Sociology of Religion – Complete Notes
Durkheim and Religion
• Emile Durkheim (1912)
- Believed religion performed an important structural function, binding people
together (‘glue’) – known as social integration
- Religion provides a set of moral values that form a collective conscience,
ensuring social stability
- By placing these values in a sacred context, this has increased the likelihood
of them being kept (sin to steal, fear of God)
- Religion is an agent of secondary socialisation
Durkheim and Religion – Totemism
• Durkheim studied the totemism of the Australian Aborigines, he believed it to be
the most basic form of religion
• Totems are a group’s symbol, such as an animal or plant, which were seen as
having magical qualities (spirits) – the rituals/practices were COLLECTIVE
- They helped reaffirm group identity
Durkheim and Religion – Sacred and Profane
• Durkheim realised that all religions divide the human experience up into the
sacred and profane
- Sacred: symbols and ceremonies with holy meaning (inspires awe)
- Profane: everything that makes up everyday life (mundane)
• Sacred things, people, and objects are usually set apart from ordinary life –
access to them is restricted
Durkheim and Religion – Social Solidarity
• The clan would come together to worship the totem or spirit,
• What Durkheim argued was that in undertaking this ritual, the clan members
were actually worshipping the clan itself, their society – creating social
solidarity
Durkheim and Religion – Collective Conscience
• For Durkheim, shared regular religious rituals reinforce the collective
conscience and maintain social integration, therefore preventing any damage
from rapid social change.
, • Religion also aids our ability to think and reason conceptually – holy books and
sacred texts as a shared resource
Criticisms of Durkheim
• Evidence of totemism is shaky
- Division between sacred and profane is arbitrary (random)
- Clans shared totems
• Ideas based on small-scale societies do not translate to multi-faith/big societies
- Conflict within/between religions?
• Postmodernists would argue…
- Ideas not applicable today?
- Increasing diversity/fragmentation of society
- No longer a shared, single value system
Malinowski and Religion
• Bronislaw Malinowski (1954)
1. Death and times of crises are the main drivers for religious belief (births,
funerals etc.) – this helps create social solidarity;
2. Studied the Trobriand Islanders who engage in fishing (lagoon vs. ocean);
- Lagoon – safe and predictable therefore no ritual;
- Ocean – dangerous and uncertain therefore they undertook a communal
ritual;
3. Religion performs psychological functions (helps people deal with emotional
stress);
4. Religion helps people in uncertain situations (where the outcome of
something is uncertain).
Parsons and Religion
• Talcott Parsons (1967)
- He agreed that one of the functions of religion is to help deal with unforeseen
events and outcomes;
- Identified 2 other key functions: creating and legitimising society’s values;
providing a primary source of meaning;
1. Religion provides stability in times of adversity (maintaining the stability of
society’s values);
2. Religion provides ‘answers’ to that which otherwise seemingly has no answer;
the ‘big questions’ (Why do the good suffer? etc.)
,Bellah and Civil Religion
• Robert Bellah (1970)
- A neo-Functionalist, building on the work of Durkheim, Malinowski and
Parsons
- How can religion unify a multi-faith society like the United States? (Or the
United Kingdom?)
- Answer: Civil religion
• United States – presidents as ‘saints’, pilgrimages to Lincoln’s Memorial (holy
sites), prayer and chant and ritual (the Pledge of Allegiance, national anthem
etc), symbols such as the Stars and Stripes.
• Unifying all American, unlike a church which unifies only some Americans
Americanism as a Civil Religion
Examples of Americanism functioning as a civil religion include: the American flag,
the Constitution (‘We the People’), Independence Day (4th July), the Lincoln Memorial,
the Statue of Liberty, and the Pledge of Allegiance (‘one nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all’).
