5. Religion in a global context
- Created by: Amy Parkinson
- Created on: 08-04-15 13:50
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- Religion in a global context
- Religion an development
- Globalisation: increasing interconnectedness between different societies around the world due to media, communication and transport
- God and globalisation in India
- Globalisation has brought rapid economic growth and India has become a more important player in the world political stage
- NANDA
- Rapid economic growth in India has been aided by Hinduism
- The prosperous m/c are more religious than others
- A new 'business-friendly' version of Hinduism has developed allowing people to pursue wealth without guilt that may have previously been associated with Hinduism
- There has been government research based on Hindu beliefs about the healing powers of cow's milk and urine
- Capitalism in East Asia
- There has been rapid economic growth in the East Asian 'tiger economies'.
- REDDING
- The spirit of Capitalism in the tiger economy societies has developed as a result of 'post-Confucian' religious values which are similar to those of the Calvinists and encourage hard work and self-denial
- Pentacostalism in Latin America
- BERGER
- Pentacostalism is a 'functional equivalent' to Weber's protestant ethic
- It encourages the development of a rational business elite due its values of hard work, asceticism and frugality.
- However, Berger highlights that it is not sufficient to have religious ideas alone to encourage economic growth; natural resources must also be available
- LEHMANN
- Globalisation has enabled a rapid extension of Pentacostalism. He argues that this has happened in 2 phases;
- Initially pentacostalism was imposed in indiginous populations by invaders however in global society it has spread more naturally by gaining followers
- It has been able to do this because it tends to adapt itself to incorporate existing features of local belief systems
- BERGER
- Religious fundamentalism
- GIDDENS
- Globalisation has divided the world into 2 ways of thinking; fundamentalism and cosmopolitanism
- Fundamentalists respond to the new ideas of globalisation by rejecting them and returning to more traditional values
- Cosmopolitans will accept new ideas and embrace new ways of thinking
- Whereas fundamentalist beliefs are based on religious teachings, cosmopolitan beliefs are based on rational arguments and are open to midification
- BRUCE
- Fundamentalism has developed as a response to the percieved threat to traditional values posed by globalisation
- Only monotheistic are likely to develop into fundamentalism because there is less scope for adaptations
- Whereas in the West fundamentalism tends to be a response to change within society, in the Third world it is usually a reaction to changes being imposed from outside
- BAUMAN
- Fundamentalism is a response to globalisation and postmoderenity
- CASTELLS: some poeple develop a resistant identity and retreat into fundamentalism whereas others develop a project identity where they embrace new ideas and engage with new social movements
- EVAL
- BECKFORD: they distinguish too sharply between cosmopolitan and fundamentalism, ignoring hybrid movements
- They are fixated on fundamentalism, ignoring other important developments
- Giddens lumps all types of fundamentalism together, ignoring important difference between them
- Giddens' despcription of fundamentalism as a defensive reaction to modernity ignores the fact that reinventing tradition is also a modern 'reflexive' activity
- GIDDENS
- Cultural defence
- BRUCE: one function of religion in today's world is cultural defence
- E.g. 1: Poland
- When Poland was under communist rule, the Catholic church was supressed but acted as a rallying point and a source of resistance
- The church lent its support to the solidarity free trade union movement and did much to bring about the downfall of communism
- E.g. 2: Iran
- In the 1950's the west was involved in overthrowing the Iranian government and replacing it with a pro-western regime which was focused on modernisation
- The government banned the veil and replaced the Muslim calendar with a new one
- Tha gap between the rich and poor widened and prtoest was brutally supressed
- Islam became the focus for resistance and the clerics were vital in bringing about revolution and the new Islamic Republic in 1979
- EVAL: HAYNES: the Iranian gov. revolution was not typical of politics in the Middle East, in that it was led by the Mullahs- the religious leaders
- Religion and the 'clash of civilisations'
- In recent years, religion has been at the centre of many globbal conflicts
- HUNTINGTON
- There are now 7 'civilisations' in the world based on major world religions
- Conflict between these civilisations has grown due to:
- the fall of communism removing the importance of political differences,
- the decline of the nation-state as a source of identity
- the interconnectedness of these civilisations due to globalisation
- EVAL: JACKSON: Huntington's work is an e.g. of orientalism- a western ideology that stereotypes Eastern nations and people as untrustworthy, inferior or fanatical and serves to justify exploitation and human rights abuse in the west
- Religion an development
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