Beliefs in Society Full Revision

Types of religious definitions:

• Substantive

• Functional

• Constructionist

Substantive definitions of religion:

• Focus on the content of religious belief - Belief in the supernatural, holy texts, etc.

• Conform to the view that religion is a belief in God

• Exclusive

Functional definitions of religion:

• What does religion do for individuals and society?

• Doesn't conform to the view that religion is a belief in God

• Inclusive

Constructionist definitions of religion:

• Interpretivist approach

• How do individuals define religion?

• Interested in how definitions of religion are created, changed and fought over

• Don't conform to the view that religion is a belief in God

• Inclusive

Durkheim on religion:

• Society is a system of interrelated parts

• Society has needs which are met by different institutions - Religion,
  media etc

The sacred and the profane:

• Sacred - Things that are set apart, are surrounded by prohibitions and taboos and create feelings of awe

• Profane - Things that are mundane and ordinary

• The powerful feelings evoked by the sacred implies that it represents something of great power - Society

Totemism:

• Believed that the essence of religion could be discovered by studying it in its simplest form in the simplest society

• The Arunta rituals around the Totem reinforce the group solidarity

• The totem represents the power of the society that the individuals rely on

The collective conscience:

• Sacred symbols represent society's collective conscience

• Rituals reinforce this and maintain integration

• Rituals bind people together, reminding them that they are part of something bigger

Cognitive functions of religion:

• Religion is the source of our ability to reason and think conceptually

• Religion is the origin of shared categories - space, time, etc. - that allow us to think and share ideas

• The splitting of clans gave the first ideas of classification

Criticisms of Durkheim:

• Worsley: There isn't a clear division between the sacred and profane

• Explains integration within communities but not the conflict between
  them

• Postmodernists: Increasing diversity as fractured the collective
  conscience

Psychological functions: Malinowski:

• Religion provides psychological functions that promotes social solidarity

• Helps individuals cope with stress that could undermine solidarity

• Studied the Trobriand Islanders

• Where the outcome is uncertain:

  • Fishing in the Lagoon: No rituals as outcome is certain, andthe situation is safe

  • Fishing in the Ocean: Rituals as outcome is uncertain, and the situation is dangerous

  • Religion bridges the gap between the controllable and uncontrollable

• At times of life crises

  • Events such as birth and death can cause disruptive changes in social groups

  • Religion brings people together and explains why these happen

Parsons: Values and meaning:

• Religion helps people cope with uncertainty

• Creates and legitimates society's values: Religion sacralises values, thus promoting solidarity

• Provides a source of meaning: Religion answers unanswerable questions, helping people to adjust

Civil religion: Bellah:

• A belief system that attaches sacred qualities to society

• Integrates society in a way that individual religion can't

• Involves loyalty to the nation state and a belief in God = being a true
  American

Functional alternatives:

• Non-religious beliefs and practices that perform the same functions as religion - communism, Nazism

• Ignores what makes religion distinct

Evaluation of functionalism:

• Emphasises the social nature of religion

• Ignores religion as a source of conflict and oppression

• Is civil religion really a religion?

Marxism:

• Society is split into 2 classes: the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat

• Religion is a feature of a divided society and wouldn't be needed in a communist society

Religion as ideology:

• Religion distorts perceptions of reality to benefit the ruling class

• The class that controls the economic base also controls the production and distribution of ideas

• Religion used as a weapon to justify inequality and suffering

• Creates a false consciousness - A distorted view of reality so as to prevent revolution

• Lenin: 'Religion is a spiritual Gin, creating a mystical fog'

• Makes the ruling class's position appear divinely ordained

Religion and alienation:

• Religion is a product of alienation

• Workers are alienated because they have no freedom to express their
  true nature

• Marx: 'Religion is the opium of the people, dulling their pain'

Evaluation of Marxism:

• Shows how religion may be a tool for oppression

• Ignores the positive aspects of religion

• Althusser: The concept of alienation is unscientific

• Neo-Marxists: Some religion helps to promote social change

Feminist theories of religion:

• Armstrong / Holm - Society is patriarchal

Evidence of patriarchy:

• Religious organisations: Mainly male-dominated despite higher rates ot female participation

• Places of worship: Often segregate the sexes. Women's participation may be restricted

• Sacred texts: Largely feature male gods, female stereotypes and are largely interpreted and written by men

• Religious laws and customs: Women may have fewer rights. Religious influence on culture may lead to unequal treatment.

Religious forms of feminism: Woodhead:

• Patriarchy may not be true for all religions

• Argues that the Hijab is liberating for women

• Colombia - Pentecostal groups are empowering for women

• Rinaldo - Piety Movements - Conservative and teach traditional ideas about women's dress, role and religiosity. Often supported by middle-class women with access to resources

Religion as a conservative force:

• Religion is traditional, upholding traditional beliefs about society

• Functions to conserve things as they are

Religion's beliefs:

• Many religions oppose changes that would allow more freedom

• Catholic Church: Opposes divorce, abortion and gay marriage.
  Upholds family values, favouring the nuclear family

Religion's functions:

• Functionalists: Religion and consensus: Religion maintains social stability

• Marxism: Religion and capitalism: Religion prevents social change by justifying exploitation

• Feminists: Religion and Patriarchy: Religion is an ideology that legitimises patriarchy

