Beliefs in society

Modernist Theories of Religion

Religion:

Conservative force: Marxism, Feminism, Functionalism, and interactionalism

Force for social change:

Durkheim- Functionalist

• Believed religion performed an important structural function, binding people together (‘glue’)- known as social integration

• Religion provides a set of moral vales that form a collective conscience, ensuring social stability

• By placing these values in a sacred context, this has increased the likelihood of them being kept

• Religion acts as an agent of secondary socialisation

Durkheim studied Totemism amongst the Australian Aborigines, he believed it the most basic form of religion

Totems are a group’s symbol, such as an animal or plant, which were seen as having magical qualities (spirits)- the rituals/practices were COLLECTIVE, they helped reaffirm group identity

• all religions divide the human experience into the sacred and profane

  • Sacred: symbols and ceremonies with holy meaning (inspires awe)

  • Profane: mundane, everyday life

• Sacred things, people and objects set apart from every day life- access to them is restricted

Durkheim argued in undertaking the collective ritual they were worshiping the clan itself, their society creating social solidarity

• shared religious rituals: reinforce collective conscience and maintain social integration, therefore preventing any damage from rapid social change

• Religion also aids our ability to think and reason conceptually- holy books and sacred texts as a shared resource

Criticisms of Durkheim

• ideas based on small scale society do not translate to multi-faith/big societies, conflict between religions not taken into account

• Postmodernists would argue, ideas not applicable today, increasing diversity/fragmentation, no longer a shared, single value system

Malinowski and Religion

• Death and times of crisis are the main drivers of religion- funerals, births, marriages- religion for explanations to big questions and social solidarity

• Studied Trobriand Islanders who engage in fishing

  • Ocean- uncertain and dangerous, risk of death- they took part in engage rituals before going out onto ocean water

• Religion performs psychological functions- dealing with emotional stress/uncertain situations

Parsons and religion

• he agreed that one of the functions of religion was to deal with unforeseen events and outcomes

Identified 2 other key functions:

creating and legitimising society’s values; providing primary source of meaning

• Religion provides stability in times of adversity (maintaining the stability of society’s values),

• Religion provides an answer to what seemingly has no answer- the big questions

Bellah and Civil religion

Robert Bellah neo-functionalist

looking at big societies; how religion can unify a multi-faith society like the US or UK

CIVIL RELIGION- worshiping the state/society

• royal family weddings UK

• Pledge of allegiance in schools US

• National anthem

• Symbols and memorials of past presidents: The Lincoln Memorial

However this idea comes in to conflict with Substantive definition of religion which requires a belief in the supernatural

Marx and Religion

Merx saw religion as apart of the dominant ideology;

• Reproduces and reinforces false class consciousness of the working class

Religion acts as the ‘Opium of the people’, cushioning the pain of oppression and exploitation in unequal societies

It legitimised as maintained the power of the ruling class

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Eases the pain of oppression:

• promises an eventual escape from suffering and oppression; in an afterlife

• Religion offers hope sometimes of supernatural intervention to solve problems on earth, provides hope

• gives justification for inequality

• creates hierarchies, so they seem normal in society

Marx and religion, 2

Traditional Marxists see religion as an instrument of social control and oppression, used by the ruling class to justify their power and material wealth

• inequalities of wealth, income and power are presented as God-given and therefore legitimized and inevitable

• The inequalities between rich and poor cant be challenged or changed without questioning the authority of religion and God

Althusser and Religion- neo-marxist

The ideological state apparatus- maintain rule by controlling peoples ideas, values and beliefs- done through religion

• Reproducing class inequality- transmitting religious and ruling class ideologies, same stories told about religion through generations

• Legitimises class inequality- great chain of being- connection to God but through hierarchy, disguises capitalist exploitation; persuading workers to accept exploitation and to know their place

Criticisms of Marxist perspective

• fails to consider secularisation

• Ignores positive functions of religion

• religious movements that have brought about change, against ruling elites

• Some Neo Marxists acknowledge that sometimes religion can breakaway from Bourgeoise control and work in favour of the workers, the ‘dual character of religion’

Feminist concerns with religion

• many feminists regard religion as a patriarchal institution that reflects and perpetuates inequality, Males at the top of religious hierarchies

• Religious beliefs function as a patriarchal ideology that legitimates female subordination

Feminist concerns with Religion

• almost all world religions, the gods are males

• sacred texts overwhelmingly concern males and male activity- Adam given stewardship of earth, women come as a secondary aid, from Adam’s rib

