Beliefs

Sacred and Profane 
*Key feature of religion was the distinction between the two found in all religions 

Toteism
*Humans believe they have a special spiritual connection with one another and pray to an emblem

Collective conscience 
*Shared norms and values causing integration, rituals also reinforce this 

Cognitive functions
*Religion is our ability to reason and think 

CRITICS
*Worsley 
> no sharp distinction between sacred and profane 
*Mestrovic 
> increase in diversity so theory cannot be applied to all socities 
*Down play social change 

Parsons 
*Religion performs two functions
1) Legitimate socities values 
2) Primary source of meaning 

Malinowinski 
*Religion helps cope with emotional stress 

Bellah 
*Civil religion and Americanism, multi faith society helping integrating society in ways religion can't

Bruce
*Defines religion as beliefs actions and insitiutions which assume the existence of supernatural entities with power of action or impersonal powers 

Berger 
*Religion is a sacred canopy 

*Ignores diverse societies where theres more than one religion

*Neglects oppression of religion 

*Religion can be a disuptive and socially diverse influence 

1) Beliefs 
in supernatural

2) Theology 
set of teachings and beliefs usually based on a holy book 

3) Practise
set of rituals and ceremonies

4) Institutions
organisation of the worshipper/believer

5) Consequences
moral or ethical values to guide or influence behaviour or believers  

Substantive 
* Belief in God and supernatural 
* Religion cannot be explained scientifically 
* Exclusive 
> Clear line between religious and non religious beliefs 

Social Constructionalist
* Interpretivist view 
* Society define religion 
> cannot produce a single universe definition 

Functionalist 
* Perform a role for society
* Inclusive 
> Include a range of beliefs 

Place of worship 
* Men and women sit seperate 
* Men at the front 

Religious organisation
* Male dominated 
* Aldridge 
> Women cannot be priests - Marginalised 

Religious laws and customs 
* Women have fewer rights

Sacred text 
* Mainly interpreted by males 

Radical
* Religion only benefit men 

Women more likely to live longer so take the support of religion

Miller & Hoffman
* Different socialisation explains womens greater involvement in the following ways
1) Guardians of the family 
> Give more focus to the family 
2) Visions of God 
> associate God with love, comfort and forgiveness 
3) Nurturing 
> Feminity and child rearing practise makes them less aggressive 

El Saadawi 
* Partriarchy in society has influenced religion not the other way round 

Woodhead
* Feminist automatically equate religion to oppression
* Women can use religion to gain freedome 
* Aldridge 
> Hijab allows women to go out and get an education whilst conforming to religion

Not all religions are partriarchal 
* Hinduism
> Kali (Mother Goddess)
* Greece
> Aphrodite - Goddess of love, beauty and fertility 

Armstong 
* Women have not always been subordinated, only 4,000 years since monotheistic religion is on the rise 

Watson 
* Hijab allows women to escape male gaze

Marx
* Religion is the opium of the people
* Religion as an ideology
> Distort perception of reality - False Class Conciousness  
> Serve the bourgeoisie
> Religion legitimates the poors suffering 
> God gives reward in heaven 
* Religion and alienation
> Loss of control over something one has produced 
> Proletariat have no freedom to express self 
> Religion dulls the pain of exploitation 
- Produced to console 

Lenin
* Religion = Spiritual gin (Fog and Intoxcating)

Religion is a dominant ideology 

Suffering is Virtious 

* Ignore the positive functions religion can perform e.g social solidarity 

* Althusser 
> Rejects alienation idea because it is unscientific 

* Abercrombie and Turner 
> Capitalist society had little impact on religion 

1) Uphold traditional beliefs
2) Stabalises society and maintain Status Quo

Religion and Consensus 
* Prevent disintegration 
* Reduce society from collapsing 
Religion and Capitalism 
* Legitimate reality 
* False class consciousness 
Religion and Patriarchy 
* Allow subordination 

Berger 
* Sacred Canopy 
> Religion provides a universe of meaning 
> Set of ideas and values about the meaning of life 
> Religion provides a theodicy 
- condradiction God is all powerful yet people are suffering  - Religion = a sheild of protection