Weber: Religion as a force for change:

• Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism

• Calvinist beliefs were the beginning of modern capitalism

Calvinist beliefs:

• Pre-destination: God had decided who the elect would be, and nothing could change that fate

• Divine Transcendence: No one could claim to know the will of God, which caused Calvinists to feel an inner loneliness, which combined with predestination, caused a salvation panic

• This worldly Asceticism: Abstaining from luxury, denial whilst still being part of society

• Calling: Combined with the concept of Asceticism. Calvinists worked hard (wealth was a sign of being the elect), but any wealth made was put back into the businesses

Hinduism and Confucianism:

• Capitalism didn't take off in India and China because they lacked a belief like Calvinism

• Hinduism

  • Ascetic

  • Otherworldly: Followers’ focus was on the spiritual world, removed from mainstream society

• Confucianism

  • This worldly: Part of mainstream society

  • Not ascetic

Evaluation:

• Marxism: Overestimates the role of ideas and underestimates
  economic factors

• Tawney: Technological changes caused capitalism

• Capitalism didn't occur in every country where there was Calvinism

The American Civil Rights Movement: Bruce:

• Churches provided sanctuary and support

• Rituals and prayer unites members

• Ideological resource: Provided beliefs and practices that protestors could use as support

• Taking the moral high ground: Pointed out the hypocrisy of the white clergy preaching 'Love thy neighbour'

• Channelling dissent: Religion provides channels for expressing political dissent

• Acting as the honest broker: Provide a context for negotiation as both sides often respect churches

• Mobilising public opinion: Campaign for support across the whole country

The New Christian Right: Bruce:

• Protestant fundamentalist

• Seek to take the USA back to god - divorce, homosexuality and abortion illegal

• Believes in the nuclear family

• Why has it been unsuccessful?

• Moral Majority = 15%

• Found it hard to work with other issues over the same issues

• Strong opposition

• Comparison to American civil rights - to be successful, beliefs have to be in line with the majority of society

Marxism, religion and change:

• Relative autonomy - independence from the economic base

• Religion can have a dual character, prompting change as well as stability

• Marx: 'The soul of the soulless' and 'The heart of the heartless world'

• Engels: Religion inhibits change by disguising inequality, but it can also challenge the status quo

• Bloch: The principle of hope

  • Religion may inspire protest and revolution

  • Religion is an expression of the principle of hope, which shows images of Utopia

  • Utopian images show what needs changing

Liberation theology:

• Emerged in the Latin American Catholic church

• Commitment to the poor and opposition to dictators

• Due to increased poverty and human rights abuses

• Praxis: Practical action guided by theory

• Condemned by Pope John Paul II for being too Marxist

• Church continues to defend democracy

• Maduro: An example of religiously inspired social change

The Pentecostal challenge:

• Lehmann explains why Pentecostalism is now more popular among the poor in Latin America

• Liberation theology: offers an option for the poor

• Led by priests and nuns

• Radical solution to poverty - huge collective changes

• Pentecostalism: offers an option for the poor

• Led by the people themselves

• Conservative solution to poverty - individual self-improvement in private

Millenarian movements:

• Believe that Christ will rule for 1000 years before the earth is changed into heaven for the group

• Appeals to the poor because of the promise of immediate improvement

• Worsley: Cargo cult felt deprived when cargo arrived for the colonists, believed it was for them, but had been redirected

• Worsley: The group was pre-political

• Engels: Represent the first awakening of the proletariat's self-consciousness

Gramsci: religion and hegemony:

• Hegemony: Ideological domination

• Counter-Hegemony: An alternative image that the proletariat may develop

• Religion's dual character: Religion' ability to uphold and support the bourgeoisie

• Organic intellectuals: Clergy members acting as educators, leaders and organisers

Religion and class conflict:

• Billings - coal miners vs textile workers study

• Religion can play a prominent oppositional role

• Can be called upon to defend the status quo or justify the struggle to change it.

  • Leadership

  • Organisation

  • Support

Secularisation in Britain:

• 1851 census: over 40% attended church

• Some see the 19th Century as the golden age of religion

• Attendance in church has declined

• The average age of attendees has increased

• Greater religious diversity

• Wilson

  • Secularisation: The process whereby religious beliefs, institutions and practices have lost social influence

  • Western societies have been undergoing long-term secularisation

Church attendance today:

• 5% attendance

• A very small proportion of children attend Sunday school

Religious affiliation today:

• Between 1983 and 2014, the percentage of adults with no religion rose from 1/3 to ½

• Those identifying as Christian fell by 1/3

• Anglicans more than halved

• Catholics increased slightly (due to immigration from Eastern Europe)

• Islam and other non-Christians also increased (immigration/birth rates)

• Other Christians remained static since 1983 - 17%

Religious belief today:

• More people claim to hold Christian beliefs than attend church

• Religious belief is falling in line with attendance

Religious institutions today:

• The state has taken over the roles of the church

• Influence has fallen

Explanations of secularisation:

• Replacement of tradition with modern thinking

• Diversity

Max Weber: Rationalisation:

• Rationalisation: The process by which rational ways of thinking and acting replace religious ones

• Began with the protestant reformation

Disenchantment:

• Protestantism saw God as nothing more than a creator

• God created the world and let it run its natural course

• Religion can't explain things, so rational thinking replaces it

Bruce: A technological worldview:

