RELIGION IDEOLOGY AND SCIENCE

What is science?

a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of a testable hypothesis and predictions about the world

Why is science used?

to gather knowledge on the world in an organised way by observing phenomona, making predictions and then testing those predictions

What do moderj sociologists see modern science as?

a product of the process of rationalisation that began with the protestant reformation of the 16th century

What view do many secularisation theorists take?

science has undermined religion by changing the eay we look at  and see the world

What is science used for?

medicine, transport, communications, global warming, weaponry

What did popper (1959) create?

the hypothetico deductive model

What did Popper propoe about science as a belief system?

Science is an open belief system where theories are subject to scrutiny and criticism, as science is goverened by falsification these existing theories then change 

What did popper beleive the open belief system allow science to do?

allows scientific understanding to grow and scientific knowledge to be cumulative

What does merton say about science and it’s existence?

it can only thrive as a major social institution if it recieves support from other institutions and values

What are the five features of science?

empirical, testable, theoretical, cumulative, objective

Why can science be seen as a social construct?

a changing belief system, not everyone believes in it, not always been an idea, bias within research, other ways to study science, social influence and judgements

What is an ideology?

a set of beliefs that serves the interests of a dominant group by justifying  their priviliged position

What is an closed belief system?

makes knowledge claims which cannot be disproven

What does objectivity mean?

not affected by the personal feelings and experiences of the researcher, should remian value free and unbiased when conducting their investigations

What is an open belief system?

makes knowledge claims that are open to criticism and can in principle be falsified by testing

What are some examples of an ideology?

patriachy, democracy, dictatorship, socialism, communism and totalitarianism

What are Mullin’s four characteristics of an ideology?

1) power over cognition

2).must be capable of guiding one’s evaluations

3) must provide guidance towards actions

4) must be logically coherent

What is MArx’s interpretation of ideology?

in the marxst base and superstructure model of society, base denotes the relations of production and modes of production and superstructure denotes the dominant ideology that the bourgoisie use to stay in power

What did Althusser draw upon when creating his ISA/RSA ideas?

Marx’s superstructure

What is Marx’s superstructure?

anything not to do with production (maintains and legitimates base)

What is Marx’s base?

all things needed to produce (shapes the superstrucure)

What is Kuhn’s paradigm?

a paradigm is a foundation of a shared belief system

How does Marx propose that communist revolution would occur?

if the proleterait really understood the exploitative nature of capitalism

According to Marx what prevents revolution?

ideology as it is a set of ideas that creates an illusion, causing false or dual class consciousness

What is dual class consciousness?

aware of oppression in a capitalist society but don’t do anything about it and accept it

What is false class consciousness?

being unaware of oppression

What is hegemony?

political or cultural dominance and its acceptance by working class

What are the evaluation points on Marx’s view on ideology?

marxism could be seen as an ideology in communist countries

Popper argues that the marxist view of ideology is impossible to study scientifically as it can’t be falsified. If a worker expressed contedness with their sutuation how could this be seen to be false class consciousness - traditional marxists simply see this as an article of faith

What do Neo-Marxist say in repsonse to the falsification of false class consciousness?

the working class do not know their own mind due to indoctrination, many feminsist take a similar view, but coul be seen as insulting

What idea is Antonio Gramsic develop?

There are lost of different competing sets of ideas in society, sime f which developed in opposition to the upper class in his concpets of hegemony and counter hegemony

Why is it important to define religion?

will decide what should be examined as religious phenomna and what will not be

What are the issues with defining religion?

no longer one definition that sociologists agree on, can make measuring religion and rates of secularisation difficult?

What two ways of definining religion did Bruce come up with?

Functional and Substantive definition

What re the main four definitions of religion?

functional, substantive, polythetic and social constructionist

What is Taylor’s substantive definiton of religion?

belief in spiritual beings

What is Weber’s substantive definiton of religion?

belief in a supernatural power that us unable to be scientifically explained. religion requires a belief in God or gods or other supernatiral beliefs?

What are the criticisms of substantive definitions of religion?

ignoring religious practices, too broad, which beliefs are religious and which are not

What is Durkheim’s substantive definiton of religion?

a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, things set apart and forbidden. Beliefs and practies which unite into one sigle moral community calles a church

What does Durkheim focus on in religion?

focuses on religion as a group activity, certian symbols are given a sacred power, regarded with awe and associated with riuals

What does the functional definition of religion focus on?

states what a religion actaully does, defined in terms of its contribution to society as it is considered a porduct of society

What perspective is the functional defintion of religion assosciate wiith?

functionalism

What does Durkheim’s substantive definition of religion have an elemt of?

functional (it discusses community)

What is Ying’s (1970) definiton of religion?

