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Beliefs in Society - Coggle Diagram
Beliefs in Society
Theories of religion
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Functionalist theories
Malinowski and psychological functions:
- Agrees with Durkhiem that religion promotes solidarity.
- However, he believes that religion brings social solidarity by performing a psychological function for individuals, helping them cope with the emotional stress that would otherwise undermine social solidarity.
- He identifies 2 situations in which religion performs a psychological role:
1. Lagoon fishing: is safe and uses the predictable method of poisoning. When islanders fish in the lagoon, no ritual is performed. However, ocean fishing is dangerous and uncertain and is accompanied by ‘canoe magic’ – rituals to ensure a safe and successful expedition
- This gives people a sense of control, which eases tension, gives them the confidence to undertake hazardous tasks, and reinforces group solidarity.
- At times of life crises: events such as death mark major disruptive changes in social groups. Religion helps to minimize disruption. For example, funeral rituals reinforce a feeling of solidarity among the survivors.
- This gives people a sense of control over the situation they are going through, and this reinforces group solidarity
Parsons, values, and meaning:
- Parsons sees religion as helping individuals to cope with unforeseen events and uncontrollable outcomes.
- He believes that religion creates and legitimates society’s basic norms and values by sacralizing them. We can see this in America through Protestantism and the ‘American Dream’.
- Religion provides us with meaning, why do the good die young? Religion provides us with answers to such questions.
Durkheim on religion
The sacred and the profane:
- For Durkheim, the key feature of religion wasn't a belief in Gods, spirits, or the supernatural, but a fundamental distinction between the sacred and the profane found in all religions.
- The sacred: things set apart and forbidden, that inspire feelings of awe, fear, and wonder. They are also surrounded by taboos and prohibitions.
- The profane: things that have no special significance, they are ordinary and mundane.
- Durkheim argued that we then perform rituals or practices in relation to the sacred, and these rituals are collective, performed by social groups.
- Symbols represent something of great power. In his view, this thing can only be society itself since society is the only thing powerful enough to command such feelings. When the people worship sacred symbols, the people are worshipping society itself
Totemism:
- Durkheim believed that the essence of all religion can be found by studying its simplest type of society, clan society.
- He used studies of the Arunta clan, an Aboriginal Australian tribe.
- They consisted of bands of kin who come together to perform rituals involving the worship of a sacred totem.
- The totem is the clan's emblem, which symbolizes the clan's origins and identity.
- The shared totemic rituals venerating it serve to reinforce the group's solidarity and sense of belonging.
The collective conscience:
- For Durkheim, the sacred symbols represent society's collective conscience.
- These are shared norms, values, beliefs, and knowledge that make social life and cooperation between individuals possible, without this society would disintegrate.
- Regular shared religious rituals reinforce the collective conscience and maintain social integration, reminding them that they are part of a single moral community to which they owe loyalty.
- Also, they remind the individual of the power of society; so, religion enables us to feel part of something greater than ourselves
Criticisms:
- Worsley (1956), there is no sharp division between the sacred and the profane, and different clans share the same totems.
- Durkheim’s theory may apply better to small-scale societies with a single religion. But it is harder to apply to a large-scale society
- Mestrovic (2011), Durkheim’s ideas can’t be applied to contemporary society because increasing diversity has fragmented the collective conscience, so there is no longer a single shared value system for religion to reinforce.
Bellah, Civil religion:
- Interested in how religion unifies society, especially in a multi-faith society like America.
- American society is an overarching civil religion given that it is based on a belief system that attaches sacred qualities to itself i.e., a faith in the American way of life.
Evaluation:
- Neglects negative aspects of religion, such as religion as a source of oppression of the poor and women.
- It ignores religion as a source of division and conflict, especially in modern societies that have more than one religion.
- The idea of civil religion overcomes this problem to some extent, by arguing that societies may still have an overarching belief system shared by all, but is this religion?
Feminist theories
Evidence of patriarchy:
- Religious organisations are manily dominated despite the fact women often participate more.
- Armstrong sees exclusion from the preisthood as evidence of women's marginalisation.
- Places of worship often segregate the sexes and marganalise women.
- In Islam, menstruaring women aren't allowed to touch the Qur'an, Holm desribes this as the devaluation of women in religion.
- Sacred texts largely feature the ding of male Gods, prophets etc, and are suually written and interpreted by men.
- Religious laws and cunstoms may given women fewer rights than men.
- For example, the Catholic church bans abortion and artificial contraception.
- Armstrong argues that early religions (until 6,000 years ago) often placed women at the centre, but from 4,000 years agom the rise of monotheistic religions saw the establishment of a single-all-powerful male God.
- Saadawi argued that even though religion oppresses women, it's not the direct cause of their subordination, this is the result of patriarchal forms of society coming into existence in the last few thousand years.
- But once in existence, patriarchy began to infleunce and re-shape religion.
Religious forms of feminism:
- Woodhead critises feminist explanations that simply equate religion with patriarchy and the oppression of women.
- She emphasises that this isnt true at al, and there are 'religious forms of feminism'.
