beliefs

two definitions of beliefs

substantive definition - defines beliefs in terms of them being true or false

functional definition - defines beliefs in terms of the role and function they have in society

psychological function of beliefs

religion or beliefs serve the role of helping us cope with dangerous or scary situations (existential security)

Malinowski - Functionalist

Trobriand islanders fished in either the open sea or lagoons. when they fished in open sea they used canoe magic because it was more dangerous so they used religion as a comfort. In the lagoon they did not use canoe magic because it was safer. open sea had a high yield of fish whereas the lagoon had a low yield. Malinowski said they were using canoe magic as a psychological comforter to make them feel safe in danger.

Durkheim - Functionalism

• religion creates social solidarity through value consensus

• studied a tribal religion of the Arunta tribe

• he saw value consensus in totems

• carved animals in wooden totems and the community worshipped them and valued the characteristics represented by the animals

the scared and profane (Durkheim)

• all objects, ideas, and values were separated into either the scared or the profane

• profane is ordinary, everyday and forgettable

• sacred is special, significant, taboo and revered

• the totems displayed the sacred ideas. worshipping the totem was worshipping the society

the collective conscience (Durkheim)

• the ritual actions of the society created a collective conscience where right and wrong were understood not individually but collectively across society

Karl Marx view on religion

• described religion as ‘the opiate of the masses’ which means religion is a painkiller

• religion pacifies the w/c so they do not complain about exploitation which allows it to continue without uprising

• religion is a false spiritual compensator - reward for unfair treatment

• the compensation is the afterlife, however this is a false compensator so there is no heaven (according to Marx) and we are just being fooled into staying positive

• Lenin described religion as ‘spiritual gin’ as we get drunk on religion and therefore are easy to exploit

the flowers in the chains

Marx describes religion as the flowers in the chains. we are distracted by religion so we do not notice we are being exploited. the buildings, their decorations, music etc would all help to distract. society was not pleasant at this time, sewage in the streets, disease and poverty meant that when people entered church they would be amazed and in awe of the incense and songs

legitimise inequality

• makes society seem fair

• god made people poor for a reason and so they should accept their position

• in the Caste system in India, karma is built as credit or debit. you are then rewarded or punished in the next life.

• therefore your social situation is fair, as you deserve your position so therefore don’t complain and stay positive

alienation

• to be alienated is to not belong

• alienated from the product because work is repetitive, hard, and we do not see the reward but we are compensated with the promise of religion and so we continue to work and be exploited

feminism and beliefs

feminists argue that religion is patriarchal and that it legitimises and supports patriarchy by:

• women cannot have many roles in leadership, e.g. pope is male, leader in Islam and Judaism are always male

• women are not able to attend services in Islam or Judaism while on their period

• religious buildings often favour men e.g. separate prayer rooms in Islamic Mosques

• different cultural expectations e.g. Islamic headdress

• different religious laws e.g. ability to request divorce

conservative vs radical force

conservative force - something that keeps society the same. e.g. Marxism, functionalism, feminism

radical force - something that changes society. e.g. neo-Marxism, Max Weber

Max Weber - religion as a radical force 1. vocation

all work is a calling from god, this meant that people worked harder and made a bit more money 

2. ascetism 

to live a humble and non-lavish lifestyle. this meant that protestants didn’t spend their additional money 

3. predestination 

the fate of your soul is known before birth. logically this would mean that people could act however they wished and it wouldn’t make any difference. however this isn’t what happened. instead people wanted to believe they were chosen for heaven, and so, they generally acted well in hope this showed they deserved salvation 

the protestant work ethic

all these factors combined to create the protestant work ethic. this created an environment where people earned a bit more but did not spend it. they put their money in banks. banks could then lend that money, which they did to people who wanted to develop new ideas. these new ideas created the Industrial Revolution which changed society. therefore, religion is a radical force. 

neo-marxism religion is radical. 1. dual character of religion 

normally conservative force but can be a radical force

2. Billings 

• Billings studied a community with both coal miners and textile workers. both groups were demographically similar

• Billings discovered that the coal miners were paid considerably more because they had ‘lay preachers’ as part of their workforce, and the textile workers did not

• laity - people in the congregation, not the clergy. a ‘lay preacher’ is someone from the laity that helps work in the church. they are not paid but they have a role in the church. often leading the service if clergy are absent. 