• Technological explanations have replaced religious ones

• Technology and science have only undermined religion

Parsons: Structural differentiation:

• Structural differentiation: The process of specialisation in an industrialised state

• Specialised institutions carry out the functions of the church

• Leading to the disengagement of religion as it becomes disconnected from society

• Bruce: Religion is becoming privatised

Social and cultural diversity:

• Wilson: In pre-industrial societies, shared values were expressed through rituals that integrated individuals

• Bruce: Industrialisation undermined the consensus of religious beliefs that held communities together

• Bruce: Diversity undermines the plausibility of belief, as it depends on the existence of practising believers

Criticisms:

• Aldridge: The community doesn't have to be in a particular area. Religion can be a source of identity on a global scale

Berger: Religious diversity:

• Society is no longer unified under one church - decline of single 'Sacred Canopy'

• There is a plurality of world views

• Undermines religious plausibility

Bruce: Cultural defence and transition:

• Cultural defence: Religion provides a focal point for the defence of an identity against an external force

• Cultural transition: Religion provides support for ethnic groups, such as migrants

Criticisms:

• Bruce has now changed his views and now argues that diversity actually stimulates participation

• Beckford: Diversity may lead to questioning of belief, but it isn't inevitable

A spiritual revolution? (Link to topics 4 and 6):

• Traditional Christianity is being taken over by new age spirituality that emphasises personal development

• Heelas and Woodhead: New age spirituality has grown because of a subjective turn towards exploring your inner self

• Traditional churches sought duty and obedience

• Evangelical churches combine this with healing and rebirth

Secularisation in America:

• Wilson

• Churchgoing is an expression of the American way

• American religion has become superficial

Declining church attendance:

• 40% attendance

• Haddaway: This doesn't match with the church's statistics

• Haddaway Et Al: Carried out head counts in services and then asked other people if they attended church - attendance was exaggerated
  by 83%

Secularisation from within:

• Religion has become psychologised

• Change has enabled it to fit into a secular society

Religious diversity:

• Churchgoers are less dogmatic

• Bruce: Trend towards practical relativism

Criticisms of secularisation theory:

• Religion is changing form

• Theory is one-sided

• Ignores those who believe without belonging

• Not universal

New forms of religion:

• Some sociologists reject the secularisation thesis

• They say some aspects of traditional religion are in decline

• But new forms of religion are now emerging

• This is the result of changes in society, such as the growth in individualism, consumerism and choice

From obligation to consumption:

• Davie

• Religion in late modern society is now less about being obliged to practice and more about consumption and choice of how, when and if we participate

Believing without belonging:

• Religion is becoming privatised

• People believe in their homes, so not going to church

Vicarious religion: the Spiritual Health Service:

• Vicarious religion

• A small number of the clergy practice religion on behalf of the larger community

• 25% go to church, but 80% use it for rituals and rites

• There are multiple modernities that have different patterns of religiosity

• Science and religion will coexist

Neither believing nor belonging:

• Crockett: British Attitudes Survey: Attendance and belief are both
  declining

• Bruce: If people don't invest the time, it means that their belief is
  weak

Spiritual shopping: Hervieu-Leger:

• She argues that individuals now approach spirituality similarly to consumers, selectively picking and choosing beliefs and practices that resonate with them, leading to a more personalised, yet fragmented, spiritual experience.

Postmodern religion:

• Globalisation has led to greatly increased movements of ideas & beliefs across national boundaries. Religious ideas have become disembedded from physical churches

• Lyon

• Traditional religion is giving way to new religions that show its continuing vigour

Globalisation, the media and religion:

• Globalisation has given people access to once remote religions

• Deinstitutionalised/disembedded: Removed from the church or
  central place

• Religion has become a resource

• Electronic church and televangelism

Online religion and religion online:

• Helland - Religion online and online religion

• Religion online - Religious organisations use the internet to communicate with members. Replicates the top-down, hierarchical nature of the church.

• Online religion - Creates a sense of community online amongst followers of certain religions - no hierarchy, equality-based global network of individuals.

Religious consumerism:

• Identity is created through what we consume

• We now 'Pick and Mix' the elements of different religions that we want

• Religion has moved into the sphere of consumerism

• There has been a loss of faith in the meta-narrative

Self-religions and the New Age:

• New Age spirituality rejects the idea of obligation and obedience to external authority

• It emphasises the idea of life as a journey of discovery, personal development, autonomy and connecting with one's ‘inner self'

• Individualism links all these concepts — the main focus is the self

• People engage in spiritual shopping, picking and mixing ideas found from a variety of sources

• New Age practices and beliefs are thus often called 'self-religions' or
  'self-spirituality'

Re-enchantment of the world:

• Criticises the secularisation theory for assuming that religion is
  declining

• There is a period of re-enchantment with the growth of unconventional beliefs, practices and spirituality

Criticisms:

• Bruce: Consumerist religion is a weak religion

• Evidence shows that people choose things that conform to their
  existing beliefs

A spiritual revolution:

• Heelas & Woodhead: The Kendal Project

• Studied whether traditional religion has truly declined and if the growth of NAMs has compensated for this. They found two major groups -

• The congregational domain: Traditional Christianity (7.9%)

• The holistic milieu: Spirituality & the New Age (1.6%)

