be challenged with popular forms of religion to envisage a better world and even clergy could act as intellectuals eg liberation theology or Jim jones
What is liberation theology?
Emerged in Catholic Church in Latin America in the 60s with commitment to poor and opposing military dictatorship
Liberation set out to change society eg priest established support groups and helped workers fight oppression
Literacy programs and supporting rebel groups also used
Example would be Camilo Torres Restrepo a Colombian priest fighting in guerilla groups
What does Daly say about Christianity?
It is patriarchal myth and Christianity elites any goddess religions being rooted in male sado rituals
Catholic Church promotes misogyny eg Old Testament says god created Adam in his likeness
Promotes symbolic violence against women eg FMG or Burkha to divide women
What do holm and bowler feminism say about religion
Christiany, Islam and Judaism consider women’s bodies and sexuality to be dangerous
To rectify these problems religion needs to be developed for women and controlled by women falling in line with radical feminists ideas of women separation and giving them a sense of identity
What is some evidence of patriarchy in rleigionv?
Religious organisation: mainly male dominated despite fact women participate more in them eg Armstrong points to exclusion of women priests in Catholicism or othordox Jedaism
Sacred texts: gesture make gods and prophets and written by men, anti female stereotypes like Eve who caused humanity’s fall from grace
Religious laws: give women less rights than men in marriage or dress code eg FGM or Burkhas or Catholic Church bans abortion and contraception eg 2022 Supreme Court roe v wade
What does woodhead and Gilliat-ray day about religion and feminism being good
Woodhead says not all religion is parriachiak and oppressive, whilst there is some in tradiontak religions women use religion as form of feminism eg Judaism has women to be rabis since 1970s and Christian Quaker’s have never been oppressive to women
Gilliat ray says some British Muslim women wear hijab for parental approval and to attend higher education allowing them ti step into public sphere while maintains identiy
Also hijab can be method of avoiding male gaze by covering up
What structuralist perspectives see religion as a conservative force?
Functionalist
Eg Durkheim and Malinowski help create and maintain social solidarity and value consensus
Marxists say it legitimises class inequalities by createing false class consciousness and maintains rich social control and helps poor deal with alienation
Feminists say legitimises gender inequality- Daly says symbolic violence and Holm and Bowler say religion says men and women are danger to each other
What is Webers work Calvinism and Protestant work ethic theory
Believed some religious ideas like Protestant had inisited economic and social conditions for capatkism
Saw that while economic conditions similar in China India and Europe capitalism only developed in latter
Developed in areas high in Protestant beliefs known as Calvinism which brought cultural climate for captalism
Had did calavanism bring cultural climate for capatalism according to Weber
Calvinist beloved in predestination (god already chose fit for salvation) and those who haven’t with no way of knowing if you a chosen one
Solution was to become in “intensely world activity” doing hard work and having material success seen as religious virtues
Protestant ethic emphasise values like hard work, profit and trade to get people chosen by god
It didn’t cause capitalism but big contributors
How was American civil rights movement a force for social change?
Bruce describes struggle of black civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s as example of religious social change
Bruce argues backbone of civil rights movement was black clergy led by MLK they provided support and moral
legitimacy to activists
And able to shame white people into changing laws using Christian values and MLK funeral was rallying point
How was the Iranian Revolution a force for religious social change?
1979 Islamic funadmentalsut revolted against ruling class of Iran who was sympathetic to westerners, protest strikes
He was overthrown and new leader promised return to fair society based on principles of Islam
What does Weber say about rationalisation?
Rational ways of thinking replaced religious ones
Started with prostetant reformation in the 1700s which replaced the old Catholic worldview that saw God devils and angels as in their world and could use supernatural powers so used prayers to protect against disease
Protestant saw God as transcendent (above this world) and didn’t intervene so events began to be understood scientifically
Protestant reformation behind disenchantment of world getting rid of magical ways of thinking and E avoiding science to thrive
How does Bruce support Weber?
Argues technological worldview has replaced religious/supernatural explanations
So religion now only use for things beyond science like prayer for someone suffering illness science couldn’t cure
What is structural differention?
Parsons says process of privatisation occurs in industrialised societies
Separate specialised institutions now carried out by single institution
This leads to disengagement with religion as it loses function it served in society
Eg schools replace Sunday school
NHS replace monasteries
What does Berger argue about religious diversity?
