Theories Of Religion And As An Idealogy Flashcards
Functionalist : Durkheim
Studied the aboriginal society and suggested the sacred worship of totems was equivalent to worshipping society itself — sacred religious worship encourages shared values
Functionalist : Malinowski
Looked at how religion deals with situations of emotional stress that threaten social order . E.g he studied the trobiand islanders and found that they participated in a ritual of swapping seashells with neighbouring islands however this journey was dangerous so they would pray to their god before.
Functionalist : Parsons
Wrote in the 1930’s and 40’s that religion provides guidelines for human action in terms of ‘core values’. Religion elevates the values of society into sacred moral values
Feminists : childbirth
Women’s capacity to given birth has given them an important role within religion in terms of bringing new life. Their role as primary caregiver is seen as important by traditional religion feminists as this traps them in traditional roles
Feminists : religious texts
Religious texts transmit messages to the readers that reflect and uphold patriarchal society. This patriarchal idealogy says that women are seen as part of the profane and imperfect and maintains the conformity of women
Feminist :Simone de Beauvoir
Saw religion as oppressive and exploitative towards women. She thinks that women being promised equality in heaven makes them put up with their suffer now
Feminist :Karen Armstrong
Stain glass ceiling -women are often blocked from the top positions in church due to patriarchal assumptions
Feminist :El sadaawi
Islamic feminist who suggests that the Islamic religion is not patriarchal in nature but it is the male domination in Arab society that maintains the gender inequality e.g the Qu’ran states that male and females should receive the same punishments for however men often have multiple wives but women would receive brutal punishements for this crime like stoning
Marxist: Marx
Describes religion as the ‘opium of the people’ which dulls the pain of oppression and is used to justify their inequality with the promise of the afterlife and that God has chosen their position
Marxist : Engels
Socialism and Christianity are similar as they both are aimed at the poor and promise the afterlife however socialism aims at fixing the issues in their lifetime
Marxist ; caste system
They believed that they are put into their cast due to their actions in their previous life so dont question it
Neo : Marxist Bloch
Dual character : conservative force aswell as a principle of hope
Neo Marxist : Gramsci
The church maintained the cultural hegemony that benefitted the ruling class however some clergy come from the lower classes so could persist with different messages of the church to make change
Post - modernist
People no longer believe in meta narratives and create their own belief system
Marxist ; Norris and Inglehart
Their study of existential security they found that the most vulnerable are more likely to be religious as they aren’t as secure in predicting their future
