BELIEFS IN SOCIETY
SUBSTANTIVE:
- Must have a belief in God or the supernatural (exclusive).
FUNCTIONAL:
- The social/psychological function it performs (e.g: social integration) (inclusive).
CONSTRUCTIONIST:
- No singular definition, members of society define religion.
EXCLUSIVE:
- Excludes religions that do not have an explicitly stated God (e.g: Buddhism).
INCLUSIVE:
- Anyone is allowed to join a ‘religion’.
, FUNCTIONALISTS ON RELIGION
INTRODUCTION:
- Religion is a conservative force that maintains social solidarity. This is a positive function
for society.
- Durkheim, Parsons and Bellah: religion performs important functions for society.
- Malinowski: religion performs important functions for an individual.
DURKHEIM AND THE STUDY OF THE ARUNTA:
- Study on the Australian aboriginal tribe’s religious beliefs.
- The Totem the tribe worshipped acted as a pillar of society.
- Argued that society divided things into the sacred and the profane.
+ Sacred: things that have special, significant meanings. Symbolise society itself.
+ Profane: ordinary, everyday items.
- Identified four key functions or ‘totems’:
+ Discipline: imposed to encourage sociable behaviour.
+ Cohesion: worship brought the community together.
+ Vitalising: religion maintained tradition through generations.
+ Euphoric: religion eases frustration.
- When society came to worship collectively, they were actually worshipping society itself.
They created a collective conscience that could lead to ‘civil religions’.
BELLAH:
- In some modern secular states, people’s worship was still based around symbols.
- Americanism: the way American society, which was religiously diverse and increasingly
secular, deemed America itself a ‘religion’.
+ The religious symbols consisted of the flag, the national anthem and famous
historical figures.
- Some sociologists have pointed to the Royal Family as another example.
+ For example, the public mourning of the death of Princess Diana.
- People can unite around areas without necessarily worshipping the same God/religion.
+ For example, ‘God bless America!’ or ‘God save the King!’.
PARSONS:
- Religion answers the ultimate questions that, at Parson’s time, were beyond science.
- Religion gives meaning to existence through things such as Hell and Paradise.
- Shared values derived from things such as the 10 commandments.
- ‘Mechanism of adjustment’ means religion gives us the emotion set up for crises.
MALINOWSKI:
- Studied religious practices of the Trobriand Islanders.
- When the islanders fished on the safe waters, they did not practise religious ceremonies,
but they did so when fishing in more dangerous waters.
- Religion has a psychological function: it helps individuals to deal with an anxious and
stressful situation.
- God was named ‘God of the gaps’ as He answered every prayer for help and saved the
islanders from trouble.
, - Unpredictable events can cause disruption in society so this psychological function helps
preserve social stability.
+ For example, holding religious funerals.
EVALUATION:
- These theories are outdated. Religion is not always a bringer of peace. For example, in
middle eastern countries, religion is the topic of war.
- Postmodernists: a collective conscience is no longer applicable due to increasing
diversity.
- Malinowski’s study cannot be generalised to wider society as they used participant
observation.
, MARXISTS ON RELIGION
MARX:
- Described religion as ‘the opium of the masses’.
+ Religion acts like a comforting drug for miserable workers in their life of capitalist
exploitation. It does so in the following ways:
→ Dulls the pain of exploitation rather than dealing with it.
→ Distorts world views, similar to hallucinations.
→ Gives a temporary ‘high’.
- Religion came about when capitalism flourished.
- Religion is the ‘heart in a heartless world’. It acts as a distraction from the proletariat’s
consumer life.
+ However, Marx also said that this may have a negative impact as religion was
one of the ways the bourgeoisie maintained control and the proletariat must
revolt.
RELIGION AS AN IDEOLOGY:
- Promises of an afterlife: religion promises a positive future after death. What we
experience here will be rewarded in the next life. Moksha Chitram said that the ‘meek
shall inherit the earth’.
- Existential security: supernatural intervention.
+ Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God will intervene.
+ West Borough Baptist Church believes that God smites the wicked. If you put
your faith in God, He will fight the fight for you.
- Suffering as a test of faith: it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than it
is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The stronger your faith is in God, the more
you will be tested by experiencing pain and suffering to be rewarded in the afterlife.
LENIN:
- Religion is a spiritual gin.
- Ruling class used religion cynically to create a mystical fog which obscured the reality of
the proletariat.
RELIGION AND ALIENATION:
- Marx sees religion as a product of alienation.
- The proletariat have no autonomy as they repeat the same minute tasks without
meaning, so religion is used as their escape.
- However, religion offers no solution to earthly misery and workers cannot express their
‘true selves’, so they deceive themselves into a state of false class consciousness.
ALTHUSSER:
- Religion is part of the ideological state apparatus and maintains false class
consciousness because religious teachings encourage the proletariat to believe the way
society is organised is God’s will.
+ For example, the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful contains verses that
seem to be on the side of the poor, suggesting justice will be served in heaven.
