Unit 3 SCLY3 - Beliefs in Society; Global Development; Mass Media; Power and Politics
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Summary AQA A2 Beliefs in Society Notes (ALL TOPICS INCLUDED)
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Unit 3 SCLY3 - Beliefs in Society; Global Development; Mass Media; Power and Politics
Institution
AQA
This AQA A2 Theory and Methods Document includes:
- Topic 1: What is Religion (functionalist, marxism, feminism)
- Topic 2: Religion as a Conservative Force
- Topic 3: Secularisation
- Topic 4: Religion, Renewal and Choice
- Topic 5: Religion in a Global Context
- Topic 6: Organisations, Move...
Unit 3 SCLY3 - Beliefs in Society; Global Development; Mass Media; Power and Politics
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There are three main ways that sociologists define religion –
1. Substantive definitions
2. Functional definitions
3. Social constructionist definitions
Substantive Definitions –
- Exclusive – draws a clear line between religious and non-religious beliefs
- Focus on the content of religious belief i.e. must include a belief in God or
in the supernatural
- Weber (1905) – religion is a belief in a superior or supernatural power that
is above nature and cannot be explained scientifically
- Focus on the content of religious belief – must include belief in God or
supernatural
- Weber – religion is a belief in superior power that is above us and can’t be
explained scientifically. Clear line between religious/non-religious
Functional Definitions –
- Inclusive – allows us to include a wide range of beliefs or practices that
perform functions such as social integration
- Yinger (1970) – religion performs functions for individuals e.g. answering
‘ultimate questions’ such as the meaning of life and what happens when
we die – inclusive – we are all involved
- Defines religion in terms of the social or psychological functions it
performs for individuals in society
- Define religion in terms of the social/psychological functions it performs
for individuals or society – Malinowski
- Durkheim – the contributions it makes to social integration
Social Constructionist Definitions –
- Aldridge (2013) – scientology is a religion for its followers, yet several
governments have denied it legal status as a religion and tried to ban it
- Interpretivist approach – how do individuals define religion?
- Interested in how definitions of religion are constructed, challenged, and
fought over
Theories of Religion
- Functionalist theories of religion
- Marxist theories of religion
- Feminist theories of religion
Functionalist theory
- Society is a system of interrelated parts of society institutions, such as
religion, family and education – organic analogy
- Like an organism – basic needs must be met in order to survive in different
institutions meet these by performing certain functions
- Most basic need of society is social order and harmony so members
cooperate and work together
- This order is achieved by value consensus – a set of shared norms and
values that society’s members live by
- Without this, individuals would pursue their own selfish desires and society
would disintegrate
Durkheim (1912) –
,Religion serves an important function for society – it binds people together like
‘social cement’
The sacred and the profane:
- Key feature of religion is distinction between sacred and profane
- Sacred – things that are set apart and forbidden, that inspire feelings of
awe, fear and wonder, and are surrounded by restrictions
- Profane – things that have no special significance – the ordinary
- A religion is a set of beliefs and involve specific rituals/practices in relation
to the sacred and these rituals are collective – performed by social groups.
Sacred things evoke powerful feelings in believers, because they are
symbols of something with greater power – society itself
- Although sacred symbols differ between religions, they all perform the
essential function of uniting believers of a greater power into a single
moral community
- The shared totemic rituals reinforce the groups solidarity and sense of
belonging. For Durkheim, when clan members worship their totem, they
are in fact worshipping society, even though they don’t know or realise.
Totem represents power of society that individuals rely on
Totemism:
- Durkheim believed essence of religion could be found by studying its
simplest form – clan society
- Arunta – aboriginal tribe with a clan system – consists of bands of kin who
come together regularly to perform rituals involving worship of a sacred
totem
- The totem is the clan’s ‘emblem’: such as an animal/plant, that symbolises
the clans origin and identity and is a symbol of the divine spirit that
watched
Collective conscience:
- The shared norms, values and beliefs and knowledge that makes social life
and cooperation between individuals possible. Without this society would
disintegrate
- Sacred symbols represent this as well as regular collective worship and
shared rituals
- Participating in these binds’ individuals together, reinforcing social
solidarity and reminding them that they are part of a single, moral society
in which they owe their loyalty
- Also performs function for individuals – make us feel part of something
greater than ourselves, strengthening us to face life’s challenges and
overcome obstacles
Cognitive functions:
- Our ability to think and reason
- Played by religion according to Durkheim and Mauss – include concepts of
time, space, causation and classification
- Ideas about a creator bringing the world into being at the beginning of
time (God made the world in 7 days), and division of tribes into clans –
classification
- Religion is the origin of human thought, reason and science
Evaluation: Functionalist theory of religion
, 1. An issue with Durkheim’s generalisation about totemism is that it lacks
supporting evidence
For example, Worsley notes that there are no sharp divisions between the sacred
and the profane, and that different clans can share same totems. Therefore even
if Durkheim is right about totemism, this does not prove that he has discovered
the essence of all other religions. This can be further supported by existence of
many diverse religions in todays society due to globalisation, media and
technology, therefore the essence of what makes a religion is questioned as
don’t all have a ‘sacred’ place of worship/symbol
2. Another concern is that Durkheim’s theory may not be universal
For example, it has been suggested that it may only be suitable for small scale
societies with a single religion it is arguably harder to apply his theory to large
scale communities where two or more religious communities may be in conflict.