• New Age has grown due to a 'subjective turn' - no longer about duty, more about choice

• Traditional religion is declining

• Evangelical churches are more successful than traditional ones - Evangelicals emphasise healing and growth through being 'born again'

The weaknesses of the New Age:

• Growth of the New Age is not enough to make up for the decline of traditional religion

• New Age parents not socialising children into New Age beliefs

• Lack of serious commitment to the New Age

• New Age lacks hierarchy, consensus & structure

Criticisms of secularisation theory:

• Stark and Bainbridge

• Secularisation theory is Eurocentric

• There was no golden age of religion

Religious market theory:

• People are naturally religious, religion meets their needs

• People seek rewards and avoid costs

• Religious compensators: When rewards are scarce, religion provides spiritual ones

• Throughout history, there has been a cycle of religious decline; religions decline and make room for new ones

• Competition leads to improvements, churches want to appear attractive to gain members

• Monopoly = decline

Compensators:

• Religion provides us with compensators when real rewards are lacking
  unavailable

• Cycle of renewal

• Religions decline, are revived and then renewed in a perpetual cycle

• Religious competition

• Competition leads to improvements in the quality of religious 'goods' on offer

America vs. Europe:

• Religion thrives in America because there has never been a religious
  monopoly there

• In Europe, there has always been a monopoly of Christianity

• Participation increases when there is a diverse supply and declines when this is restricted

Supply-led religion:

• Hadden and Shupe

  • Televangelism in America shows the response to demand by preaching a 'prosperity gospel'

• Finke

  • Lifting of immigration restrictions in America gave even more choices, such as Hare Krishna and Transcendental meditation

• Miller

  • Evangelical megachurches in Korea and America can offer a wide range of activities to suit any member's needs, like hypermarkets

• Stark

  • The Japanese free market in religion has stimulated participation

    • Lots of new religions have thrived since WW2, e.g. Soka Gakkai

    • This contrasts with Germany, where post-WW2 religion was closely regulated and, as a result, has declined

Criticisms:

• Statistics show that diversity causes decline

• Bruce: They misunderstand the secularisation theory; they only claim that religion is in decline

• Norris & Inglehart: High level of religiosity in Catholic countries (e.g.
  Republic of Ireland)

Existential security theory: Norris and Inglehart:

• Existential security: The feeling that survival is secure enough to take it for granted

• Poor Societies: Face life-threatening risks and have high levels of religiosity

• Rich societies: Have high standards of living, thus low levels of religiosity

• Europe is more equal than the USA - less religious

Europe vs. America:

• Western European societies are among the most equal and secure, and also among the most secular

• The U.S. is very unequal and insecure, and also much more religious

• The U.S. is less religious than many poor societies, but more religious than Western Europe

• This supports Norris and Inglehart's theory that religiosity is the result of insecurity.

State Welfare and Religiosity:

• The more countries spend on state welfare, the lower the level of religious participation

Evaluation:

• Vasquez: They offer good explanations for differences between countries, but don't examine people's own definitions of existential
  security

• Ignore the positive reasons people have for participation

• Qualitative research is needed as quantitative data does not look far enough into the reasons.

The characteristics of fundamentalism:

• An authoritative sacred text

• An 'us and them' mentality

• Aggressive reaction

• Use of modern technology

• Patriarchy

• Prophecy

• Conspiracy theories

Fundamentalism and modernity:

• Fundamentalists: Traditionalists who seek to return to the fundamentals of their faith. They believe in the literal truth of their sacred texts and believe that theirs is the only true view of the world.

• Detest modernity but use it to spread their beliefs and ideas - the internet, etc.

• Growth of fundamentalism as a product of and reaction to globalisation

• In today's world, people are faced with choice, risk and uncertainty fundamentalism is attractive because of its rigidity

Cosmopolitanism:

• Cosmopolitanism: Being tolerant of the views of others and open to new ideas. It requires people to justify their ideas rationally.

Responses to postmodernity: Castells/Bauman:

• Resistant identity: A defensive reaction of those who feel threatened and retreat into fundamentalist communities

• Project identity: The response of those who are forward-looking and engage with social movements

Criticisms:

• Ignore the fundamentalist/cosmopolitan hybrid movements

• Fixated on fundamentalism and ignoring other important developments

• Lumps all types of fundamentalism together, ignoring important
  differences

Monotheism and fundamentalism:

• Monotheistic religions: Those believing in a single almighty god and following a single text

• Polytheistic religions: Those believing in many different gods and following many religious texts

• Fundamentalism is confined to monotheistic religions

Two fundamentalisms:

• In the West, often a reaction to change taking place within a society, especially towards diversity

• In the third world: A reaction to changes to the society from the outside, such as the imposition of Western values

Secular fundamentalism:

• Davie: Secular forms of fundamentalism have emerged recently

• Linked to changes in the nature of modern society

  • The first phase gave rise to religious fundamentalism

  • The second phase is giving rise to secular fundamentalism

• Both forms are due to increased uncertainty in the late modern or postmodern world

The 'clash of civilisations'

• Huntington divides the world into 7 civilisations:

  • Western

  • Latin American

  • Confucian

  • Japanese

  • Hindu

  • Slavic-Orthodox (Russia and Eastern Europe)

• Religious differences are creating 'us and them' relationships

• Religious differences are harder to resolve as they are deeply rooted in culture and history

• Predicts growing conflict between the West and the rest

Why have religious differences become an important source of identity?

