beliefs in society run through Flashcards
(27 cards)
Definitions of religion
- Substantive - weber
- Functional - durkheim/yinger
- Social constructionist - Alan aldridge
Types of religion
- Theistic beliefs
- New age movements
- Animish
- Totemism
Functionalist perspective on religion
- Durkheim -> sacred & profane, collective conscience
- Durkheim -> cognitive functions of religion
- Malinowski -> psychological functions
- Parsons -> values and meanings
- Bellah -> civil religion ‘one nation under god’ + functional alternatives
Marxist perspective on religion
- Marx -> Religion as Ideology (False Conscious)
Justify suffering of w/c as god-given. “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” -> false consciousness -> prevent revolution - Lenin -> “spiritual gin” -> “mystical fog” that confuses and pacifies the masses -> prevents class consciousness and revolution by distracting workers from their material conditions, r/c tool to maintain status quo.
- Marx -> Religion and Alienation (Marx)
lose control over their labour and are denied creative expression -> Religion acts as consolation in these dehumanising conditions. “Religion is the opium of the people… the sigh of the oppressed creature… the heart of a heartless world.” Like opium, religion dulls the pain but does not cure the root cause – capitalist exploitation - Religion Legitimates Inequality –> eg. Hindu Caste System - social stratification and false consciousness.
Hindu doctrines of karma and reincarnation justify the caste hierarchy as divinely ordained (eg. divine right of kings). Maintains inequality by persuading lower castes that obedience will be rewarded in the next life -> legitimates existing power structures.
Feminist perspective of religion
- Armstrong -> religious organisations (marginalisation) Catholicism forbid women to become priests.
- Jean Holm -> places of worship - in Islam, menstruating women are not allowed to touch the Qur’an. / sit at back of church (devaluation)
- garden of eden -> religious texts (anti-female steryotypes) Judaeo-Christian story of
Genesis - Religious laws and customs (fewer rights) Catholic Church bans abortion and artificial contraception.
Evidence against patriarchy
- Karen Armstrong -> woman not always subordinate e.g earth mother goddness (in middle ages until 6000years ago)
- El Saadawi ->religion opresses but not root cause of subordination. rise of monotheism as legitimating patriarchy
RELIGIOUS FORMS OF FEMINISM: WOODHEAD 2009
- Gilliat-Ray (2010) -> hijab
- Rinaldo (2010) -> piety movements (conservative movements + liberal protestant organisations (Over a fifth of its priests are female.))
- Brusco eg. columbia (pentacostals rule -men should respect women)
Social change
- Weber -> Calvinism and capitalism
- Steve bruce -> religion and social protest
- neo marxist -> Otto Muduro: liberation theology
- Worsely -> Millenarian movements eg. cargo cults in Melanesia
- Gramsci -> Hegemony. STUDY: Billings -> coal miners v textiles workers
topic 2 = Social change
Weber - Calvinism and capitalism
religion as force for social change
Promotion of new economic systems (PE & SOC) argued religious belief (Calvinist protestantism) -> rise of modern capitalism in 16/17th century Northern Europe , based on rational, systematic pursuit of profit for its own sake. Due to Calvinist doctrines eg. predestination (god had already elect who was to be saved + cannot be altered by good deeds) -> salvation panic (anxious and seeking signs) -> seeking success through dilligent labour (saw as a sign of salvation). Calvinist Asceticism (rejection of self indulgence) -> frugal living -> accummulating capital -> capitalist enterprise where they invested rather than spend. Weber argues religious values has a material influence on economic life, outlying cultural belief systems can act as catalysts for large social transformation.
Eval:
-Kautsky (1927) weber overemphasised role of calvinist values while underestimating material conditions (asserts capitalism predated calvinism and religion was adopted to justify capitalism)
-Tawney (1926) tech innovation + econ develop more important for birth of capitalism (argue protestantism adapted to align with rationalist ethos). Supported by Eisenstadt (1968) noted that capitalism flourished in Roman catholic regions (Italy), but calvanist regions (scotland) remained econ stagnent -> Weber theory inconsistant.