Religion is a system of beliefs and practices by menas of which a group of people struggle with the ultimate problem of human life

What is the issue with Ying’s definiton?

no mention of supernatural beliefs

What are the advantages of functional definitions of religion?

inclusive (includes a wide range of beliefs and practices that perform fnctions such as intergration) also don’t specify a belief in gods/supernatural so inclusive of non western religions

What are the problems with functional definitions?

Scharf 1970 - too broad - beliefs systems that are specifically anti religious could be included linke interests in football, musi and the lives of celebrities

assume religion plays a useful role in society

What do polythetic definitions of religion discuss?

a number of overlapping factors that most religions share, to qualify as a religion, a set of beliefs needss to exhiit a number of these factors but not necessarily all of them, aviods some of the issues surrounding the struggle to draw a line between religion and non religions

What is Southwold (1978)’s list of things that a relgion may have accoriding to the polythetic definition?

a concern with godlike beings

a concern with the sacred

focus on salvation

rituals and practices

beliefs based on faith

links with a moral community

ethical code

supernatural sanctions

mythology

sacred texts/oral traditions

priests or other religious eiltes

What are the problems with a polythetic definiton?

not clear how many factors are needed, decision of what to include on the lost irself is subjective

What do the social constructionist definitons of religion focus on?

religion is a social construction created by men rather than any spernatural being, interpretivists would argue this is ncontrolled by the individual, marxists the bourgoisie

What does Aldridge 2013 say about social constructionist definitions?

shows that for all of it’s followers, scientology s a religion whereas several govs have denied its legal status as a religion and sought to ban it

What do social constructionists definitons of religion show?

religion can be contested and are influenced by those who have the power to define it

Who puts forward the CUDOS norms?

Merton

What are the CUDOS norms?

Communism, Universalism, Disinteredness, Organised Scepticism

What does Communism mean with the CUDOS norm?

scientific knowledge is not private property, scientists share it so knowledge can grow

What does Universalism mean with the CUDOS norm?

the truth of falsity of scientific knowledge is judged by a universal, objective criteria

What does disinteredness mean with the CUDOS norm?

this means being committed to the discovery of knowledge for its own sake, having to publish their findings makes it harder for scientists to practice fraud

What does Organised Scepticism mean with the CUDOS norm?

no knowledge claim is regarded as ‘sacred’, every idea is open to questioning

Why does Merton argue that science thrives?

as it receives support from other institutions and values

What are the three reasons that Polyani argues are the resits that beliefs are self sustaining?

Circularity, Subsidiary explanations, denial of legitimacy to rivals

What does Polyani mean by circularity and self sustaining beliefs?

each idea in the system is explained in terms of another idea within the system

What does Polyani mean by subsidiary explanations and self sustaining beliefs?

if the oracle fails it may be explained away as due to the incorrect use of the benge

What does Polyani mean by denial of legitimacy to rivals and self sustaining beliefs?

reject alternative worldviews by refusing to grant any legitimacy to their basic assumptions (eg big bang)

What does Evans Pritchard say about the Azande?

closed belief system, and performs social functions

What do the Azande believe?

that witches have a power that ‘heats up’ when they’re angry and to fix this you have to fix the social bond

What dies Karin Knorr-Cetina say about the invention of new scientific instruments?

that due to this it permits scientists to make new observations or ‘fabricate’ new facts

What does Steve Woolgar say about science?

scientists are engaged in the same process of making sense of the world as everyone else, they simply decide what evidence means

What does Leotard say about science?

its a meta-narrative that falsely claims to possess the truth

What does gleaner say about nationalism and modernity?

nationalism is a false consciousness, they are a modern concept and the elites use it to motivate the population to endure

What do functionalists say about nationalism as a civil religion?

it integrates individuals into larger social and political units, like religion would do but in a more modern secular society

How do marxists see nationalism as a false consciousness?

it helps to prevent the overthrow of capitalism by dividing the international working class

What does Mannheim say are the two broad types of belief systems or worldview?

Ideological thought (justifies keeping things as they are) and Utopian thought (justifies social change)

What does Mannheim say about the free-floating intelligentsia?

the solution is to detach from society and become non aligned, thus being above the conflict