• Fall of communism

• Globalisation

Criticisms:

• Casanova: Huntington ignores religious divisions within the civilisations

• Chippendale: Clash of Civilisations is a misleading Neo-conservative ideology that promotes the whole of Islam as the enemy

• Armstrong: Hostility towards the West doesn't stem from fundamentalism but Western foreign policy in the Middle East.

The real clash of civilisations?

• Evidence indicates that the muslim world is not that different from the West in terms of its values

• Norris and Inglehart found the only real difference was surrounding attitudes towards marriage, abortion and sexuality

• Attitudes towards democracy are very similar

Cultural defence:

• As the world 'Globalises', National identities mean less and less

• Societies around the world are experiencing a 'crisis of identity' whereby their cultures, languages, traditions & politics are becoming less significant.

• Individual National Identities are being replaced by a 'Collective
  International Identities.

• Many countries now use their Religions to restore their identities.
  Religion acts as a 'Cultural Defence'

Iran:

• 1950s - the democratic government in Iran was overthrown by a 'Pro-Western regime' which was supported by Western Oil Companies &
  Western governments.

• Headed by the Shah of Iran. During the 1960s/ 70s attempted to force westernised values on Iran by banning the veil & replacing the Iranian calendar with a 'western-friendly' calendar.

• Due to capitalism, the divide between the poor & the rich increased.

• The Islamic Religion was used as a focal point to rally opposition against the Shah's regime. Headed by Ayatollah Khomeini, the Islamic Revolution of 1979 helped create the Islamic Republic, where Clerics held state power & helped restore traditional Islamic values back to Iran.

Poland:

• During this era, Poland was under communist rule.
  Catholicism was suppressed during this time but still acted as a symbol for Polish National Identity.

• The Catholic church supported the 'Solidarity Free' Movement, which helped bring down communist rule.

God and globalisation in India: Nanda:

• Globalisation has brought rising prosperity to some in India

• Hinduism now legitimates the rise of Hindu ultra-nationalism and the prosperity of the new Indian middle class

Hinduism and consumerism: Nanda:

• Globalisation has created a large, educated, urban middle class in India who are more religious than 'their uneducated counterparts'

• This is a result of ambivalence surrounding their newfound wealth, stemming from tension between the Hindu belief of abstinence from wealth and the new prosperity

• Modern holy men preach the message that wealth isn't bad, but a sign of divinity

• Reduces guilt by teaching that consumerism can be spiritually balanced by paying for rituals

Hindu ultra-nationalism: Nanda:

• India's success is attributed to the superiority of Hindu views. View is encouraged by MPs and the media

• Hindu ultra-nationalism: The worship of Hindu gods is the same as worshipping India

• Hinduism has become a civil religion

• State is increasingly influenced by Hinduism

Capitalism in East Asia: Redding:

• Spirit among the tiger economies is down to post-Confucian values, which encouraged hard work, discipline and frugality

• It leads to economic productivity and the accumulation of capital

Pentecostalism in Latin America: Berger:

• Encourages capitalism in the same way as Calvinism did

• Latin American Pentecostalists embraced a similar lifestyle and work
  ethic

• However, religious ideas alone are not enough, natural resources are also needed

Pentecostalism: global and local:

• Lehmann distinguishes between 2 phases in the expansion of Christianity into South America and Africa

  • Phase one - Christianity accompanied colonialism and was imposed by conquest

  • Phase two - Christianity has gained a popular following from below

• Pentecostalism is successful due to its ability to incorporate local beliefs

  • This means it creates new local religious forms rather than simply replacing existing local beliefs

Church and sect:

• Troeltsch

• Church

  • Large organisations

  • complicated hierarchy

  • Universalistic

  • Believe they have a monopoly of religious truth

• Sect

  • Small organisations

  • Led by a characteristic leader

  • Highly exclusive and hostile of wider society

  • Expect high levels of commitment

  • Believe they have a monopoly of religious truth

Denomination and cult:

• Denominations

  • Halfway between churches and sects

  • Membership is less exclusive than a sect, but they don't appeal to everyone

  • Broadly accept society’s values

  • Tolerant of other organisations

  • Don't claim a monopoly of the truth

• Cults

  • Highly individualistic

  • Loose knit and small group around a shared theme or interest

  • Led by 'therapists' who claim to have special knowledge

  • Tolerant of other organisations and beliefs

  • Don't demand strong commitment

  • World-affirming: Claim to improve life in this world

Similarities and differences:

• Wallis

  • How they see themselves

    • Churches and sects claim a monopoly of truth

    • Denominations and cults accept other interpretations

  • How are they are seen by wider society

    • Churches and denominations are seen as respectable and legitimate

    • Sects and cults are seen as deviant

From cathedrals to cults:

• Bruce argues that Troeltsch's idea of a church having a religious monopoly no longer applies to today’s society

• The rise of sects and cults means there is now much more diversity

New religious movements:

• Wallis

• Since the 1960s, there has been an increase in the number of NRMs attempted have been made to classify them based on their relationship with the outside world

World-rejecting NRMs:

• Clearly religious with a clear belief in god

• Highly critical of the outside world

• Members must break away from their former life

• Restricted contact with the outside world

• Often accused of brainwashing members

• Have conservative moral views

World-accommodating NRMs:

