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religion as a conservative force - Coggle Diagram
religion as a conservative force
Marx (ists)
Marxists see religion acting to the benefit of capitalism
it does this through hymm's and bible passages aimed at distorting the reality of working class experience and making them passive obedient workers
Marxists also believe that the class that controls economic production also controls the production and distribution of ideas, through institutions like religion
Marx supports the idea of religion being a conservative force through the key ideas of religion maintaining the status quo and preventing social change through false class consciousness. He argues that religion creates a false class consciousness by conditioning the way people think and therefore limiting the proletariats ability to see their real situation, which in turn prevents social change. Marx said that religion was the ‘Opium of the people’, which dulls the pain of oppression to prevent social change
Because religion gives the prospect of a better life after death, this keeps the proletariat working hard and therefore in turn
Marxists such as Engles believes this contributes to preventing social change and further supports the idea that religion is a conservative force and maintains the status quo
Engles states that “Christianity promises the oppressed classes salvation from bondage and misery in the afterlife”
Femenists
The feminist perspective supports the idea of religion as a conservative force as they believe that religion maintains patriarchy within society
Most religious organisations are male centred and women are oppressed by this patriarchal control
Abbott and Wallace use quotes from the bible as examples of religion maintaining traditional beliefs and customs, such as “He is the glory of God; but woman is the glory of man”. This demonstrates the patriarchal influence that feminists believe is being maintained in today’s society
Feminists further support the argument that religion is a conservative force via the second definition with the example of the Catholic Church and its strict rules on contraception. They believe these traditional beliefs and values are oppressing women and therefore maintaining the status quo within society
the second definition of religion as a conservative force can be to refer to religion maintaining traditional beliefs and customs, whilst also maintaining the status quo
the first way of defining religion as a conservative force is to refer to religion as preventing change and maintaining the status quo
Functionalists
Emile Durkheim supports the idea of religion as a conservative force with the idea of a collective conscience, which is the shared morals and beliefs which unite society, Durkheim believed “religion promotes social solidarity... which unites into one single moral community.”
Another key idea by functionalists to support the argument that religion acts as a conservative force is how religion supports society through times of life crisis. This idea was proposed by Malinowski. Religion helps people cope during times of crisis such as death or puberty by having rituals to surround these events to help people cope, which in turn helps prevent radical change
Functionalist Parsons supports the idea that religion is a conservative force because it maintains social order. Individuals are hit by events that they cannot control or foresee therefore religion helps to maintain the social order through these times. It will help to restore the equilibrium of society, therefore preventing change and maintaining the status quo