- Ray says some young British Muslim women choose to wear the hijab in order to gain parental approval to enter further education and employment.
- For them the hijab is a symbol of liberation that allows them to enter the public spehere without being condemned.
- Brusco found in Columbia, belonging to a Pentocostal group can be empowering for some women.
- Despite the strong belief in gender roles, women are able to use religion to increase their power and influence.
- Rinaldo sees this pattern as typical of 'piety movements', conservative movements that support traditional teachings about women's role, modest dress, prayer, and Bible study.
Marxist theories
Religion as ideology:
- Marx argues that the class that controls economic production also controls the production and distribution of ideas in society.
- In his view, religion operates as an ideological weapon used by the ruling class to legitimate the suffering of the poor as something inevitable and God-giving.
- Lenin describes religion as a 'spiritual gin' to confuse them and keep them in their place.
- Religion also legitimates the power and privilege of the domiannt class by making their position appear to be divinely ordained.
Religion and alienation
- Marx sees religion as a productof alienation, this exists in all class socities, but is more extrmeme under capitalism.
- Religion acts as a dopiate to dull the pain of exploitation, but doesnt treat the cause only masks it.
- Its promises of the afterlife create al illosury happiness that distracts atrention from the true source of the suffering, it offers no solution to earthy misery.
- Marx sees religion as a product of alienation, it arises out of suffering and acts as a conselation for it, but fails to deal with its cause.
Evaluation:
- He ignores positive functions of religion, such as psychological adjustment to mistortune. Neo-marxists see certain forms of religion as assisting not hindering the development of class consiousness.
- Althusser rejects the concept of alienation as unscientific and based on humans having a 'true self'. This was would the concept an inadequete basis for a theory of religion.
- Religion doesn't necessarily function effectively as an ideology to control the population. Abercrombie, Hill and Turner argue that in pre-capitalist society, while Christianity was a major element of ruling-class ideology, it only had limited impact on peasantry.
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Religion, renewal and choice
New forms of religion
Spiritual health service:
- Davies argues that major national churches are seen as public utilities, or a sort of ‘Spiritual Health Service’ that like the NHS, is there for you whenever you need it.
- She also notes a trend towards vicarious religion (religion practised by an active minority on behalf of the great majority, who experience religion second hand.
- Although at face value it appears that only a small minority are committed (very few attends church regularly) the majority remain attached to the church as an institution.
A shift in society:
- Davie argues that in today’s society, we are seeing a shift in religion from obligation towards consumption and choice. As she puts it:
- ‘I go to church because I want to. I will continue my attachment so long as it provides what I want, but I have no obligation either to attend in the first place or to continue if I don’t want to.'
- Therefore, Davie argues that this is called “Believing without belonging.”
Spiritual shopping:
- Hervieu Leger agrees that there has been a dramatic decline in institutional religion in Europe with fewer and fewer people attending church in most countries.
- This is partly due to ‘Cultural Amnesia’. The idea is that religion and its traditions are no longer passed on from generation to generation. Instead, most parents today let children decide for themselves.
- She argues that people today now feel that they have a choice as consumers of religion, they have become spiritual shoppers.
- Religion has thus become a personal spiritual journey in which we choose the elements we want to explore.
Criticisms of Davies:
- Voas and Crockett don't accept Davies' claim that there is more to believing than belonging. Evidence from 5750 respondents shows that both church attendance and belief in God are declining together.
- Bruce adds that if people are not willing to invest time in going to church, this just reflects the declining strength of their beliefs.
A spiritual revolution:
- Some sociologists argue that a spiritual revolution is taking place today whereby traditional Christianity is giving way to holistic spirituality or new-age spiritual beliefs.
- Increased interest in spirituality can be seen in the growth of the spiritual market, with an explosion in the number of books about self-help and spirituality, and the many practitioners who offer consultations, courses and ‘therapies.
- Heelas and Woodhead found that in 2000, in a typical week, 7.9% of the population attended church and 1.6% took part in the activities of a holistic milieu.
- Why?
- Exploring your inner self.
- Seeking answers ourselves.
- Personal growth through experiences.
Postmodernism and religion:
- Lyon argues that postmodern society has several features that are changing the nature of religion:
- Globalisation and the media:
- Religious ideas become 'disembedded'.
- As a result, religion becomes de-institutionalised. Removed from their original location in the church, religious ideas become a cultural recourse that individuals can adapt for their own purposes.
- Online religion:
- Religion online is a form of top-down communication where a religious organisation uses the internet to address members and potential converts. This is an electronic version of the traditional, hierarchy communication of churches to their members.
- Online religion is a form of ‘cyber-religion’ that may have no existence outside the internet. It’s a many-to-many form of communication that allows individuals to create non-hierarchical relationships and a sense of community where they can visit virtual worship or mediation spaces, explore shared spiritual interests, and provide mutual support.
- However, while postmodernists might see online religion as a radical new alternative that may be replacing religion, evidence from Hoover et al shows that for most users, it’s just a supplement to their church-based activities rather than a substitute for them.