• Breakaways from existing churches or denominations

• Neither accept nor reject the world

• Focus on religious rather than worldly matters

• Members lead conventional lives

World-affirming NRMs:

• Lacks some conventional features of religion

• Not highly organised

• Accept the world as it is

• Offer followers access to spiritual or supernatural powers

• Non-exclusive and tolerant of other beliefs

• Offers this worldly gratification

Evaluation:

• Not clear whether he is classifying them according to teachings or members’ beliefs

• recognises that NRMs rarely fit in his own typology
  Stark and Bainbridge: Reject the idea of constructing typologies; we should distinguish between them simply on how much conflict there is between them and wider society

Sects and cults:

• Stark and Bainbridge: 2 kinds of organisation in conflict with wider society

• Sects: result from schisms

• Cults: new religions

• Cults are subdivided according to how organised they are

• Audience cults: least organised, do not involve formal membership or commitment

• Client cults: based on the relationship between the consultant and the client

• Cultic movements: most organised and demand a higher level of commitment

Marginality:

• Weber

• Sects tend to arise in groups that are marginal to society

• Such groups may feel disprivileged

• Theodicy of disprivilege: A religious explanation and justification for their suffering

Relative deprivation:

• Stark and Bainbridge

• Relative deprivation: How deprived someone feels in relation to those around them

• Middle-class people may feel spiritually deprived, especially in a modern consumerist society, so they turn to sects to counter this and gain a sense of community

• It is the relatively deprived who break away from churches. When middle-class members of the church compromise their beliefs to fit with society, deprived members break away

• World-rejecting sects offer compensators to the deprived

Social change:

• Wilson and Bruce

• Periods of rapid social change undermine norms and values, causing
  anomie

• Those who are affected may turn to a sect as a solution, as they offer a sense of community and clear norms and values

• Modernisation and secularisation also encourage membership

• Society is secularised, so people are less attracted to the traditional churches people now prefer cults because they are less demanding

The growth of NRMs:

• The growth of NRMs

• Wallis: World-rejecting NRMs

  • 1960s social change impacted young people, which gave them the freedom from adult personalities and enabled a counterculture to develop

  • The growth of radical political movements offered alternative ideas for the future

  • NRMs were attractive in this context because they offered people a more idealistic way of life

• Bruce: World-affirming NRMs

  • Response to modernity and the rationalisation of work

  • World-affirming NRMs provide a sense of identity and techniques that promise success in this world

The dynamics of sects and NRMs:

• Churches tend to have long histories

• Sects are short-lived (about a generation or less)

Denomination or death:

• Neibuhr

  • Sects are world-rejecting organisations caused by a schism

• Schism: Splitting from an established church because of a disagreement over a religious doctrine

  • Sects are short-lived, and there are several reasons for this:

• The second generation

  • Children who are born into the sect lack the commitment and the fervour of their parents, who made the conscious decision

• The protestant ethic effect

  • Sects that practice asceticism tend to become prosperous and upwardly mobile. Such members will be tempted to compromise with the world, so they will either leave it or abandon its world-rejecting beliefs

• Death of the leader

  • Sects will usually collapse or make a more formal leadership structure on the death of their leader

  • A more formal leadership would create a denomination

The sectarian cycle:

• Stark and Bainbridge

• Sects go through a cycle

• Schism: There is tension between the needs of deprived and privileged members of the church. Deprived members form a world-rejecting sect

• Initial fervour: There is a charismatic leader, and tension between the beliefs of the sect and wider society

• Denominationalism: The protestant ethic effect and the coolness of the 2nd generation mean that the fervour disappears

• Establishment: The sect becomes more world-accepting and tension-free
  reduces

• Further Schism: More zealous or less privileged members form a new sect true to the original message

Established sects:

• Wilson

  • Not all sects follow the same pattern

  • Depends on their answer to the question 'what shall we do to be saved?'

• Conversionist: Sects grow into larger, more formal denominations

• Adventist: Await the 2nd coming of Christ. Believe that they must hold themselves separate from the world around them

• These become established sects, and many have succeeded in socialising their children into a high level of commitment by keeping them apart

• Globalisation will make it harder for sects to stay apart

The growth of the New Age:

• Heelas

  • Two common themes that characterise the new age

• Self-spirituality: New agers have turned away from the traditional external religions and instead look inside themselves

• Detraditionalisation: The new age rejects the spiritual authority of external traditional sources and instead values personal experiences and believes that we can discover the truth for ourselves by looking
  inwards

Postmodernity and the New Age:

• Drane

• The appeal of the new age is part of a shift towards postmodernity

• There is a loss of faith in meta-narrative

• Science promised progress towards a better world, and instead, we have war and environmental disasters

• People have lost faith in experts and are disillusioned with the church’s failure to meet their spiritual needs

The New Age and modernity:

• Bruce

• The growth of the new age is a feature of the last phase of modern society

• Modernity values individualism, which is also key to New Age beliefs

• It is particularly important among those who are concerned with human potential

• Pick and mix spiritual shopping is typical of religion in late modern society

• Heelas
  A source of identity: Individuals have many roles which have little overlap, which results in a fragmented identity. New Age beliefs offer a source of identity