More religious organisations creates secularisation, in Middle Ages catholics held absolute monopoly over religion and everyone lived under a sacred canopy same set of beliefs
After Protestant reformation when they broke from Catholic other religions challenged this manopoly of truth and each religion now just another point of view
What did Heelas and Woodhead find about in their Kendal project study?
They distinguished between congregational domain (tradiontal Christianity) and (holistic milieu spirituality and new age religion)
Traditional churches losing support while evangelicals doing well
Holistic milieu growing movement as people following own spiritual path rather than external authority
What percent were religious in 2011 and 2021 census?
59% in 2011
46% in 2021
What do stark and Bainbridge say about secularisation?
Critical and see it as Eurocentric and says there was no golden age of religion and they argue:
- people naturally religious as it meets human needs so religion is constant
- humans seek rewards and avoid costs, religion provides compensators for when real rewards are unobtainable eg CANT have immortality but religion offers life after death
Put the idea of a perpetual decline and revival of religion eg religious revival in covid
What is the existential security theory?
Norris and ingleheart say religion varies between societies and based on existential secruity (survival can be taken for granted)
Low income groups and society need this most as at risk from disasters explaining why they more religious while western countries are more secular
Population growth of these low income countries actually grows religion as they have higher population rates than western countries
What is believing without belonging?
Davie says religion has become privatised and no longer belong to establish church called “believing without belonging”
People do faith in own homes and individually especially in western countries as people use churches for rituals like baptisms or weddings
What is vicarious religion?
Davis says it’s where small number of proffeshinal clergy practise religion on behalf of lord of people
Eg televangelists use tech to spread their word eg Kenneth Copeland
How does Bruce critisse believing without belonging
Bruce argues if people not going to church and engaging with that religion it is considered a weak fit of religion reflecting the strength of religion is declining supporting secularisation
What does Herviue leger say about spiritual shopping?
In postmodern society peiple go spiritual shopping “cultural amnesia” has occurred as we don’t inherent religions passed down from generations
Instead of being born to religion people choose what to believe and shop around for best religion that suits them
But doesn’t apply to all counties alike Iran so not great
What is disneyfication of religion?
Lyon says religion coming disneyfied as it has to market as consumer product in postmodern society
Eg electronic church on internet or televangaksim which has disembedded religious ideas putting them into virtual spaces which allows individuals to select and adapt them for their own use
But hoover says these recourses don’t replace traditional churches and only supplements them
What does Karl popper believed about science?
Science is open belief system as it governed by falsification and allows science to keep moving forward gilding on previous knowledge cumulatively
However no theory can be established as absolute proof as someone could prove it false, this openness of science makes it diff from other ideologies as it open to questioning and falsifying
Religions are closed beliefs as they rely on faith rather than facts
What does Kuhn argues about science as a closed belief system?
Most natrural sciences have shared assumptions called a “paradigm” telling us what reality is like and what to study and what counts as evidence
If sceunctists challenge the fundamentals of it they are ridiculed and only in rare cases with lots of evidence is a paradigm changed triggering a scientific revolution (paradigm shift) then it goes back to the same
Eg Dr Velikovsky published world collision theory and was mocked by scientific community who organised a boycott
What does interprevistist say about science as a social construct?
Knorr-Cetina says new instruments like microscopes allow scientists to fabricate new facts and what scientist see in lab is constructed and removed from natural world as it is artificial environment eg use of specially purified water or specially bred animals
Woolgar adds scientist are engaged in same process of making sense of world as everyone else and when given evidence they have to decide what it means and construct theories to persuade other to accept it
So science fact is social construction where scientist able to persuade people and not objective fact
Astronomy research in Cambridge showed this as they got message from radio telescope but dismissed it as a star however today we still don’t know what it wss
What is Marxist ideology
Marx saw world into 2 opposing classes with ruling class exploring working class by not paying them full labour, they couldn’t rely on brute force so had to control workers with ideas
They spread their idea justifying how society is using ways like religion with God creating way world is and they should accept it, eventually class conscious will develop and working class will overthrow
Neo Marxist Gramsci uses term hegemony to describe how ruling class keeps control by domination of moral and intellectual thinking by con te pulling media politcs and educaton
Workers can develop dual consciousness of their own version of how society operates which leads to class consciousness led by proletarian intellectuals
What is nationalism and who says it is an “imagined community”?
Says nations are distinctive communties with own characteristics and history
Every nation should be self governing
National loyalty and identity shojld come before class or religion
In contrast Anderson says nation is only “imagend community” rather than real one, it can bind millions of strangers creating common purpose. We can identify with it but not know most of its memebers
