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BELIEFS IN SOCIETY - SOCIOLOGY Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

AQA sociology paper 2 option : beliefs in society

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

Durkheim on religion

- Society is a system of interr­elated parts
- Society has needs which are met by different instit­utions
I.E - religion, media
 
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
That powerful feelings evoked by the sacred implies that it represents something of great power - Society
 
Totenism:
The essence of religion could be discovered by studying it in its somplest form in its simplest society
Collective consci­ence:
Sacred symbols represent society's collective conscience
Cognitive functions of religion:
- Religion is the source of our ability to reason and think concep­tually
- Religion is the origin of shared categories
I.E. space, time
- The splitting of clans gave the first ideas of classi­fic­ation
 
**Crit­icisms of Durkheim
Worsley:
There isn't a clear division between the sacred and profance
- The splitting of clans gave the first ideas of classi­fic­ation
Postmo­der­nists:
increasing diversity as fractured the collective conscience

Psycho­logical functions: MALINOWSKI

- Helps indivi­duals cope with stress that could undermine solidarity
 
Study: Tribriant Islanders
Where the outcome is uncertain:
- Fishing in the Lagoon:
no rituals as outcome is certain and safe
- Fishing in the Ocean:
had rituals as outcome is uncertain and dangerous
 
At time of life crises:
- Events such as birth and death can cause disruptive changes in social groups
- Religion brings poeple together and explains why these happen

Parsons: Value 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
Ignores what makes religion distinct

Marxist view on religion

Society is split into 2 classes: Bourge­oisie and Prolet­ariat
Religion is a feature of a divided society and wouldn’t be needed in a communist society
For Marx if we lived in a communist society there would be no need for religion.
Religion dulls the pain of oppression
It leads the prolet­ariat into a false state of consci­ous­ness.
 
Religion and Social Control
- Religion distorts reality
- Encourages the belief that supern­atural beings control events and there is nothing humans can do about itb
- Religion legiti­mises the inequality which exists in society
-Engels: In the 1800s British Bourge­oisie spent large sums of money
- To support mainstream Christian organi­sations

Religion as compen­saton

- religion compen­sates for the misery of those who have been exploited
- I.E. Christ­ianity offers the reward of heavenly escape
- religion promises happiness although the happiness it promises is just an illusion
- true happiness can only be obtained by the exploited shaking off the oppression and practising their freedom

Religion as ideology

- religion distorts percep­tions of reality to benefit the ruling class
- class that controls the economic base also controls production and distri­bution of ideas
- religion used as a weapon to justify inequa­lit­y/s­uff­ering
- creates a false consci­ousness
Lenin:
Religion is a spiritual GIn, creating a mystical fog
makes the ruling class's position appear divinely ordained

Religion as alienation

religion is a productin of alienation
workers are alienated because they have no freedom to express teir true natureh
Marx:
' religion is the opium of the people, fulling their pain

Karl Marx: alienation

 

Feminist Theory of Religion

Evidence of Patriarchy
- Religious organi­sat­ions:
Mainly male dominated
 
*BUT...
 
Higher rates of female partic­ipation
- Places of worship:
Often segregate the sexes
 
Women's partic­ipation may be restricted
- Sacred texts
Largely feature male gods
 
Female sterotypes
 
Interp­ret­ed/­written by men
- Religious laws and customs:
Woman may have fewer rights
 
Religious influence on culture may lead to unequal treatment
 
Woodhead: religious forms of feminism
- patriarchy may not be true for all religion
- argues the Hijab is liberating for women
- pentec­ostal groups are empowering for women

Religion and social change

Sociol­ogists have studied the role of religion in society and observed 2 broad camps
1. Those who see religion as a conser­vative force
religion - force for stability and order
2. Those who see religion as a force for social change
supporters of this position point to the role of religion in encour­aging societies to change
 
Perspe­ctives view on Religion's functions
Functi­ona­lists
religion maintains social stablility
Marxism
religion prevents social change by justifying exploi­tation
Feminists
religion is an ideology that legiti­mises partiarchy
 
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
 
- caused Calvinists to feel inner loneliness which combined with pre-de­sti­nation caused a salvation panic
This wordly ascension:
Abstaining from luxury
 
- denial whilst still being part of society
Calling:
Any wealth made was put back into the businesses
 
- combined with concept of asceticism
 
Hinduism
- ascetic
- other worldly
followers focus on spiritual world
 
Confuc­ianism
- this worldly
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

American civil rights movement: BRUCE

Churches provided sanctuary and support
Rituals and prayer united 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 churches are often respected by both sides
Mobilising public opinion: Campaign for support across the whole country

The new Christian right: Bruce

- protestant fundam­ent­alist
- seeks to take USA back to God
divorce, homose­uxality 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

NEO MARXIST: Religion as a force for change

Relative autonomy - indepe­ndence from the economic base
Religion can have dual character prompting change as well as stability
MARX: 'The soul
'the soul of the souless'
 
'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
 
Librer­ation 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 Paull II for being too Marxist
Church continues to defend democracy
Maduro:
an exmaple of religi­ously inspired social change

The pentec­ostal challenge

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