• the lay preachers in the coal mining communities had status, this meant they could negotiate more pay and better conditions on behalf of the workers. the textile workers had no representation and so got paid less. therefore it was religion that could positively change society. hence radical force.

3. Ernst Bloch

• principle of hope

• in the right circumstances, religion can inspire change because it provides hope

• it can provide hope because it provides a utopia (perfect society)

• e.g. Martin Luther King Jr in his ‘I have a dream’ speech which evoked religion as a means to unify people behind a vision of hope for a future without racism

Secularisation

• The declining influence of religion in society

• The decline of beliefs, practices, and institutions

Evidence for secularisation

• church attendance has fallen from 40% of adults in 1851 to 4% in 2020

• Since 1983 adults with no religion has risen from 1/3 to over a ½

• The number of clergy has fallen from 45,000 in 1900 to 34,000 in 2000

• Although these statistics provide evidence for secularisation they may be exaggerated because it doesn’t give a clear definition of how often you need to be going, it doesn’t include other places of worship and social desirability bias means people may have lied

Explanations for secularisation 1. Rationalisation - Weber

• the idea that society no longer uses religion to explain the world around us, so religion has become less important

• The enlightenment led to a period of disenchantment. This is when we stopped understanding the world as being enchanted but instead as something we could understand. E.g gravity or evolution

• We have developed a technological or scientific worldview rather than a religious worldview

2. Structural differentiation

• all shops were specialist institutions where the focus was on one thing

• This has been replaced by generalised institutions where the focus is on providing a broad range of services

• Parsons argued that for religion, the opposite has happened. We have gone from a generalised institution to specialised ones

• E.g. education to government, help for the poor and homeless to governments or charities

3. social and cultural diversity - Wilson

• pre-industrial society mostly consisted of communities with strong bonds between them. which were often rural farming communities. religion was at the heart of these communities and was a collective experience.

• during the Industrial Revolution there was significant rural to urban migration as workers moved to the cities to take up new jobs in factories/mills etc.

• however this created large, impersonal, loose-knit centres with diverse beliefs and values. religion was part of an older way of life and was abandoned by many

religious diversity - Berger

• in the Middle Ages the Catholic Church has a monopoly (it was the only belief system and had no challenger) this meant that virtually everyone was a follower and did not question their beliefs. however with increasing diversity first caused by the protestant reformation and then by increase migration and globalisation, people encountered new ideas that challenged their own. this challenged their plausibility structures which is a set of beliefs that combine to make us believe something. Berger argued that people lost their belief which led to secularisation.

arguments against secularisation 1. Grace Davie

• people may not feel the need to belong (attend) a religious service. they can believe without doing so, for example they may pray at home.

• religion has moved from the public sphere to the private sphere. this is because it is now a choice if people wish to attend or not, whereas before it was expected

• Davie claims there is a trend towards vicarious religion where we are happy for a small group of people to undertake religion on our behalf

• spiritual health service - religion has become something people want when they need it e.g. weddings, funerals. however people do not feel the need to attend regularly

2. Danielle Hervieu-Leger - spiritual shopping

• we have forgotten our culture of religious traditions, Hervieu-Leger calls this cultural amnesia

• we are like spiritual shopper who are consumers - this is individualism we can do it ourselves and pick the religious ideas that appeal to us while ignoring traditional religious institutions.

3. Lyon - postmodernism - jésus in Disneyland

• traditional religion has declined but the ideas have been disembodied and relocated into new forms and media. in these new forms they are more popular and easier to consume. 

4. self religion and the new age 

• the new age is a new type of religious beliefs

• rejects any religious authority and is instead deeply personal

• it is about individual choice and often happens within the home

• e.g. crystals, tarot cards and zodiac signs

2 types of religion

1. Congregational domain - traditional religion where people gather together publicly

2. holistic milieu - the meeting place of new ideas self-spiritually and the new age (often private and personal)

weaknesses of the new age

1. socialisation - new age beliefs are not passed down from one generation to another so likely won’t grow

2. weak commitment - rare for the new age to be a significant part of the life of a participant so low impact

3. structural weaknesses - as it is so individual it lacks cohesion or a structure to grow around as each person is free to do and believe as they wish

4. scale - even if the new age is growing it is still far to small to replace the congregational domain entirely. (7.6% CD, 1.6% HM)