* Calvinism is a form of ascetic Protestantism 

* Calvinist beliefs had an impact on the development of capitalism 

* Calvinism 
> Helped bring change 
> Modern capitalism - make profit for own sake 
> Ascetic lifestyle 
- allowed them to cope with salvation panic 

* Protestant ethic brought salvation panic 

1) Predestination 
> If you are going to heaven or hell this has already been decided and you cannot change it 

2) Divine Transcendence 
> No human can claim to know Gods will 
> No one will know if they have been chosen to be saved 

3) Asceticism 
> Self discipline and self denial 

4) The idea of a vocation or calling 
> We are put on earth to glorify God's name by our work 

Such beliefs have the following functions
> Cope with emotional stress and salvation panic 
> Driven by work ethic, reinvested profit in business 

Hinduism 
> Ascetic religion
> Orientation 
- Other Worldy 
- Directed followers to spiritual world 

Confucianism 
> China 
> Discouraged growth of rational capitalism 
- This Worldly Religion
- Directed followers to material world but not ascetic 

Both lacked drive to accumulate wealth necessary for modern capitalism

Bruce 
* ACR started with Marin Luther King
* Religiously motivated to end racial segregation 
* Religion acts as an ideological resource 
* Religious organisations were able to support protests and contribute to social change via 
1) Taking Moral High Ground
> Black clergy pointed out the hypocrisy of 'love thy neighbour'
2) Chanelling Dissent 
> Provide channels to express ploitical views
3) Acting as Honest Broker 
> Provide context for negotiating change 
4) Mobilising Public Opinion 
> Black clergy campaigned successfully for support of America 

Islamic Fundamentalism 
* Religion can be force for social change rather than keeping status quo 
* Literlly taking the meaning of Qur'an and placing it in society 
* Return to earlier beliefs 

* Politically and Morally conservative 

* Strong beliefs in the traditional roles 

* Campaign for teaching of creationism 

* Ban sex education is schools 

* They have been unsuccessful because...
> Moral majority was never a majority 
> May find co-operation difficult with one another even on similar issues 
> Lack widespread support 

McGuire and Robinson 
* 4 types of interrelated factors which influence religion for social change
1) Nature and extent of religious beliefs
> Beliefs have strong moral codes which conflict with some features of existing society then religion is more likely to lead to criticisms 
2) Significance of religion in society's culture 
> Religion is central focus used to legitimate and justify behaviour 
3) Extent of the social involvement of religion
> Preists and organistations are closely involved with the people and play an important role in society 
4) Degree of central authority in religious organisations 
> Religion has a better position to promote or change self where religious organisations have strong central authority 

*Movement emerged within the Catholic Church in Latin America at the end of 1960

*Strong commitment and opposition to the poor

*This was a major of direction

*Factors that led to the emergence of liberation theology was;
1) Deepening rural property
2) Human right abuses 
3) Growing commitment to an ideology that supported the poor and opposed violations on human rights

*Lib theology emphasise on PRAXIS
- practical action guided by theory

*Casanova
- Liberation theology help resist state terror 

Bloch

*Religion has a dual character

*Can inspire protest and rebellion 

*Dreams of a better life containing images of utopia which can also decieve people 

Modernisation
*Religious beliefs are being undermined

Rationalisation - Weber
*Rational ways of thinking are taking over 
*Beliefs of humans can influence the above through prayers and spells

Disenchantment - Weber
*God created the world but didn't interevene
*Events explai9ned as predictable workings of natural force 

Technological Worldview - Bruce
*Replace religious explanations
*Religion survives in an area where technology is least effective 

Structural Differentiation - Parsons 
*Specialisation occurs with development of industrial society
*Structural differentiation leads to disengagement of religion
> function transferred to other institutions such as the state and it becomes disconnected

Social and Cultural DIversity - Wilson
*Pre-industrial society brings decline of community and contributes to decline of religion
*Shared values expressed through rituals integrating individuals and regulate behaviour
*Bruce
> Social and geographical mobility breaks up communities but brings people and positivity together from different communities causing diversity
> Cannot avoid acknowledging others hold different beliefs around them
> Plausability of belief is undermined by alternatives 
*Critics - Aldridge
> Community does not have to be in a particular area
> Religion can be an identity worldwide

Religious Diversity - Berger
*Many interpretations of the truth
*Diversity means no one can claim the monopoly of truth 
*Diversity undermines plausability 
*Everyone lives under a sacred canopy 