Civil Religion as a Functional Alternative
• Americanism (as an example) acts as a non-religious belief or practice that
achieves the same functional goals of religion as identified by Durkheim and
other Functionalists
• Although Americanism requires a belief in God, this is not always the case – Nazi
Germany or Soviet Russia as examples
• HOWEVER: This idea comes into conflict with the Substantive definition of
religion which requires a belief in the supernatural
Marx and Religion
• Marx saw religion as part of the dominant ideology;
• Reproduces and reinforces false class consciousness of the working class
• Marx thought religion did two main, interrelated things:
- It acted as the ‘opium of the people’, cushioning the pain of oppression and
exploitation in unequal societies.
- It legitimised and maintained the power of the ruling class.
, Marx and Religion – Three Ways Religion Eases
Oppression
• Religion eases the pain of oppression and exploitation in three main ways:
1. Religion promises an eventual escape from suffering and oppression in this life
with promises of an ecstatic future in life after death.
2. Religion sometimes offers hope of supernatural intervention to solve problems on
earth.
3. Religion provides a religious explanation and justification for inequality.
Marx and Religion – Ruling Class
• Traditional Marxists see religion as an instrument of social control and
oppression, used by the ruling class to justify their power and material wealth.
• Inequalities of wealth, income and power are presented as God-given and
therefore legitimised and inevitable.
• The inequalities between rich and poor can’t be challenged or changed without
questioning the authority of religion or God.
Althusser and Religion
Louis Althusser (1970)
• Two tools by which the bourgeoisie maintain power
- The repressive state apparatus – the monopoly of violence, the threat of its
use, physical coercion (force) [police, army, courts]
- The ideological state apparatus – maintain rule by controlling people’s
ideas, values and beliefs [religion, mass media, education]
Althusser and Religion – Ideological State Apparatus
• Religion is an important part of the ideological state apparatus
- It reproduces class inequality by transmitting ruling class ideology from
generation to generation
- It legitimises class inequality, it spreads an ideology that disguises
capitalist exploitation; persuading workers to accept exploitation and to know
their place
Criticisms of the Marxist Perspective
• It fails to consider secularisation, fewer than 10% of people attend church.
• Ignores positive functions of religion.
• There are examples of religious movements that have brought about change and
helped remove ruling elites.
Durkheim and Religion
• Emile Durkheim (1912)
- Believed religion performed an important structural function, binding people
together (‘glue’) – known as social integration
- Religion provides a set of moral values that form a collective conscience,
ensuring social stability
- By placing these values in a sacred context, this has increased the likelihood
of them being kept (sin to steal, fear of God)
- Religion is an agent of secondary socialisation
Durkheim and Religion – Totemism
• Durkheim studied the totemism of the Australian Aborigines, he believed it to be
the most basic form of religion
• Totems are a group’s symbol, such as an animal or plant, which were seen as
having magical qualities (spirits) – the rituals/practices were COLLECTIVE
- They helped reaffirm group identity
Durkheim and Religion – Sacred and Profane
• Durkheim realised that all religions divide the human experience up into the
sacred and profane
- Sacred: symbols and ceremonies with holy meaning (inspires awe)
- Profane: everything that makes up everyday life (mundane)
• Sacred things, people, and objects are usually set apart from ordinary life –
access to them is restricted
Durkheim and Religion – Social Solidarity
• The clan would come together to worship the totem or spirit,
• What Durkheim argued was that in undertaking this ritual, the clan members
were actually worshipping the clan itself, their society – creating social
solidarity
Durkheim and Religion – Collective Conscience
• For Durkheim, shared regular religious rituals reinforce the collective
conscience and maintain social integration, therefore preventing any damage
from rapid social change.
, • Religion also aids our ability to think and reason conceptually – holy books and
sacred texts as a shared resource
Criticisms of Durkheim
• Evidence of totemism is shaky
- Division between sacred and profane is arbitrary (random)
- Clans shared totems
• Ideas based on small-scale societies do not translate to multi-faith/big societies
- Conflict within/between religions?
• Postmodernists would argue…
- Ideas not applicable today?