-Theological accuracy of webers portrayal of calvanism -> not shaped by doctrinal reality.
topic 2 = social change
Steve bruce -> religion and social protest
religion as a force for social change
Legitimising and mobilising protest eg. American civil rights movement. Led by Dr. Mr Luther King Jr (figure akin to gramsci’s organic intellectual) -> shows how religion can be an ideological resources to legitimise collective action. Rooted in Black church -> movement drew on christian moral rhetoric ‘love thy neighbour’ to expose hypocrisy of white christians who upheld segregation -> shaming society into action. Black clergy provided moral legitamacy/resources/spiritual solidary (acting as honest brokers) -> making negotiations with those in power through appeals to constitutional values (liberty/justice) + influences eg. Gandhian Nonviolence -> movement aligned with wider cultural values -> religious activism became politically resonant -> outlaw of segregation in 1964.
Bruce contrasts this with failure of New christian right (NCR) (fundamentalist protestant movement seeking regressive social change by opposing abortion, homosexuality and teachings of evolution). Despite media/political influence -> NCR lacked support due to inability to cooperate, outdated views and misalignment with liberal democratic values eg. choice and secularisation. Shows religiously inspired movements only succeed when values align with the dominant political/cultural framework of the society they aim to influence.
Religion can enable + constrain social change.
topic 2 = social change
Secularisation
- Crockett -> statistics
- Weber -> rationalisation
- Parsons -> Stuctural differentiation + disengagement
- Byran Wilson -> Social and cultural diversity
- Berger -> religious diversity
- Bryant -> the golden age
Religious choice
Davie -> believing without belonging
Leger -> spiritual shopping
Lyon -> jesus in disneyland
Stark and brainbridge -> market theory/ rational choice theory
Norris and inglehart -> existential security theory
Religion on a global context
- Meera Nanda -> god & globalisation in india
- Hindu ultra -> nationalism
- Berger-> pent. in Latin America
- Lehmen -> Pentecostalism global & local
Globalisation : Fundamentalism
- Giddens -> fundamentalism & cosmopolitans
- Castells -> resistance & projects identities
- Bruce -> monotheism & fundamentalism
- Bruce -> fundamentalists
- Samuel huntington -> clash of civilisations
Religious organisations
- Ernest Troeltsch -> church
- Ernest Troeltsch -> sects
- Neihbur -> Denomination
- Stark and bainbridge -> types of cults
New religious movements
- Roy wallis -> three groups
a. World rejecting eg. jones town
b. World accommodating eg. Pentecostalism & methodism
c. Word affirming eg. scientology - New age movements
Why the growth of new religious movements
- Weber -> Marginality
- Glock & stark -> relative deprivation (social/organismic/ethical/psychic)
- Wilson / Bellah -> Social change
Sects & cults
- Dynamic of sects & cults eg. methodist
- Barker / Neihbur / becker -> why short lived?
- Neihbur -> denomination or death
- Stark & bainbridge -> cycle ( schism/initial fervour/denominationalism/establishment)
- Wilson -> conservist & introversionist
New age movements
Heelas -> growth of new age movements (themes: self spirituality / detraditionalisation)
John drane -> postmodern - fragmentation of beliefs
Differences in social classes - gender differences
- 2005 census -> 57% females religious
- Miller & Hoffman -> differential socialisation/ salvation anxiety
- Bruce -> ‘when men wish to achieve, woman wish to feel’
- Davie -> views god as loving and caring , not omnipotent
- Callum brown -> new age appeals to woman (autonomy)
- Glock & stark -> compensation for deprivation
Differences in social classes - Ethnic differences
- Modood -> stats: ethnic minorities more religious
- John bird -> origin, community, cultural identity, socialisation, cope with oppression
- Bruce -> cultural defense
- Herberg -> Religion = means of transition
- Ken Pryce -> Pentecost (adapt +mutual support)
- Jacobson -> Prefer muslim identity over Asian
Differences in social classes - age differences
- Brierly -> old attend more
- Voas & crockett -> ageing/period/generation effect
- Heelas -> old faces fear of death (comfort)
- Young & religion -> technological world view, rationalisation, generational effect, time, work
- Spiritual market place + choice + believe without belonging + marginalisation
Differences in social classes - class differences
- Weber -> theodicy dispriviledge
- Marx -> opium/alienation/False CC
- Roy Wallis -> NRM (World affirming movements (MC))
- Relative deprivation
Science - open belief system
- Impact of science -> ‘faith in science’
- Karl popper -> falsification (A02: Velikovsky - world in collision)
- Cudos norms -> Merton
