Durkheim - religion promotes value consensus and maintains social solidarity.
The sacred (things forbidden and set apart), the profane (ordinary things that have no special significance).
Rituals are sacred practices and are collective - they use symbols to represent something of great power (society) - e.g. the Arunta tribe worship a sacred totem which reinforces the group's solidarity and sense of belonging to represent that they are actually worshipping society.
Sacred symbols represent society's collective conscience - rituals reinforce this and remind individuals of teh power of society.
Durkheim & Mauss - religion provides basic categories such as time, space and causation - religion is the origin of human thought, reason and science.
Malinowski - performs psychological functions by helping them to cope with emotiona stress that would undermine social solidarity - performs this where the outcome is important but uncontrollable & uncertain, and at times of life crises.
Parsons - religion creates and legitimates society's basic norms and values, and it provides a source of meaning by answering 'ultimate' questions.
Bellah - religion unifies society (civil religion) - it integrates society e.g. American civil religion involves loyalty to the nation-state and belief in God (expressed through rituals such as the pledge of allegiance to the flag), and it sacralises the American way of life & binds together Americans from different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
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Marxism
Ideology is a belief system that distorts people's perception of reality in the interests of the ruling class. For Marx, religion operates as an ideological weapon used by the ruling class to legitimate the suffering of the poor as something inevitable and god-given; it misleas the poor into believing they will be rewarded in the afterlife, thus creating a false consciousness.
Lenin - religion is a spiritual gin that manipulates the masses and keeps them from attemping to overthrow capitalism by creating a mystical fog that obscures reality.
Marx - religion is the product of alienation (becoming separated from or losing control over something that one has produced or created).
Under capitalism, workers are alienated as they do not own what they produce and have no control over the production process - in these dehumanising conditions, religion is seen as a form of consolation (it is the opium of the people).
Religion acts as an opiate to dull the pain of exploitation and promises an afterlife to distract attention from the true source of suffering - capitalism.
Althusser - rejects the concept of alienation as unscientific meaning the concept is an inadequate basis for a theory of religion.
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Feminism
Religious institutions are patriarchal as they reflect and perpetuate gender inequality.
Religious beliefs are partiarchal ideologies that legitimate women's subordination.
Religious organisations are mainly male-dominated - Armstrong sees women's exclusion from the priesthoods of most religions as evidence of their marginalisation.
Places of worship often segregate the sexes and marginalise women in acts of worship - e.g. not being allowed to read from sacred texts, or taboo subjects of menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth.
Sacred texts largely feature the doings of male gods and prophetys and often reflect anti-female stereotypes - e.g. Eve caused humanity's fall from grace and expulsion from the Garden of Ededn in the Judaeo-Christian story of Genesis.
Religious laws and customs often give women fewer rights than men - e.g. in access to divorce, dress codes etc; in genital mutilation, punishment for sexual transgressions; in banning abortion and artificial contraception in the Catholic Church.
Woodhead - there are religious forms of feminism to gain freedom and respect, e.g. the hijab is often seen as a symbol of liberation by Muslim women despite many Western women seeing it as a symbol of oppression.
Rinaldo - women may use religion to gain status and erspect for their roles within the home and family e.g. Pentecostal and evangelical Christians believe that men must respect women.
The position of women in liberal Protestant organisations is often more equal - e.g. since 1992, the Church of England has allowed women to the priesthood.
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