• Consumer culture: Never delivers the perfection it promises the New Age offers an alternative

• Rapid Social change causes Anomie. New Age provides a sense of community and truth

• Decline of organised religion: Modernity leads to secularisation, thereby removing the traditional alternatives

Gender and religiosity:

• High positions in most religions are males

• Women participate more in religion

Risk, socialisation and gender role:

• Miller and Hoffman

• Women are more religious as they have been socialised to be passive and obedient

• Women are more likely to have part-time careers so they can organise their time for religious activities

• Women are closer to birth and death, and therefore are more concerned with unanswerable questions

Paid work:

• Bruce

  • Women's higher religiosity is the result of lower participation in paid work

• Brown

  • Women's increasing involvement in paid work since the 1960s has led to 'the decline of female piety'

• But women are still more religious because

  • Values of caring and nurturing are advocated by religion

  • As men became less religious, churches have become feminised

Women and the New Age:

• Bruce

• Women are more associated with nature and the healing role, and so are the new age movements

• New age movements often celebrate the natural and involve cults of healing, giving women a higher status and sense of self-worth

Women, compensators and sects:

• Glocke, Stark and Bainbridge

  • Organismic deprivation: Women are more likely to suffer ill health and so seek healing through religion

  • Ethical deprivation: Women tend to be more morally conservative and so view the world as in moral decline

  • Social deprivation: Women are more likely to be poor

The Pentecostal gender paradox:

• Pentecostalism is a patriarchal religion, but is ever popular with women

• Brusco

  • The religion is used by women in Latin America to combat a machismo culture

• The ascetic values of Pentecostalism mean that men are discouraged from spending family money on alcohol, tobacco, gambling and prostitutes

• Pressures from pastors and other community members act as a form of social control, returning the men to look after their family, and improving the position of women at the same time

Recent trends:

• In the UK, women are still more religious than men, but their participation is declining

• Some women are now attracted to New Age beliefs and practices, but overall numbers are still relatively modest

Ethnicity and religiosity:

• Muslims, Hindus and Black Christians are more likely to see religion as important than white Christians

Reasons for ethnic differences:

• Suggested that religious belief is higher in poorer countries where many ethnic minorities originate from

• They and their children maintain the pattern they brought with them

• But this disregards the impact of their experiences as immigrants and as minorities in new societies

• Religion may then have a new role as cultural defence and/or cultural
  transition

Cultural defence:

• Bruce

• Religion offers support and a sense of cultural identity. Religion is a means of preserving culture and language and of coping with oppression

Cultural transition:

• Herberg

• Religion can be a means of easing the transition into a new culture by providing support and a sense of community

Age and religious participation:

• Under 15s: Are more likely to go to church than any other age because they are told to by their parents

• Over 65s: Are likely to be sick or disabled and then unable to attend

Reasons for age differences:

• Voas and Crockett

• The ageing effect: People turn to religion as they get closer to death

• The Generational effect (Secularisation): As society becomes more secular, each new generation is less religious than the previous. There are more old than young people in church congregations

• The period or cohort effect: people born during a particular period may be more or less likely to be religious because of events they have
  lived through

The impact of science:

• The success of science has led to widespread faith in it

• Most recently, this faith has dimmed

• Both the good and bad effects of science demonstrate the key feature distinguishing it from other belief systems or knowledge claims - its cognitive power

Open belief systems:

• Popper

• Open belief system: Open to scrutiny, criticism and testing by others.

• Falsification: Scientists actively disprove theories by looking for evidence against them

• Discarding falsified knowledge claims enables scientific understanding and knowledge to develop and improve over time. Old and inaccurate theories are replaced

• There is no absolute truth

• No knowledge is sacred, as it can all be tested and questioned

The CUDOS norms:

• Merton

• Science can only thrive as an institution if it receives support from other institutions and values
  This first occurred in England due to the values and attitudes of the protestant reformation and the belief that the study of nature led to appreciation of god's work

• Science, as an institution, needed an ethos that makes scientists serve the goal of increasing knowledge:

• Communism: Scientists must share knowledge with the community

• Universalism: The truth or falsity of scientific knowledge is judged by universal, objective criteria

• Disinterestedness: Committed to discovering knowledge for its own sake

• Organised Scepticism: No knowledge claim is regarded as sacred

Closed belief systems:

• Horton

• Distinguishes between open and closed belief systems

• Closed belief system: Knowledge is sacred and is not open to testing or questioning

Witchcraft among the Azande:

• Evans-Pritchard

• Example of a closed belief system:

  • It can't and won't be overturned with evidence. E.g. if a person and the chicken died, it was simply evidence that the potion was bad

• The Azande do not believe in chance or coincidence, and use witchcraft to explain misfortune

• The injured party may make an accusation that someone is a witch

• The issue is resolved by consulting an oracle

• The social functions

• Clears the air and prevents the holding of grudges

• Encourages people to behave considerately

• Witchcraft is hereditary - children have a vested interest in keeping parents in line, as curses of witchcraft would damage the child's reputation.

