Role of Religion: Social change Flashcards
What are the general neo-Marxist views on the role of religion?
Religion has a dual character, and can be positive for society.
They believe that it could act as a conservative force, but it was also possible for it to challenge the status quo and encourage social change.
For example, the Hindu Caste System did act as a way of social control but it also inspired huge social change.
What are Bloch’s views on the principle of hope and the role of religion?
Religions offered the idea of a better sort of society; a glimpse of utopia.
He thought that religious faith was misplaced but he saw faith in a better sort of society.
He believed that the hope for a better world can influence the desire for better things on Earth.
What’s liberation theology?
Liberation Theology is also often discussed as evidence of social change.
In the 1960s, some Latin American countries were controlled by violent military dictatorships – poverty and human rights abuses were widespread.
Liberation Theology is refers to the Catholic teachings that radicalised priests to take the sides of peasants.
It supported social change as Priests educated peasants to resist the dictatorships, against the command of the Catholic Church.
Casonova believed that the Church played an essential role in resisting the dictatorships and introducing democracy.
Maduro believed that religion can be a force for revolutionary change that serves the poor. Relative autonomy means that religion doesn’t always serve the needs of the ruling class.
What are Gramsci’s views on religion?
Gramsci wrote about liberation theology and also about the US Civil Rights movement.
He believed that the bourgeoise was able to maintain control, using religion, through hegemony: a dominant set of ideas that can be seen as common sense.
But religion could be used to develop a counter-hegemony, led by organic intellectuals.
During this time, churches provided a sanctuary for campaigners and became local campaigning hubs.
The use of supportive biblical verses also managed to shame the white clergy into supporting the movement.
What are the evaluations of Neo-Marxist views on the role of religion?
It can be argued that Romero was acting against the conservative position of the church instead of the government.
These views may be outdated with the rapid rise of secularisation.
What are the general Weberian views on the role of religion?
Religion acts as a force of social change
The Calvinist Protestant religion played a major role in kickstarting capitalism.
What’s the Protestant work ethic?
Weberian sociologists believe that religion is a force for social change and that it’s positive for society.
Weber’s work on ‘The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’ illustrates how features of the Calvinist Protestant religion kickstarted capitalism.
The two features the caused this were the developments of ascetism and predestination.
Ascetism is the idea that Christians should live a modest life and make themselves useful.
When they became successful, instead of spending it on themselves, they would reinvest it in order to make more money, beginning the spirit of capitalism.
Predestination is the idea that it’s already been decided who makes heaven or hell.
This contributed to a sense of anxiety, known as salvation panic, which lead Calvinist to look for signs that they were part of the elect, increasingly seeing success as a sign.
What are the evaluations on Weberian views on the role of religion?
Even Weber admitted that Calvinism wasn’t the only factor responsible for the development of capitalism.
Eisenstadt argues that capitalism occured in places without calvinism and it even pre-dated calvinism is some places.
Tawney concluded that capitalism helped to create protestantism not the other way around. He thought that early protestants embraced features of new capitalism.
There are some places where Calvinism is still strong but there’s little development of capitalism e.g, Scotland.
