Topic 2 - Religion as a force for social change

How can religion be seen as a conservative force?

• Upholding traditional beliefs about how society should be organised

• Conserve/ maintains the status quo and stabilises society

Conservative force: Functionalist

• Religion helps to maintain consensus and social stability, prevents society from disintegrating

• Promotes social solidarity by maintaining consensus

Conservative force: Marxism

• Religion maintains capitalism and the power of the bourgeoisie

• Legitimating and disguising class inequalities, creating a false class consciousness as they are all seen as equal under the eyes of God

• This prevents revolution and maintains stability of capitalist society

Conservative force: Feminists

• Religion legitimates and reproduces patriarchal power and the subordination of women in the family and wider society

Sociologist: Calvinism helped to bring about major social change

Weber

3 Calvinist beliefs

• Predestination - God has predetermined the ‘elect’, individuals cannot do anything to change this

• Divine transcendence - No human can claim to know Gods will, this created a salvation panic

• Asceticism - refers to abstinence and self discipline, refraining from luxury, avoid excess to devote themselves to God

How did Calvinist beliefs bring about modern day capitalism

• Asceticism meant constant methodical work, shunning all luxury.

• This means that they accumulated wealth in the most efficient and rational ways possible and took this as a sign and a psychological function of a way to cope with the salvation panic.

• The accumulated wealth was reinvested into businesses and grew wealthier and wealthier and brought about the spirit of modern day capitalism.

Weber: Societies that have high levels of economic development but still failed to develop modern capitalism

• Hinduism (India) - Was also an ascetic religion but it was other-worldly, meaning that it directed followers away from material world and towards spiritual world, therefore no capitalism.

• Confucianism (China) - It was this-worldly as it directed followers towards material world but was not ascetic, lacked drive for accumulated wealth.

Eval to Webers Calvinism

• Kautsky - Capitalism already existed prior to Calvinism, the only purpose of Calvinism was to justify the reason as to why the ruling class controlled the means of production and continued the myth of inequality.

Sociologist: Interested in the relationship between religion and social change

Bruce, looks at American civil rights movement and the New Christian right.

Role the church played in the ACR

• Civil rights movement started 1955 -1964 when segregation was outlawed

• Bruce describes the black clergy as the backbone of the movement as they provided support to the activists.

• Church provided a meeting place and sanctuary from threat of white violence, Hymns and rituals provided source of unity from oppression.

How did religion promote social change in the ACR

• Black clergy was able to shame white people into shaming White to change their laws due to the shared Christian values of equality.

• Ideological resource, as it provided beliefs and practice that protestors can draw on for motivation and support.

How religious organisations are equipped to contribute to social change.

• Taking the moral high ground - e.g. Black clergy pointed out the hypocrisy of white such as ‘love thy neighbour’

• Channeling dissent - through political dissent, e.g. funeral of MLK was a rallying point for the ACR

• Honest broker - churches are respected from both sides in a conflict

• Mobilising public opinion - Black churches in the south successfully campaigned for support across the whole of America

Bruce view on why the ACR movement brought about change.

• Achieved aim as it shared the same values as wider society and those in power.

• By shaming those in wider power to practice the principle of equality embodied in the American Constitution.

What is the New Christian Right

• Conservative, Protestant fundamentalist movement since the 1960s, opposing the liberation of American society

• Aims to take America ‘Back to God’, e.g. making homosexuality, abortion, gay marriage illegal, turning back the times to before the liberalisation of America.

• Believe strongly in the traditional gender roles, NR/ Functionalism

How did religion promote social change in the NCR

• Campaigned for the teaching of ‘creationism’, the bible account of creationism is true and to ban sex education in schools.

• Used church owned media, networking (televangelism) to raise funds and broadcast aimed to making converts and new members

• Right-wing Christian pressure groups have campaigned for strengthening links with Republican Party.

