Sociology Year 2 Revision Notes
Beliefs in society
- Religion as a belief system- belief system= collection of knowledge, beliefs, attitudes
+ practises that give meaning to life, religions are represented by organisations (e.g.
church of England), science + politics considered belief system, religious belief
systems used to be Monopoly of truth, now people look for different belief systems
(e.g. Marxism)
- Giddens- Definition of religion:
- Substantive- focus on content of religious beliefs (e.g. God + supernatural), exclusive
(draw clear line between religious and non-religious beliefs), to be a religion belief of
God or Supernatural must be present
- Functionalist- define religion based on psychological + social functions it performs for
individuals, Durkheim (1915) defines religion in terms of contribution to social
integration, Yinger (1970) identifies functions of religion (e.g. answering Q’s like
meaning of life)
- Constructivist- interpretivist approach, focus on how member of society define
religion, interested in how definitions of religion are constructed, challenged and
fought over (e.g. scientology)
Functionalist theories of religion
- Conservative force- promotes traditional (conservative) values (e.g. marriage),
maintains and preserves things (conserves things)
- Functionalists (promotes stability + integration), Marxists (keeps working class from
revolting) and Feminists (maintains patriarchal power by oppressing women) all see
religion as preserving things
- Functionalist theory- conservative force, promotes social harmony, social integration
and social solidarity through reinforcement of value consensus (widespread
agreement of main values of a society- basis of social order)
Durkheim (functionalist)
- Sacred- things set apart and forbidden that inspire feelings of awe, fear and wonder
and are surrounded by taboos and prohibitions
- Profane- things with no special significance (ordinary things)
- Society is great power because it is the only thing that can command such feelings
- Totemism- system of belief, totem= sacred item, special relationship between
people and totem, perform rituals, reinforce social solidarity, sense of belonging,
totem inspires feelings of awe because it represents the power of group e.g. clan
society
- Collective conscience- shared values, beliefs and knowledge that makes social life
and cooperation between individuals possible, rituals reinforce collective conscience,
reminds people how powerful their society is
- Cognitive functions- religion is source of intellectual or cognitive capacity (ability to
reason, religion is origin of concepts and categories needed for reasoning,
understanding the world and communicating, these categories may be time and
, space (e.g. beginning of the world put down to a creator), origin of thought, reason
and science
- Evaluations: theory of totemism has no scientific evidence (secondary sources used),
Worsley says there is no fine line between sacred and profane, better to describe
single-religion small-scale societies (explains social integration but not conflict),
postmodernist Mestrovic says there is no longer a single shared value system for
religion
Malinowski (functionalist)
- Agrees with Durkheim that religion promotes social solidarity but does it by
performing psychological functions for individuals
- 2 psychological functions for individuals:
- Life crisis- crisis has potential to threaten social order, rituals within religions (e.g.
Christenings), religion minimises disruption (e.g. funeral rituals increase social
solidarity)
- Uncontrollable and uncertain circumstances- in circumstances uncontrollable and
uncertain for an individual they put their lives in ‘Gods hands’, helps psychologically
Parsons (functionalist)
- Religion provides value and meaning
- Religion promotes and legitimates society’s central values- religion provides societal
guidelines where actions are described as immoral or moral based on the guidelines,
form the basis of social control + punishment (e.g. 10 commandments are now
American values/rules
- Religions perform psychological functions- allows adjustment to things like death
which are events that are out of humanities control
- Religion provides the primary source of meaning- religion gives meaning to life by
applying meaning to events which people think ought not to happen such as sudden
death, suffering or evil
Evaluations for Parsons and Malinowski
- Doesn’t consider negative aspects of religion e.g. oppression of poor and women
- Religion can be dysfunctional for society
- Theories describe how religion is important for society when in some places, e.g.
modern day Britain, the minority of people regularly attend church
Neo-functionalist theories
- Take traditional functionalist theories and overcome criticism by applying them to
contemporary society (multi-faith and more secular society)
- Civil Religion- Bellah- nationalism has incorporated religious beliefs into a secular
society, Americans have ‘in God we trust’ on bank notes which unites all Americans
with all faiths, shows society and God are one (like Durkheim suggests)
- Evaluation- no evidence to prove national ceremonies are seen by members of
society as sacred, no evidence/investigation as to whether national ceremonies
result in social integration
Marx (Marxism)
Beliefs in society
- Religion as a belief system- belief system= collection of knowledge, beliefs, attitudes
+ practises that give meaning to life, religions are represented by organisations (e.g.