- Increasing diversity/fragmentation of society
- No longer a shared, single value system
Malinowski and Religion
• Bronislaw Malinowski (1954)
1. Death and times of crises are the main drivers for religious belief (births,
funerals etc.) – this helps create social solidarity;
2. Studied the Trobriand Islanders who engage in fishing (lagoon vs. ocean);
- Lagoon – safe and predictable therefore no ritual;
- Ocean – dangerous and uncertain therefore they undertook a communal
ritual;
3. Religion performs psychological functions (helps people deal with emotional
stress);
4. Religion helps people in uncertain situations (where the outcome of
something is uncertain).
Parsons and Religion
• Talcott Parsons (1967)
- He agreed that one of the functions of religion is to help deal with unforeseen
events and outcomes;
- Identified 2 other key functions: creating and legitimising society’s values;
providing a primary source of meaning;
1. Religion provides stability in times of adversity (maintaining the stability of
society’s values);
2. Religion provides ‘answers’ to that which otherwise seemingly has no answer;
the ‘big questions’ (Why do the good suffer? etc.)
,Bellah and Civil Religion
• Robert Bellah (1970)
- A neo-Functionalist, building on the work of Durkheim, Malinowski and
Parsons
- How can religion unify a multi-faith society like the United States? (Or the
United Kingdom?)
- Answer: Civil religion
• United States – presidents as ‘saints’, pilgrimages to Lincoln’s Memorial (holy
sites), prayer and chant and ritual (the Pledge of Allegiance, national anthem
etc), symbols such as the Stars and Stripes.
• Unifying all American, unlike a church which unifies only some Americans
Americanism as a Civil Religion
Examples of Americanism functioning as a civil religion include: the American flag,
the Constitution (‘We the People’), Independence Day (4th July), the Lincoln Memorial,
the Statue of Liberty, and the Pledge of Allegiance (‘one nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all’).
Civil Religion as a Functional Alternative
• Americanism (as an example) acts as a non-religious belief or practice that
achieves the same functional goals of religion as identified by Durkheim and
other Functionalists
• Although Americanism requires a belief in God, this is not always the case – Nazi
Germany or Soviet Russia as examples
• HOWEVER: This idea comes into conflict with the Substantive definition of
religion which requires a belief in the supernatural
Marx and Religion
• Marx saw religion as part of the dominant ideology;
• Reproduces and reinforces false class consciousness of the working class
• Marx thought religion did two main, interrelated things:
- It acted as the ‘opium of the people’, cushioning the pain of oppression and
exploitation in unequal societies.
- It legitimised and maintained the power of the ruling class.
, Marx and Religion – Three Ways Religion Eases
Oppression
• Religion eases the pain of oppression and exploitation in three main ways:
1. Religion promises an eventual escape from suffering and oppression in this life
with promises of an ecstatic future in life after death.
2. Religion sometimes offers hope of supernatural intervention to solve problems on
earth.
3. Religion provides a religious explanation and justification for inequality.
Marx and Religion – Ruling Class
• Traditional Marxists see religion as an instrument of social control and
oppression, used by the ruling class to justify their power and material wealth.
• Inequalities of wealth, income and power are presented as God-given and
therefore legitimised and inevitable.
• The inequalities between rich and poor can’t be challenged or changed without
questioning the authority of religion or God.
Althusser and Religion
Louis Althusser (1970)
• Two tools by which the bourgeoisie maintain power
- The repressive state apparatus – the monopoly of violence, the threat of its
use, physical coercion (force) [police, army, courts]
- The ideological state apparatus – maintain rule by controlling people’s
ideas, values and beliefs [religion, mass media, education]
Althusser and Religion – Ideological State Apparatus
• Religion is an important part of the ideological state apparatus
- It reproduces class inequality by transmitting ruling class ideology from
generation to generation
- It legitimises class inequality, it spreads an ideology that disguises
capitalist exploitation; persuading workers to accept exploitation and to know
their place
Criticisms of the Marxist Perspective
• It fails to consider secularisation, fewer than 10% of people attend church.
• Ignores positive functions of religion.
• There are examples of religious movements that have brought about change and
helped remove ruling elites.