• Two central women in bible: Mary Magdalene and Virgin Mary 5virgin and whore)

Feminist concerns with Religion 2

• Majority of religious professionals in all major religions are male

  • women cannot be priests in Catholicism

• Women despite making up the majority of religious devotees are given a secondary role in worship, for example Jewish girls cannot read from the Torah

• In many religions women are limited- In Orthodox Judaism women often have to sit away from men behind screens when worshiping

• Historically in Christianity women were their husbands property

Feminist concerns with religion 3

• In some versions of Islam the male may take up to 4 wives

• In Iran, women can be flogged for dress-code violations or stoned for adultery

Not always the case however:

• Roman, Greek and pagan goddesses highly important

• Women taking up leading roles in Pentecostal movement

De Beauvoir

• Religion is used to control women;

• It claims to compensate women for their lower status by them gaining equality in heaven

• This is a type of ‘false class conciousness’

El Sadaawi

• Women are sometimes oppressed in Arab states through male misinterpretations of the Qur’an which are used to exploit women (FGM etc)

• However she says some aspects of Islam are liberating (eg: women keep their own surname when they get married)

Woodhead and Religion

• Not all religion is patriarchal

• Religious forms of feminism- ways women use religion to gain respect

• In West hijab viewed as a symbol of oppression- Woodhead argues a form of resistance to oppression: a chance to avoid the male gaze

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• women may use religion to gain status for their role in the home and the family (eg: strong evangelical belief in men respecting women’s role in home)

• Rise of female priests and now bishops in the Church of England, Reform Judaism and Sikhism where omen can take the lead roles

Modernist Theories of Religion (Interactionalism, Weberian)

• Interactionalists look at the way religion is used by followers to create meanings and interpretations of the world- however they still see religion as a conservative force

• Interactionalists look at sacred symbols and their meanings to people’ Shroud of Turin- burial shroud of Christ- takes on a different meaning for these individuals

Berger and religion

Berger argues religion provides a ‘universe of meaning’- a set of beliefs and values that helps people make sense of the world

Religion provides a ‘theodicy- a religious framework that enables people to make sense of inexplicable and fundamental questions about human existence

• Religion is a ‘sacred canopy’ providing a shield from the difficult aspects of life

Therefore religion contributes to the maintenance of social stability- it is a conservative force

Stark and Bainbridge

Religion acts as a ‘compensator’- providing us with hope and compensating for life’s difficulties

Weber and religion

• Religion does not always act as a conservative force, it can be a force for social change

• Weber believed that European capitalism was created by a form of Protestant Christianity- Calvinism

• He wrote a book that was concerned with how Protestant thought underpinned Capitalism;

• Calvinists encouraged and prioritised hard work whilst renouncing physical pleasures and comfort

• They earned money, re-invested their profits and thus kick started capitalism- a major social change

Weber Ideas

Calvinist beliefs:

• predestination- the ‘elect’, saved souls determined by God before birth

• Salvation panic- Humans couldn’t know God’s will as he was so great- wealth allowed them to believe that their predestination was good

• Asceticism: self discipline and self denial

Reinvesting- spirit of of modern capitalism

Criticism

• Marxists state that capitalism preceded Calvinism, as well Weber underestimates economic factors that created capitalism

• Weber doesn’t account for technological change in capitalisms creation, Calvinist beliefs adopted by Bourgeoise after establishment of capitalism

• Capitalism did not develop in every country where there was Calvinism- Scotland

Secularisation

Wilson: ‘The process whereby religious thinking, practice and institutions lose social significance’

A decline in religious practice:

• 1851 Census of religious worhsip: estimated 40 percent of adult population attended C of E services on Sundays

• 2018: less than 2 percent

People no longer believe:

• 52 percent identify as having no religion in 2018

  compared to 31 percent in 1983

Structural differentiation

Parsons posits that structural differentiation has played a role in secularisation:

• specialization brought about by industrialisation- church and religion losing its significance as a socialising institution, people no longer engaging with on a daily basis

• led to privatisation of religion- worship in private at home

Internal secularisation in Churches in the west

• watering down beliefs to appeal to more people and survive in society, religious institutions have been forced to move away from traditional doctrines and concerns with supernatural

• Herberg ‘secularisation from within’- acceptance of cohabitation, divorce, ordination of women etc