church of England), science + politics considered belief system, religious belief
systems used to be Monopoly of truth, now people look for different belief systems
(e.g. Marxism)
- Giddens- Definition of religion:
- Substantive- focus on content of religious beliefs (e.g. God + supernatural), exclusive
(draw clear line between religious and non-religious beliefs), to be a religion belief of
God or Supernatural must be present
- Functionalist- define religion based on psychological + social functions it performs for
individuals, Durkheim (1915) defines religion in terms of contribution to social
integration, Yinger (1970) identifies functions of religion (e.g. answering Q’s like
meaning of life)
- Constructivist- interpretivist approach, focus on how member of society define
religion, interested in how definitions of religion are constructed, challenged and
fought over (e.g. scientology)
Functionalist theories of religion
- Conservative force- promotes traditional (conservative) values (e.g. marriage),
maintains and preserves things (conserves things)
- Functionalists (promotes stability + integration), Marxists (keeps working class from
revolting) and Feminists (maintains patriarchal power by oppressing women) all see
religion as preserving things
- Functionalist theory- conservative force, promotes social harmony, social integration
and social solidarity through reinforcement of value consensus (widespread
agreement of main values of a society- basis of social order)
Durkheim (functionalist)
- Sacred- things set apart and forbidden that inspire feelings of awe, fear and wonder
and are surrounded by taboos and prohibitions
- Profane- things with no special significance (ordinary things)
- Society is great power because it is the only thing that can command such feelings
- Totemism- system of belief, totem= sacred item, special relationship between
people and totem, perform rituals, reinforce social solidarity, sense of belonging,
totem inspires feelings of awe because it represents the power of group e.g. clan
society
- Collective conscience- shared values, beliefs and knowledge that makes social life
and cooperation between individuals possible, rituals reinforce collective conscience,
reminds people how powerful their society is
- Cognitive functions- religion is source of intellectual or cognitive capacity (ability to
reason, religion is origin of concepts and categories needed for reasoning,
understanding the world and communicating, these categories may be time and
, space (e.g. beginning of the world put down to a creator), origin of thought, reason
and science
- Evaluations: theory of totemism has no scientific evidence (secondary sources used),
Worsley says there is no fine line between sacred and profane, better to describe
single-religion small-scale societies (explains social integration but not conflict),
postmodernist Mestrovic says there is no longer a single shared value system for
religion
Malinowski (functionalist)
- Agrees with Durkheim that religion promotes social solidarity but does it by
performing psychological functions for individuals
- 2 psychological functions for individuals:
- Life crisis- crisis has potential to threaten social order, rituals within religions (e.g.
Christenings), religion minimises disruption (e.g. funeral rituals increase social
solidarity)
- Uncontrollable and uncertain circumstances- in circumstances uncontrollable and
uncertain for an individual they put their lives in ‘Gods hands’, helps psychologically
Parsons (functionalist)
- Religion provides value and meaning
- Religion promotes and legitimates society’s central values- religion provides societal
guidelines where actions are described as immoral or moral based on the guidelines,
form the basis of social control + punishment (e.g. 10 commandments are now
American values/rules
- Religions perform psychological functions- allows adjustment to things like death
which are events that are out of humanities control
- Religion provides the primary source of meaning- religion gives meaning to life by
applying meaning to events which people think ought not to happen such as sudden
death, suffering or evil
Evaluations for Parsons and Malinowski
- Doesn’t consider negative aspects of religion e.g. oppression of poor and women
- Religion can be dysfunctional for society
- Theories describe how religion is important for society when in some places, e.g.
modern day Britain, the minority of people regularly attend church
Neo-functionalist theories
- Take traditional functionalist theories and overcome criticism by applying them to
contemporary society (multi-faith and more secular society)
- Civil Religion- Bellah- nationalism has incorporated religious beliefs into a secular
society, Americans have ‘in God we trust’ on bank notes which unites all Americans
with all faiths, shows society and God are one (like Durkheim suggests)
- Evaluation- no evidence to prove national ceremonies are seen by members of
society as sacred, no evidence/investigation as to whether national ceremonies
result in social integration
Marx (Marxism)
