Global Context

Global Context

Giddens: Defines globalisation as a decline of national borders.

1. Secularisation

USA: There is no national religion within the US. There is a constitutional separation between church and state.

Church attendance: USA - 40%. UK - 4%

Hadaway: Looked at church attendance in the US and tried to work out where statistics came from. He asked church leaders what their weekly attendance was and then counted. He found that there was nearly a 100% exaggeration in statistics.

→ Therefore there could be an argument for secularisation in the US.

Bellah: 'Civil religion', he argues that America is the land of immigrants so the government had to find a way of uniting everyone under one banner, so they created 'Americanism'. They created the idea of an American God that united everyone together and the symbol is the flag. People are not worshipping a God, they are worshipping the fact that they are from America.

Stark and Bainbridge: Argue that America is going through the 'secularisation cycle' and that are approaching a religious revival as it is a religious marketplace with no restrictions. Research does not reflect the attendance of new age movements and new religious movements.

Lyon: 'Jesus in Disneyland'. Argues that the point of religion is a sphere of consumption, religious followers are viewed as customer. This could lead to the 're-enchantment of the world'.

Hadden and Shupe: Discusses the emergence of 'televangelism'. One denomination is the Evangelical Christian Right, they have taken to preaching on television to allow people to get to know them.

Norris and Inglehart: 'Existential Security Theory'. Disagree with religious market theory. Argue that Americans are more religious than people in Europe. In European countries people are a quite wealthy and have better healthcare than the rest of the world. In America there is a huge divide between the rich and the poor. The lack of welfare may explain why people are more religious as they are less secure.

India: Most religious country in the world, 80% of the population are Hindu. Previously in India there was a caste system to justify the inequality.

Nanda: 'God and globalisation'. Argues that globalisation has changed India. It used to be a really poor country but now there has been a last growth due to their exports, this created more job opportunities. The beliefs of Hinduism have been changed to match this, resulting in people becoming more religious. Hinduism has become a 'civil religion'.

2. Economic Change

Weber: Created Weberism, can be seen to be mirroring Karl Marx as he talks about the economy and Capitalism. 
He agrees with Marx; in some ways religion can prevent change from occurring. 'Theodicies of dispriviledge' those who are the poorest are the most religious due to being offered salvation in the afterlife.
Weber studied European 1500's and said that the Catholic Church was the most dominant. During this period, there was a form of Capitalism; money existed. The Catholic Church told people that having money was a sin, so they should get rid of what they had. The Church essentially wanted to keep people in poverty so they did this due to their own greed.

John Calvin: Didn't agree with what the church was doing, so he created Calvinism (a sect).The core beliefs of Calvinism:
1. Predestination: Before you are born, God has already chosen those who are going to heaven, a small elite group of people.
2. Divine Transcendence: God's power cannot be questioned.
3. Asceticism: Living without pleasure.
4. Vocation/Calling: Work is everything, this is known as the protestant work ethic.
Everyone tried to live by these beliefs but only a small elite group were successful, this created vast inequality in society (modern Capitalism).It can be argued that Calvinism created Capitalism and therefore argued that religion can cause social change.

China: The old religion of China was Confucianism which kept the population poor.

Redding: Argues that China is post-Confucianism as their culture has changed allowing them to embrace the Protestant work ethic, leading to economic growth.

South America (Brazil): Brazil is currently experiencing economic change. it is traditionally a Catholic country.

Lehmann: Argues that the Catholic church was the only choice for so long, however the Pentecostal church has grown and become global. It has a core belief of the Protestant work ethic but other beliefs change in each country. In every other country they adapt beliefs based on the culture of that country, making it popular. 

3. Religious Fundamentalism

All religions have an element of fundamentalism within them.

Giddens: Defines cosmopolitanism as being liberal, having progression and equality. Defines fundamentalism as the basics of the religion, the literal truth of the sacred text. Fundamentalists are usually dedicated and traditional, it is usually a response to cosmopolitanism.

Bauman: Argues that fundamentalism is a response to postmodernity. People do not like that there is no absolute truth in society, so they need some form of truth. People do not like the lack of fixed identity, fundamentalist sects provide set identity.

Herberg: Argues that internal secularisation has occurred, religions have diluted their beliefs. They are trying to attract more people in order to maintain their membership.

Castelles: Argues that there are two responses to postmodernity:

1.      Resistant Identity - Defend themselves from change and turn to fundamentalism.

2.      Project Identity - Have a positive outlook and join a progressive movement to find themselves.

Heelas: Argues that people don't like 'Congregational domain' (traditional churches), these are in decline in the post-modern world as people don't like being told what to do and do not accept what they have to say. Identities are fluid, people would have been in one religion previously but now they are not as they have a choice. People are starting to experiment with 'Hollistic milieu' (NAMs/NRMs). These are now replacing religion, therefore functionalism is a meta-narrative as they do not talk about NAMs.

Steve Bruce: Argues that fundamentalists are using religion as a form of cultural defence against cosmopolitanism. He argues that there are two types of fundamentalists:

1. Western Fundamentalists - Such as Westboro Baptist Church. They fight cosmopolitanism. The enemy is everyone.
2. Third World Fundamentalism - Such as Islamic fundamentalists. They fight cosmopolitanism. The enemy is the Western World.

Iran: They are a traditional Islamic country. The US began a revolution in the 1950s in Iran, they removed the leader. The US installed their own leader who was pro-USA and allowed full access to oil, the building of military bases and tried to make it a more secular country. In 1979 there was an Islamic revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini and brought Islam back to Iran.

