key concepts

Question 1

what are the 4 types of religion?

Answer 1

theistic (belief in a higher power eg God(s))
new age movements
animism (spirits and ghosts)
totemistic (symbols)

Question 2

what are the 5 features of religion?

Answer 2

-belief in sacred beings
-sacred and profane objects, places and times
-ritual acts based on sacred and profane objects, places and times
-moral code with supernatural origins
-prayer and other forms of communication with supernatural beings

Question 3

what is the substantive definition of religion?

Answer 3

aims to identify the core characteristics of major religions, exclusive in nature, ethnocentric as it focuses on western religions,

Question 4

what is the functional definition of religion?

Answer 4

looks at what religion does for society, eg bringing comfort, reinforcing values etc,
it’s too inclusive as any group could be considered a religion if it performs similar functions

Question 5

what is the constructionist definition of religion?

Answer 5

interested in how religions are constructed, challenged and fought over,
interpretivists believe the definition of religion depends on who has power
its impossible to generalise as everyone has different views of what religion is

Question 6

religion as a closed belief system?

Answer 6

they suggest they have THE truth, so may not change their beliefs

Question 7

religion as an open belief system?

Answer 7

herberg - some religion has been diluted over the years to remain relevant in modern society (internal secularization) for instance the ordination of women bishops

Question 8

science as a closed belief system?

Answer 8

khun - science runs in paradigm shifts, where contradictory evidence is ignored until there is an abundance of it, in which case the whole paradigm changes and the process starts again

Question 9

science as an open belief system?

Answer 9

popper - falsification, science revolves around trying to prove your hypothesis wrong, if it is its replaced

Question 10

what did Polanyi say were the 3 self sustaining beliefs of closed belief systems?

Answer 10

-denial of legitimacy (rejecting rival claims to convince followers or their truth)
-subsidiary explanations (scape goats for criticisms)
-circularity (every idea is based off of another idea in the system)

Question 11

what was the Azande + Witchcraft study?

Answer 11

evans + pritchard, studies showed the azande tribe and their belief system seemed closed, their beliefs seem irrational to outsiders but are indoctrinated into the tribe, shows the influence religion has over social groups

Question 12

what is the difference between a belief and an ideology?

Answer 12

a belief system is a set of stories about the world that a person believes in eg religious beliefs, morals etc.
an ideology is a political, social or economical idea that helps define a specific group of people

Question 13

what’s the Marxist ideology?

Answer 13

all ideologies are a tool of the ruling class to maintain power and inequality , justifying capitalism
key thinkers are Gramsci, Marx and Althusser

Question 14

what’s the postmodern ideology? (pluralism)

Answer 14

there are multiple ideologies in a society that reflect the values of different social groups, with no dominant ideology
ignored unequal distribution of power in society

Question 15

what is the feminist ideology?

Answer 15

ideologies promote the patriarchy, eg blocking women from positions of power,
oakley uses the example of bowlby’s work on maternal deprivation to guilt mothers into staying at home

Question 16

what are the 2 types of world view identified by Mannheim?

Answer 16

-ideological thought (justified tradition, resists changes, those who control the ideology benefit from the status quo)
-utopian thought (trys to promote social change because the current world doesn’t benefit those with utopian belief systems)