His theory therefore may explain social integration within communities but not
the conflicts between them – Kendall Project – small scale, new age religions.
USA/UK – western, Christianity, Islamic
3. Similarly, postmodernists such as Stjepan Mestrovic (2011)
- Argue that Durkheim’s ideas cannot be applied to contemporary society
because increasing diversity has fragmented the collective conscience, so
there is no longer a single shared value system for religion to reinforce
Malinowski (1954): Psychological functions of religion
Religion helps an individual to cope with emotional stress, e.g. situations which
make you anxious, uncertain or tense or threaten social life
1. Where the outcome is important but is uncontrollable and thus uncertain
- Trobriand Island tribe – contrasts fishing in lagoon to fishing in ocean
- Lagoon fishing – safe, predictable, successful method of poisoning, no
ritual
- Ocean fishing – dangerous, uncertain – less chance of success/survival.
Accompanied by ‘canoe magic’ – rituals to ensure safe trip
- Increases sense of control, decreases anxiety, unifies the group
2. At times of life crises
- Birth, puberty, marriage, and death
- Potentially disruptive life changes
- Religion minimises this potential disruption
- Eg death, notion of immortality comforts the bereaved
- Religious rituals at the funeral binds people – promotes social solidarity
Parsons (1967): Values and meaning
Religion helps people to deal with life crises – it creates and legitimates society’s
central values. Eg Protestantism in USA has sacralised core values such as self-
discipline, promotes value consensus, maintain social solidarity – similar to
Durkheim
It is the primary source of meaning: answers to ultimate questions – what
happens after death, why do the good suffer/die young
Bellah (1991): Civil religion
In modern multi-faith societies, the bonding (social solidarity) is through civil
religion
, Eg, in USA, the civil religion – Americanism – uses religious images/phrases,
promotes national identity, includes all religions, the common ‘God’ being
worshipped is someone who embraces all Americans: ‘one nation of God’
Despite America’s social divisions, they are united by a civil religion
(Americanism) – widespread loyalty to the nation state
God and Americanism – hand in hand – rituals, symbols, beliefs, singing the
national anthem
Functional Alternatives –
- Alternatives to functional religions are non-religious beliefs and practices
that perform functions similar to those of organised religion e.g.
reinforcing shred values or maintaining social cohesion
- For example, although civil religion in America involves a belief in God,
Bellah argues that this doesn’t have to be the case. Some other belief
system could perform the same functions, Nazi Germany and the Soviet
Union had secular political beliefs and rituals around which they sought to
unite society
- However, the problem with the idea of functional alternatives is the same
as with functional definitions of religion. It ignores what makes religion
distinctive and different e.g. the supernatural
Evaluation of functionalism
- Neglects negative aspects of religion such as it being the basis for conflict
as discussed earlier and also that it oppresses women and can reinforce
divisions in society eg rich and poor
- Religious pluralism in the UK, for example, makes it hard to see how
religion provides a shared set of social values
An evaluation of any theory can also involve comparing and contrasting it
with other theories of religion, in this case Marxist and Feminist theories
Marxist theories of religion
- Misleads the poor into thinking that religion is good, and they go to
heaven
- Marx – opium of the people – masks the truth to the working class
- Lenin – spiritual gin
- Alienation
- False consciousness
- Hindu caste system
- Divine Right of the King
Marxists see religion as preventing individual’s from having a true understanding
of themselves and their situation. Rather than working to benefit society as a
whole (by providing social solidarity and acting as ‘social glue’ – i.e. a
functionalist view), Marxists see religion as working to maintain class divisions
and the power of the ruling class. Marx therefore predicted that if the working
class were able to overthrow the ruling class, religion would disappear.
The two key functions of religion, according to his theory, are: -
1. It is used by the rich, as an instrument of oppression
2. It is used by the poor, to cushion the effects of oppression
Religion as ideology
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