Beliefs in society

Functionalists

Durkheim - Religion reinforces social solidarity through shared rituals. Totemism shows collective worship of society itself.

Parsons - Religion gives value consensus, helps people deal with life crises.

Malinowski - Religion helps manage life’s uncertainties and emotional stress, e.g. during birth or death.

Bellah – Civil Religion - Shared belief system that integrates society (e.g. American values and patriotism).

Beleifs in social change

Weber – Protestant Ethic - Calvinist beliefs (hard work, discipline) helped the rise of capitalism
Bruce – Civil Rights Movement - Religion can act as a force for change when linked with social justice.

Gramsci – Hegemony - Religion can reinforce ruling class ideology, but can also empower resistance.

Maduro – Liberation Theology - In Latin America, priests helped poor people challenge oppression.

SECULARIZATION

Wilson - Religion in Western societies is declining (e.g. low attendance in UK).

Bruce - Sees secularization as a cultural shift; religion losing influence in public and private life.

Heelas – Kendal Project - Found growth in spirituality and holistic movements as traditional religion declined.

Criticism - Some argue secularization is overstated; religion is growing globally (e.g. Pentecostalism, Islam).

GROWTH OF NRMs

Wallis – Types of NRMs

• World-rejecting: strict rules, isolated.

• World-accommodating: coexist with mainstream life.

• World-affirming: promise success, often self-help based.

Stark & Bainbridge – Compensators - NRMs offer rewards (e.g. salvation, healing) people feel they lack in real life.

Sects&cults

Sects - Break away from mainstream religion, often short-lived, led by charismatic leaders (e.g. Jim Jones)

Cults - Loose structure, individualistic, focus on self-improvement or spirituality.

Niebuhr – Sectarian Cycle

• Sects become mainstream, lose fervor, and are replaced by new sects.

Fundamentalism

Giddens Fundamentalism is a reaction to uncertainty in late modernity. Offers security and answers.

Bruce Fundamentalism is stronger where religion is under threat (e.g. minority groups, globalisation pressures).

Ethnicity& religion

Cultural Defense & Identity

• Religion maintains identity and resists oppression among minority groups (e.g. Islam in Britain, black churches in the US).

POSTMODERNISM

Hervieu-Léger – Spiritual Shopping

People pick and mix beliefs based on personal preference.

Davie – Believing Without Belonging

• People maintain religious beliefs without attending institutions.

Helland – Online Religion

• Distinction between religion online (access to info) and online religion (participation in rituals).

FEMINISTS

Armstrong

• Women were central in early religions, but later excluded from leadership as patriarchal interpretations dominated.

El Saadawi

• Religion oppresses women due to patriarchal reinterpretation of religious texts.

Woodhead

• Not all religion is oppressive. Some women use religion to gain status and respect (e.g. wearing hijab as empowerment)

Marxists

Marx

• Religion is the “opium of the masses,” dulling the pain of exploitation and preventing rebellion.

Lenin – Spiritual Gin

• Religion intoxicates people with false consciousness, distracting them from their suffering.

Althusser

• Religion is part of the ideological state apparatus, teaching obedience to the ruling class.