Why was the NCR movement unsuccessful

• difficult to cooperate with people on other religious groups, even when campaigning on the same issue

• Lacks widespread support and met. With strong opposition groups who stand for freedom of choice

• Failed due to values of most American societies, the belief in the separation of the church and then state, do not support theocracy (ruled by a religious leader)

• For the movement to be successful the beliefs and demands of the group need to be similar in wider society

What does Engels argue about religion and change

• Marxist

• Religion inhibits change by disguising inequality, also challenges status quo and encourages social change seen in historical context

Who argued the principle of home

• Bloch

• He recognises both the positive and negative influence from religion on social change

• Religion shows hope for a better future, a utopia promised of rewards in heaven, this helps people see what needs to be changed in this world.

• If combined with political organisation and leadership it can bring about social change

Where did the liberation theology emerge from

• Catholic Church in Latin America

• Emerged due to violation of human rights and commitment of the catholic priests to an ideology that supported the poor and opposed violations of human rights

How did the liberation theology promote social change

• Priests helped the poor to establish support groups called ‘base communities’ which helped fight oppression under protection from the church

• Priests lead developing literacy programmes, educating the poor about their situation

Why did the liberation theology loose influence

1980’s Pope John Paul II condemned liberation theology on the grounds that it was too similar to Marxism.

Sociologist: importance of Libration theology

• Casanova

• Important part in reducing state terror and helped bring about democracy

Neo-Marxist view + sociologist on the impact liberation theology has on the type of force religion is

• Neo-Marxist question the view that religion is a conservative force

• Maduro - religion can help bring about social change, seen through libration theology how the catholic clergy defended the peasants and poor, serving the poor was part of their Christian duty.

• Löwy - questions the view that religion legitimates inequality

• Depends how social change is defined because it helped to bring about democracy but did not threaten the stability of capitalism

How is liberation theology different from the Pentecostal challenge

• Liberation theology offers an ‘option for the poor’ through community conscious raising

• Pentecostalism offers a ‘option for the poor’ to pull themselves out of poverty, this solution is conservative through self improvement and the private sphere of the family and church.

What are millenarian movements

• ‘Millennium’ meaning thousands of years

• Christian theology - idea that Christ would come into the world and rule for a thousand years before the day of judgement.

Sociologist: what will this movement expect

• Worsley - it will bring the immense transformation of this world by supernatural means, a life free from pain, death, corruption and sin

• Transformation will be collective, a group will be saved not just individuals

Why was the millenarian movement appealing

• Appealed to the poor, promised immediate improvement

Worsley study in western pacific

• The islanders felt wrongfully deprived when ‘cargo’ came for the colonist

• The unjust social order was about to be overturned, these movements led to widespread unrest that threatened colonial rule

• Used religious ideas to imagine a better future and inspire political and social action

Who argues religion and hegemony

• Gramsci

What was Gramsci argument

• interested about how ruling class maintained the control over society

• Uses the idea of hegemony meaning ideological domination to show how they maintained control

• When hegemony is established ruling class can rely on popular consent to their rule and their is less need for coercion

Eval to Gramsci argument (Sociologist)

• Hegemony is not always guaranteed

• Engles - In some circumstances it can challenge as well as support the UC, religion can help workers see through the ruling-class hegemony and fear better world.

• E.g. ‘organic intellectuals’ can help workers see the situation they are in and support WC organisations like trade unions.

Application of Gramsic’s argument

• Billings - compared class struggle in two communities

• Coal miners and textile workers in Kentucky

• Both were WC evangelical Protestants, but the miners were militant, while the textile workers accepted the status quo

How did religion support or challenge workers hegemony

• Leadership - miners benefited leadership from ‘organic intellectuals’ to help convert the miners to union causes, textile workers lacked this leadership

• Organisations - the miners were able to use independent churches to hold meetings, textile workers lacked this space

• Support - churches kept moral high, textile worker met with opposition from local church leaders

• Religion can defend the status quo or justify struggle to change it