• Bruce: there is not one main body of shared religious belief/church

• religious pluralisim sees a fragmentation, religious beliefs competeting against pluralism

Weber: rationalisation- rational belief replacing religious ones

Bruce- technological world view- seeking scientific and technological explanations

collectivism to individualism, rural replaced by urban

Secularisation: arguments against

Davie- postmodernist: believing without belonging, religion become more privatised- church seen previously as an obligation- people engaging in religious in only times of needs, such as rites of passage- baptism

British attitudes survey suggest attendance and belief in God are declining (Voas and Crockett)

Bruce- lack of attendance shows belief is declining

Hervieu- Leger

Spiritual shopping- in the west, religion not handed down generation by generation, children decide for themselves

• young people no longer having gender imposed upon them

• choice as consumers of religion

Jesus in Disneyland- Lyons

spiritual shoppers

showed how denominations attempt to attract customers by holding services in unusual places such as theme parks

religions de-institutionalized, eg televangelism

pick n mix identities

Lyon

• people will persue the new age

Holistic milieu

• cults: scientology

Existential security theory- Norris and Inglehart

Religion meets the needs of security:

Poor societies- life threatening risks- low levels of security leads to high levels religiosity

Rich societies- high standards of living, less risk- greater sense of security and therefore low levels of religiosity

Welfare state- Uk/europe

Dog eat dog society- US

Science, religion and ideology

Closed belief system- knowledge claims that cannot be disproved- science religion?

Open belief system- open to scrutiny, criticism, falsification and testing by others

Science generally seen as an open belief system- Merton- Puritans believe understanding the natural world would lead to more appreciation of the beauty of God and his work

Science as a closed system- rejects fundamental challenges to knowledge change- eg gravity, pre-existing frame work- Kuhn- paradigms guide scientists

Interpretivists- all knowledge including scientific knowledge is socially constructed

• laboratories highly constructed, far removed from natural world

Scientific knowledge

• Marxism- Scientific knowledge is not the pure truth- serves the interests of bourgeoise, its an ideology

• Feminism- not pure truth, serves interests of men, justifying male domination through advances

• Postmodernism- science is a metanarrative

Religion

closed belief system- divine truth, monopoly of truth, conservative beliefs resistant to social change

Polanyi- Denial of legitimacy, rejecting principles of rivals

Mannheim

• argues that we need to detach subjectivity from these world views and instead create an objective world view that every individual can subscribe and relate to

• ideologies are a product of intellectuals who reflect their own personal interests, they cannot relate to the masses

Gender and religiosity

• Davie: most churchgoers are female- have a stronger connection to religion

  Socialisation- women are socialised to be passive, obedient and caring- qualities most valued by religions

• Greeley- women’s role in taking care of other family members increases their religiosity because it involves responsibility in ultimate welfare- connection between woman’s role and God’s role to care

• women in nuclear families have more time to participate in religion

• Bruce: paid work, and women being in the private sphere outside of this

Gender and Religiosity pt 2

The feminisation of religion

Woodhead: the introduction of female priests to the church of England, church becoming a feminised space

eval: most major world religions don’t include women in higher roles

Women and the new age

Davie: women closer to life and death, caring for the elderly and childbirth

• Women tend to see a God of love and forgiveness

Role conflict- women in paid work

Woodhead suggest new age beliefs are attractive as they appeal to the third sphere, of individual autonomy and personal growth- instrumentaland expressive, creating the whole self through New age, autonomy

eval:

Religious fundamentalism: creates certainty and structure within women’s gender role

Class and gender

Working class- fatalistic ideas more attractive, and what gives them a passive role

Middle class women- personal autonomy desired

Weber- theodicy of deprivileges- women more likely to experience marginalization and poverty, and the role of patriarchy that devalues women- religious explanation for suffering

Ethnicity and Religiosity

Brierley- found Black people are twice as likely to attend church as whites

Modood et al- Afro- Caribbeans more likely to be apart of sects

Bruce- religion offers support and a sense of cultural identity in an uncertain or hostile environment

Bird- religion a basis for social solidarity for ethnic minorities

Social Class and age

• over 60 percent of church attenders regularly were middle class

• The hindu caste system- ascribes status from karma, having a higher position in next life through good karma

Voas and Crocket- The aging effect

• fear of death, insurance policy, getting good with God

• Generational, religion held more importance for their socialisation

• Sunday schools disappearing

Lyotard pick and mix- religion as a metanarrative- young people decline of religion