Self-sustaining beliefs:

• Polanyi

• All belief systems have 3 devices to sustain themselves in the face of contradictory evidence:

• Circularity

• Subsidiary explanations

• Denial of legitimacy to rivals

Science as a closed system:

• Kuhn

• Mature science is based on a set of shared assumptions - a paradigm

• Paradigm: A set of shared assumptions or beliefs within which science takes place

• Education and training are the process of being socialised into the faith of the paradigm

• Successful careers depend on working within the paradigm

• Any scientist who challenges the paradigm is likely to be hounded out of the profession and no longer seen as a scientist within the community

• Scientific revolution: Faith in the paradigm has already been undermined by an accumulation of anomalies. Only then do scientists become open to radical new ideas?

The sociology of scientific knowledge:

• Knorr-Cetina

• All knowledge, including scientific, is socially constructed

• Things we take to be true are the product of shared theories and paradigms

• Invention of new instruments used to fabricate facts

Little green men:

• Woolgar

• Scientists have to persuade others to accept their explanations for things

• A scientific fact is simply a social construction or belief that scientists have been able to persuade others to accept

• (Cambridge University scholars discovered pulsars in 1967, and initially annotated them as LGM1, LGM2, etc - but knew this would ot be accepted, so they changed the name to pulsating neutron star)

Marxism, feminism and postmodernism:

• Marxism and feminism

  • Scientific knowledge is far from pure truth

  • It serves the interests of dominant groups

• Postmodernism

  • Reject the claims that science has the truth

• Lyotard: Science is one of a number of meta-narratives that falsely claim to hold the truth

• Lyotard: Science falsely claims to offer the truth about how the world works as a way of working towards bettering society. In reality, science is just another discourse that is used to dominate the people

Ideology:

• Ideology: A worldview with certain sets of ideas and values (A belief system)

• In sociology, it is often used negatively to describe:

  • Ideas that are false or a mistaken belief about the world

  • Ideas that conceal the interests of privileged groups

  • Ideas that prevent change by misleading people about reality

Marxism and ideology:

• Society is divided into 2 classes - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat

• The ruling class own the means of production and controls the state

• The working class are forced to sell their labour to the capitalists, they are exploited for profit

• Before a revolution can take place, the proletariat must develop class consciousness

• This is difficult as the ruling class controls the economy and ideas in society

• Ruling class ideology justifies exploitation

• Ruling class ideology

• Equality is against human nature

• Society is meritocratic - you deserve your position

• Racist ideas divide black and white, making them easier to control

• Nationalist ideas - the working class andthe ruling class have more in common than workers of the world

• These create false class consciousness and prevent social change

Hegemony and revolution:

• Gramsci

• Hegemony: the ruling class's ideological domination of society

• The working class possess dual consciousness

• Dual consciousness: A mixture of ideology and ideas created by their own experiences

• Revolution

• The working class need political organisation and direction to realise their exploitation

• Criticism

• Some argue that it isn't the existence of ideology that prevents revolution

The ideology of nationalism:

• Nation - Unique and individualistic with its own sense of cultural, historical, linguistic and political character that unites citizens because of it.

• Self-governing - Not a fan of large multinational organisations such as the UN or EU

• Loyalty to the nation should come before religion, class, ethnicity etc.

• Anderson - 'imagined community' - binds us together without us actually having to personally know everyone in it.

Marxism: nationalism as false consciousness:

• Marx wanted to see the world unite under one banner.

• Nationalism = false class consciousness.

• Divided people based on the nation. More in common with capitalists in their own country than workers of other countries. War - working class fight wars for the 'nation' rather than against capitalists.

Functionalism: nationalism as civil religion:

• Part of something greater than selves. Bigger than individuals.

• Religion - lots of differences. Lots of conflict.

• Nation - unites everyone into a single community.

• Education plays a key role in this

Gellner: nationalism and modernity:

• Gellner - Nationalism = False class consciousness.

• The nation is a product of modernity. Pre-industrial society was based on small, personal communities, face-to-face with ascribed roles.

• Industrialisation created division - hugely mechanised, impersonal, geographical isolation, complex division of labour. All citizens are equal under law. Centralised bureaucracy.

• Nationalism uses education to ensure that all citizens share culture and language. Views everyone as equal. Makes communication and economic cooperation possible.

• Helps people to cope with the hardships of initial industrialisation and allows the state to modernise.

Karl Mannheim: ideology and utopia:

• All belief systems have a one-sided world view as they see the world as one group or social class

• Distinguishes between two types of world view:

  • Ideological thought: Conservative ideology that justifies keeping things the way they are, benefits privileged groups

  • Utopian thought: Seeks social change, it reflects the interests of the underprivileged and shows different ways of organising society

• Argues that all world views are partial. They are the creations of intellectuals who attach themselves to a group or social class

• They don't reflect societal interests as a whole and only provide partial

• This is a source of conflict.

The free-floating intelligentsia:

• Mannheim

• Solution to the conflict caused by differing interests of ideologies

• Detach intellectuals from the social groups they represent

• Create a non-aligned or free-floating intelligentsia

• Synthesise elements of partial ideologies to create a worldview that represents the interests of society as a whole

• BUT

• Questions surrounding how this could actually be done when ideas are diametrically opposed to one another

Feminism and ideology:

• Gender inequality is the fundamental division, and patriarchal ideology justifies it

• Gender difference is a feature of all societies there are different justifying ideologies

• Marks: Science has been used to justify exclusion from education It was believed that education would lead to a 'new puny and unfeminine race that distract women from their true vocation'

• Some religious beliefs and practices have also been used as justification