BELIEFS TOPIC 1 - THEORIES Flashcards
(8 cards)
Definitions of religion
Substantive definitions - content or substance of religious belief such as a belief in God or supernatural. Weber - religion is a belief in a superior, supernatural power that is above nature and cannot be explained scientifically. These definitions are exclusive
Functional definitions - social or psychological functions it performs for individuals or society. Durkheim - contribution it makes to social integration, rather than any specific belief in God or the supernatural. Yinger - answers ultimate questions about the meanings of life and what happens after we die.
Constructionist definitions - takes interpretivist approach that focuses on how members of society view themselves. Interested in how religion is constructed, challenged or fought over. The most inclusive definition.
Durkheim on religion
The sacred and the profane - the key feature of religion is not a belief in Gods or the supernatural but a fundamental distinction between the sacred and the profane found in all religions.
Sacred - set apart and forbidden inspiring feelings of awe, fear and wonder
Profane - no special significance - ordinary or mundane
He believed that the essence of all religion could be found by studying its simplest form, in the simplest type of society. He studied the arunta - the aboriginal australian tribe with a clan system.
Consists of bands of kin who come together periodically to perform rituals involving worship of a sacred totem. The totem is the clan’s emblem and he argued that when clan members worship their totemic animal, they are actually worshipping society. It represents society’s collective consciousness - the shared norms and values that make social life and cooperation between individuals possible.
Religion also performs an important function for the individual.
Not only a source of social solidarity but also our intellectual or cognitive capacities - our ability to reason and think conceptually.
Postmodernists argue that durkheim’s ideas cannot be applied to contemporary society so there is no longer a shared value system for religion to perform.
parsons
Sees religion as helping individuals to cope with unforseen events and uncontrollable outcomes. Parsons identifies two other essential functions that religion performs in modern society.
Creates and legitimates society’s central values
Primary source of meaning
Religion creates and legitimates society’s basic norms and values by sacrilising them - protestant has sacralised the core american values of individualism, meritocracy and self discipline.
Provides a source of meaning. Answers ultimate questions about the human condition, such as why the good suffer and why some die young. Such events defy our sense of justice and make life appear meaningless and this may undermine our commitment to society’s values.
Malinowski
Religion promotes solidarity.
It does so by performing psychological functions for individuals, helping them cope with emotional stress that would undermine social solidarity.
Where the outcome is important but uncontrollable
Lagoon fishing - safe and uses predictable and successful method of poisoning and therefore no religious
Ocean fishing - dangerous and uncertain - uses canoe magic - rituals to ensure a safe and successful expedition.
At times of life crises
bellah
Religion unites society, especially a multi-faith society like america.
What unifies american society is an overarching civil religion - a belief system that attaches sacred qualities to society itself. In the american case, civil religion is a faith in americanism or the american way of life.
Civil religion integrates society in a way that america’s many different churches and denominations cannot. American civil religion involves loyalty to the nation state and a belief in God, both of which are equated with being a true american.
It sacrilisies the american way of life and binds together Americans from many different ethnic and religion backgrounds.
Marxist theories
Religion as ideology
Ideology - a belief system which distorts people’s perception of reality in ways that serve the interests of the ruling class.
The class that controls economic productions also controls the production of ideas
Religion operates as an ideological weapon used by the ruling class to legitimate the suffering of the poor as inevitable - it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Such ideas create a false class consciousness.
Lenin - describes religion as spiritual gin - an intoxicant doled out to the masses to confuse them and keep them in their place.
Religion and alienation
Marx - sees religion as a product of alienation. Involves being seperated from or losing control over something that one has produced or created. Exists in all class societies. Religion is the opium of the masses - dulls the pain of exploitation.
EVALUATION
Religion may be a tool of oppression that masks exploitation and creates false consciousness. He ignores positive functions of religion, such as psychological adjustment of misfortune. Neo-marxists see certain forms of religion as assisting not hindering the development of class consciousness. Althusser rejects the concept of alienation as based on a romantic idea that human beings have a true self.
Evidence of patriarchy
Religious organisations are mainly dominated despite the fact that women often participate more than men in these organisations. Armstrong - sees exclusion from the priesthood as evidence of women’s marginalisation
Places of worship often segregate the sexes and marginalised women. May restrict women’s participation. Taboos regarding menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth as polluting may also prevent participation. Holm - describes this as the devaluation of women in religion.
Religious laws and customs - may give women fewer rights than men. Woodhead - exclusion of women from catholic priesthood is evidence of the church’s deep unease about the emancipation of women generally.
Armstrong - early religions placed women at its centre - earth mother goddesses, fertility cuts, female priesthood.
El saadawi - religion is not the direct cause of their subordination. It is the result of patriarchal society coming into existence and its ability to reshape religion.
Religious forms of feminism
Woodhead - criticise feminist explanations that equate religion with patriarchy. While accepting that much traditional religion is patriarchal, she emphasises that this is not true of all religion. For example, while western feminists tend to see the veiling of women as a symbol of oppression, Sophie Gilliat-ray argues that some young british muslim women use the hijab to gain parental approval to enter further education and employment.
Women use religion to gain status and respect for their roles within the private sphere of the home and family. Brusco found that in columbia, belonging to a pentecostal group can be empowering for some women. A strong pentecostal belief is that men should respect women which gives women power to influence men’s behaviour.
Piety movements - rinaldo - pattern as typical of piety movements. These are conservative movements that support traditional teachings about women’s role, modest dress, prayer, and bible study