BRUCE

Cultural defence 
*Religion is the focal point for defence of national and ethical, local or group identity in a struggle against an external force such as hostile foreign power

Cultural transition
*Religion provides support for migrants 
*Religion survives in situations where it is a focus for group identity 
*Religion is likely to survive where it performs functions other than relating individuals to the supernatural 

Critics
*Berger
> Now argues diversity and choice can stimulate interest and participation in religion
*Beckford
> Religious diversity can lead to some questioning or abandoning their religious beliefs but this is not inevitable 

*Tranditional Christianity giving way to hostilic spirituality or New Age beliefs emphasising individualism 
*Heelas and Woodhead
- Wanted to investigate if traditional religion has declined and to see if spirituality is compensating for it 
- Two groups 
1) Congregational Domain
(Traditional and Evangelical)
2) Holistic Milieu
(Spirituality and New Age), 1.6% took part in this, it was growing
Explanations for this...
~Subjective turn in society - shift to finding inner self following spiritual path
~Traditional religions demand duty and obedience are declining
~Evangelical church is more successful both demanding discipline and duty but emphasising importance of spiritual healing and personal growth 

Bruce

* 3 reasons why religion was becoming superficial
1) Declining church attendance 
- 40% went church in 1940
- Hadaway found this figure didn't match church stats 
2) Secularisation from within
- Religion in America has become a form of therapy
- Fits in with secular society
- Seeking personal improvement 
3) Religious diversity
- Move towards practical relativism, acceptance of others holding beleifs different to ours

* Religion is privatised, hold a religious belief but don't go to church to practise it 
* Decline of traditional religion is matched by growth of a new form of religion
* Vicarious Religion
- Small number of professional clergy practise religion on behalf of a much larger number of people who experience it second hand
- Secularisation theory assumes modernisation impacts every society in the same way
- Mutiple modernities
> Modern socities but different patterns of religion especially in relation to church attendance 

Critic
* Voas and Crockett
> British social attitude 1983-2000
- Church attendance and belief in God are both declining 

* Decline in institutional religion because of cultural amnesia 
* Cultural Amnesia
- Loss of collective memory 
* Children now decide their own religion 
* Children no longer inherit a fixed traditional 
* Two types of religions are occurring
1) Pilgrims 
> Individual path to search for self discovery 
2) Converts
> Offer a strong bond sense of belonging based on a shared ethic background 

Lyon
* Jesus in disneyland (Agrees with Davie)
* Ideas have become disembeded - Media lift them out of original context
* Religious consumerism - relocated to sphere of consumption

Critic
* Lyons description of consumerism is weak 

* Rational choice theory
* Critical of secularisation theory 
* Theory based on two assumptions
1) Religion meets human needs - demand for religion can vary 
2) Want to seek reward and avoid cost 
> Religion provides compensation and promises for supernatural things 
* Supply led religion
- Demand for religion influenced by the quality of religion and to the extent it responds to people's needs 
- Hadden and Shupe
> Televangelism shows religion is supply led
- Finke
> Immigrants in America causing religious diversity 

Critic
* Bruce rejects the idea that diversity and competition increase demand for religion 

* Reject Stark and Bainbridge because they fail to explain variation in religiosity between different socities 
* Reasons for variations - the feeling of survival is secure enough it can be taken for granted
- Poor societies
> High level of religiosity due to high level of insecurity
- Rich societies 
> Low level of religiosity due to low level of insecurity 

State welfare and religiosity
* Gill and Lundergarde
> More welfare benefits, lower levels of religious participation

Critic
* Vasquez
> Norris and Inglehard offer a valuable explanation of different levels of religious participation BUT
- Only use quantitative data 
- Religion is seen as a negative response to deprivation and ignore the positive reaction

* Chruch - Troeltsch
> run by a bureaucratic heirarchy 
> millions of members 
> claim monopoly of truth 
> close relationship with the state
> tolerant of other beliefs 

* Sects - Wilson and the features 
> small
> exclusive 
> charasmatic leader
> monopoly of truth 
> poor and oppressed memebers 
> hostile to wider society 
> seen as deviant
e.g
- Pentacostalist
- Amish