- Religious consumerism:
- We no longer have to sign up for specific religious traditions, we can pick and mix elements of faith to suit our tastes and make them part of our identity.
- In Lyons’s view, religion has relocated to the sphere of consumption. While people may have ceased to belong to religious organisations, they haven’t abandoned religion. Instead, they have become ‘religious consumers’, making conscious choices about which elements of religion they find useful.
- Religion and spirituality aren’t disappearing; they are simply evolving, taking on new forms that fit the consumerist nature of postmodern society.
Weaknesses of the New Age:
- The problem of the scale: Belief system needs to be passed on from generation to generation in order to survive.
- Weak Commitment: Glendenning and Bruce found that although many people dabbled serious commitment was rare.
- Structural weakness: New Age spirituality itself is a cause of secularisation because of its subjective, individualistic nature
Religious market theory
What are the differences between the USA and the UK?
- Religion thrives in the USA because there is no religious monopoly because the constitution guarantees freedom of religion and the separation of church and state, and there has always been a great variety of denominations to choose from.
- The situation in Europe is entirely different. Most European countries have been dominated by an official state church, which had religious monopolies such as the church of England.
Support for Stark and Bainbridge:
- Hadden and Shupe: the growth of televangelism in the US shows that the level of religious participation is supply led.
- Finke: argues that the lifting of restrictions on Asian immigration into America in the 1960s allowed Asian religions to be set up permanently in the US (an option that proved popular with consumers in the religious marketplace).
Stark and Bainbridge:
- They believe religion is attractive because it provides us with compensators, when real rewards are scarce or unattainable, religion compensates by promising supernatural ones.
- For example, immortality is unobtainable, but religion compensates by offering life after death.
- The cycle of renewal: there is a perpetual cycle in a society where some religions grow and some decline.
- Religious competition: churches operate like companies selling goods in a market. The competition created leads to improvements in the quality of religious goods on offer thus their product becomes more attractive and recruits more ‘customers’.
Evaluation:
- Bruce rejects the view that diversity and competition increase the demand for religion. Statistics show that diversity has been accompanied by a religious decline in both Europe and America.
- Bruce argues that Stark and Bainbridge misinterpret secularisation theory. The theory does not claim that everyone will become atheists, instead it claims that religion is in long term decline.
- Norris and Inglehart show that high levels of religious participation exist in catholic countries for example in Ireland.
- Concept coined by Stark and Bainbridge.
- Also known as rational choice theory (crime).
- Critical of secularisation arguing that it is 'Eurocentric', only focuses on the decline in Europe, not America.
- Argues that secularisation theory puts forward a distorted view of the past and the future.
- They argue that it's not realistic to predict a future endpoint for religion where everyone will be atheist.
- This theory is based on 2 key assumptions:
- People are naturally religious, and religion meets human needs. Therefore, the overall demand for religion remains constant, even though the demand for types of religion may vary.
- It is human nature to seek rewards and avoid costs. When people make choices, they weigh up the costs and benefits of different choices and options available.
What are the overall findings from Stark and Bainbridge?
- The main factor influencing the level of religious participation is not the demand for religion (as secularisation theory suggests), but the supply. Participation increases when there is an ample supply of religious groups to choose from but declines when supply is restricted.
An alternative view, secularisation and security
Evaluation:
- Vasquez accepts that Norris and Inglehart offer a valuable explanation of different levels of religious participation not only in Europe and the USA but globally. However, he makes 2 criticisms:
- They use only quantitative data about income levels; they don’t examine people’s own definition of ‘existential security’. Vasquez argues that qualitative data is also needed.
- Norris and Inglehart only see religion as a negative response to deprivation. They ignore the positive reasons for religious participation and the appeal some types of religion have for the wealthy.
Noris and Inglehart:
- 3 key elements to their theory
- Existential security theory:
- Poor societies, where people face life-threatening risks such as famine, disease and environmental disasters, have high levels of insecurity and high levels of religiosity.
- Rich societies, where people have a high standard of living and are less risk, have a greater sense of security and lower levels of religiosity.
- The demand for religion isn't constant but varies between both societies.
- Noris and Inglehart note that global population growth undermines the trend towards secularisation.
2. Europe Vs America:
- In Western Europe, the trend is towards increasing secularisation. They argue that this isn’t surprising, as these societies are among the most equal and secure in the world, with well-developed welfare states.
- The US remains much more religious. They argue that this is because America is also the most unequal of the rich societies, with an inadequate welfare safety net and individualistic ‘dog eat dog’ values.
- Although American is more religious than Europe, this is explained through there general theory of religiosity because of insecurity.
3. State welfare and religiosity:
- Gil and Lundegaarde found that the more a country spends on welfare, the lower the level of religious participation.
- They note that in the past religion used to provide welfare for the poor, and still does so in poorer countries. However, from the 20th century, the state in the West began to provide welfare and this contributed to religious decline.
- Nevertheless, they don’t expect religion to disappear completely, because although welfare provision meets the need for security, it doesn’t answer ‘ultimate’ questions about the meaning of life, unlike religion.
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Organisations, movements and members