* Denomination - Niebuhr
> developed from sects 
> don't claim monopoly of truth 
> smaller formal religious groups
> accept religious diversity 
> no close relationship with state 
> maintain status quo

* Cult - Wallice and Bruce 
> seen as deviant 
> individualistic 
> least organised 
> tolerant of other organisations and belief systems 
> do not demand strong commitment 
> world - affirming 
> Giddens
- do not claim monopoly of truth 
- docus on individuals and their experience 

* Audience 
- Least orgnaised, do not involve formal membership or much commitment, little interaction between memebers and participation is through the media 

* Client
- Relationship between consultant and client and services to the followers in the past they were often medical miracles but emphasis has shifted to therapies promising self discovery

* Cultic movement 
- Most organised, want higher level of commitment, aim is to meet all its members religious needs, rarely belong to other religious groups at the same time 

* Wallis 
- Similarities and Differences between all the organisations is done through 2 characteristics
1) How they see themselves,
Church and Sect see their faith is legit, Denomination and Cult accept other interpretations
2) Seen by society,
Church and Denomination are respected, Sect and Cult are seen as deviant 

* Features - Barker 
- All concerned with spirituality or supernatural 
- High turnover of memebers 
- Certain they only hold the truth 
- Led by charasmatic leader
- Short lived

World - accomodating
- Breakways from mainstream church or denomiation, neither accept or reject the world, seek to restore purity of religion

World - rejecting 
- Similar to sects, vary in size, clear notion of God, highly critical of the outside world, want to seek change

World - affirming 
- Offer access to spiritual or supernatural powers, accept world as it is, optimistic promise success in mainstream goals, non-exclusive, tolerant of other relions, claim to offer special knowledge

1) Marginality 
- Weber - those whom are marginalised belong to a sect, offer a theodicy of disprivilege, explains misfortune

2) Relative deprivation
- M/C may feel spiritually deprived and claim they are lacking in moral value, emotional warmth or authenticity

3) Social change
- WIlson - produce anomie as a response to insecurity and sect becomes the solution to the disruption
- Bruce - modernisation and secularisation causes sect members to rise 

Features of New Age religion - Bruce
1) Emphasis is on self 
2) Everything is connected - mind, body, spirit all connected 
3) Self is final authority 
4) Golbal cafeteria - choose from mixed beliefs 
5) Therapy - make you healthier and happier

Two common themes characterising new age 
1) Self spirituality 
2) Detraditionalisation 

New + Modernity link in 4 ways
1) Source of identity - modern society offers fragmented identity with little links between roles
2) Consumer culture - alternative way to achieve perfection
3) Rapid social change - sense of certainty and truth
4) Decline of organised religion - leads to secularisation 

1) Key to success
- Appeal to more m/c educated groups, want to reduce stress and anxiety

2) Escape
- Provide short term solutions for problems 

3) Globalisation
- Internet access around the globe
- Baudrillard - people can pick and choose belief from around the world 

4) Social deprivation, marginality, theodicy of disprivilege 

5) Identity formation in postmodern society

* Ethnic groups more likely to be religious - Madood 
* Britain is a multi - ethnic multi - faith socity 
* Asian groups
- Established own temples as none existed in Britain 

Why are some ethnic groups more religious?
* Community and identity 
- Religiosity helps maintain functionalists views 
* Social deprivation, marginality and status frustration
- Turn to religion as a secure and solid sense of identity and community which could be lacking in the mainstream
* Family pressure
- Asian families are tightly knit ad can cause pressure to conform to religious value and behaviour 
* Social identity 
- Ethnic group can provide identity 

Reasons for differences
1) Originate from poorer countries with traditional cultures producing higher levels of religious beliefs
2) Cultural defence - Bruce
- Religion is a support system for the poor
3) Cultural transition - Bruce
- Religion help escape the transition to a new society 

Older people may attend church more because;
1) Disengagement 
- Don't participate in society via paid work a much, face a privatisation and increasing isolation 
2) Religious socialisation 
- Great religious emphasis placed on them when they were younger through education system and the family 
3) In health and death 
- Religion is a coping mechnaism

* Young people are more attracted to New Age 
* Find their inner self 
* They believe without belonging 
* Declining in religious education
* Reasons for age diff - Voas and Crockett
1) Ageing effect 
- Turn to religion as you get older
2) Generational effect
- Children not recieving a religious socialisation anymore 

* Borgeouisie is dominant 

* Gramsci - Hegemony
- R/C in control 
- W/C have a dual conciousness mixture of r/c ideology and ideas developed from experience of exploitation and struggle 

* Mannheim (Neo)
> Two types of belief system
1) Ideological thought 
Keep things as the way they are 
2) Utopian thought
Justify social change 
> Free floating intelligentsia
- Intellectuals represent interest of particular group
- Solution is to detach self 
- Stand above conflict 

Pluralist
* Exercise of power reflecting a range of people's interest in society 
* No single dominant ideology 
* No one has claim to be the only right way 

Political 
* Held by political parties 
* Offer interpretation of the world and how it works how it should be changed 

Poper
* Scientific method 
1) Hypothesis 
2) Falsification 
3) Prediction
4) Theory formation
5) Scrunity 

Khun - Paradigms 
* Scientists try to fit their findings into existing paradigms rather than attempt to falsify the hypothesis 
* Scientific education is a process of being socialised into faith in the truth of the paradigm 

Open and Closed belief systems 
* Open - scientists theory are open to scrunity 
* Closed - hold the absolute truth 
* Horton - make knowledge claims that cannot be over turned (Witchcraft)

Merton - CUDOS Norms 
C ommunism - share with the community 
U niversalism - falsity of scientific knowledge is judged 
D isinterestedness - seek knowledge for own sake 
O rganised S cepticism - every theory open to testing 

Polyani
* All belief systems reject fundamental challenges
* 3 devices to sustain self in the face of contradictory evidence 
1) Circularity
- Each idea explained in terms of another 
2) Subsidiary explanation 
- Oracle fails may be due to incorrect use 
3) Denial of legitimacy to rivals 
- Reject alternative views 

Lyotard
- Metanarative

* Western socities have become more secular due to rationalisation and stong emphasis on individulaism
* Bellah
- Followers expressing Americanism rather than religiosity
* Globalisation
- Religion has long existed in a global context
- McLuhan
> Global village - use the internet to bring connections from all around the world
* Religion and Development
- Secularisation theory development undermined religion
- Modern science and technology destroy belief in the supernatural

* Ultra nationalism
- To be patriotic - be proud of their Hindu beliefs
* Proesperity of the Indian middle class
* According to secularisation theory the prosperous, scientifically educated, urban m/c are people to adopt a secular view - however this is not supported as survey's show Indian in the more urban and educated areas are more religious
* This could be due to the newfound wealth, stemming from tension between their new prosperity and traditional Hindu beliefs in rennouncing materalism
* Hinduism has penetrated public life and the supposedly secular state e.g via astrology which is known as a Hindu Science

Latin America
* Berger
- Latin America pentecostalism is a functional equivalent to Weber's protestant ethic
- Encourage capitalism
- Embrace an ascetic self-denying way of life emphasising hard work, discipline
- Encourage prosperity

* Taking out the literal meaning from sciptures and abiding by the rules
* Disapprove of liberalisation
* Armstrong
- Attributes the rise in religious fundamentalism to political and economical factors
* Giddens
- Sees fundamentalism as a product of and reaction to globalisation which undermines traditional norms
* Bauman
- Fundamentalism is seen as a response to living in a postmodern society
* Castells
- Two responses to postmodernity
1) Resistant identity - defense reaction of those who feel threatened and retreat into fundamentalist communities
2) Project identity - response of those who are forward looking and engage with social movements such as feminism and environmentalism
* Beckford - critic of Bauman, Giddens and Castells
- Fixated on fundamentalism, ignore other impacts of globalisation on non-fundamentalist religions

* Bruce
- Main cause of fundamentalism as the perception of religious traditionalists that today's globalising world threatens their beliefs and lifestyle
- Polytheistic religions lacka single all powerfuldeity and a single text so there is more scope for a variety of interpretations
- Two fundamentalists
1) Cultural defence
- Religion serves to unite a community against an external threat
- Religion has special significance for its followers because it symbolises the group's collective identity
- Fundamentalism acts as a defence
- Poland
> Rule by communist imposed by Soviet union
> Church did not challenge the communist regime it served as a popular rallying point for opposition
- Iran
> Churhc powers and oil companies had long influence in Iran