Steve Bruce argues that the people of Iran used their religion as a cultural defence, not as a way of religion.

Samuel Huntington: Argues that religion causes conflict on a global scale. Each civilisation clashes with one another due to differences in religion. He believes that religion is the only divide in the world, the state uses this to unite the population.

Casanova: Argues that Huntington ignores divides within these civilisations. An example would be Northern Ireland, Protestantism and Catholicism are both branches of Christianity that disagree.

Horrie and Chippindale: Argues that Huntington suggests that Islam is the enemy of the West, not just a minority group that are terrorists.

Secularisation

Secularisation

Bryan Wilson: Secularisation is the process whereby religious thinking, practices and institutions lose social significance.

Martin: Argues that people should stop debating secularisation as it is impossible to measure.

Arguments For

1. Church Attendance: Affiliation vs. Membership. The 2011 census revealed that 59% of the population listed themselves as Christian, whereas Churches revealed that only 4% of the population attended church.

Terry Sanderson: Argues that churches have lost their core businesses, 'hatch, match and dispatch' (christenings, weddings and funerals). People are now using civil alternatives rather than the church.

Breerly: Argues that the young don't attend church because they find it boring.

Voas and Crochett: Argue that the elderly are the most religious due to:

1. The aging effect - getting older and needing comfort as they are close to death.
2. The generational effect - more religious as growing up they lived in poverty.

Abby Day: 'Believe in belonging'. Argues that people who affiliate with Christianity aren't actually religious and only want to affiliate with the Christian majority. In her unstructured interviews she found that few people actually believed in a God. They only define themselves as such out of fear of being marginalised in an 'us and them' society. They don't want to be affiliated with ethnic others, young others or bad mothers.                      
Three types of Christians:                                                                                                          
1. Natal Christians: Raised as Christian so affiliates with the religion.                   
2. Ethnic Christians: Assimilate into British culture as an ethnic minority and adopt the norms of the majority.                                                                                                   
3. Aspirational Christians: Say they're religious to look moral.

2. Disengagement: The connection between the public and religious organisations. Cosmopolitanism.

Davies: Argues that the public are suffering from a moral decline and the church no longer holds any moral influence because of their low status clergy's, they have a bad reputation and a lack of trust from the public as they allow homosexual marriages and divorce.

Parsons: Structural differentiation. Argues that religion is losing its core functions in modern society. This is due to the moving equilibrium, religion is being replaced by NRMs and NAMs.

Bruce: 'Privatised' religious belief as it has lost its place within the public domain. Frame legislation demeans that no person can wear religious symbols.

Herberg: Internal secularisation. Argues that the church are diluting their beliefs as they are losing their place within society, they are trying to adhere to a cosmopolitan society but as a result are losing people to fundamentalism.

3. Desacrilisation and Rationalisation: No belief in the supernatural/magic. Enlightenment has led to an increase in scientific thought.

Max Weber: 'Disenchantment of the world'.

Bruce: Argues when people try to explain things using science we have a technological world view to explain misfortune.

4. Cultural Defence/Cultural Transmission

Steve Bruce: Argues that transition and cultural defences have nothing to do with religion, they only want to defend their culture.

Bird: Argues that the African Caribbean's use religion as a form of cultural attack by creating the Pentecostal church to help them overcome racism/give comfort and beat poverty by creating the Protestant work ethic, this has nothing to do with religion.

Aktar: Argues that Islam uses religion as a cultural defence to fight a 'war on terror' portrayed through the media.

Judith Butler: Argues that religion isn't a cultural defence but rather a form of cultural transmission. Islamic women in today’s society want to combine traditional Islam with British society, known as cultural hybredity, creating a traditional heritage with Western society. Therefore there is less need for religion so they can experiment with both identities. Some argue that the Islamic youth are becoming radicalised.

5. Religious Pluralism: Too much choice, same claim.

Peter Berger: Argues that all religions claim a 'monopoly of the truth' which then creates a crisis of credibility as they all claim that their religion is the one true faith which cannot be accurate.

Lyotard: Argues that religion is a meta-narrative in today's society as there is no absolute truth anymore.

Arguments Against

1. Vicarious Religion

Grace Davie: She looked at religious involvement in Sweden, they have the lowest church attendance on record. She found that although they don't go to church, they voluntarily pay extra taxes in order to maintain the church and pay for a professional clergy that pray on their behalf. She argues that they don't have enough time so they have someone else do it for them. People can stay at home without feeling guilty. When there are 'interruptions to normality' people know that the church will always be there. She argues that people 'believe without belonging'.

2. Multiculturalism

O'Beirne: Argues that the White British are becoming more secular as they ranked it last in importance on shaping their identity. Whereas the African Caribbean population ranked it third and the Islamic population ranked it second.

3. Growth of NRM/NAM

Stark and Bainbridge: 'Secularisation cycle'. Argue that secularisation occurs and people break away from the church and innovate a NRM or NAM causing religious revival. However, the cycle will continue and secularisation will occur again.

Wallis: Argues that there are three types of New Religious Movements:

1. World Affirming Movements – They are positive and are trying to help followers achieve their potential. They have an element of religion within them. An example of this is Scientology, they believe that people have a lot of potential but cannot achieve it due to their emotional baggage. They audit peoples lives and record it to keep on file, if people don't do as they want then they release their secrets

2. World Accommodating Movements – Neither positive of negative. They usually attempt to improve the world through retreating back to traditional teachings. An example of this is the Evangelical Church, these Christians are world accommodating as they don't preach about the end of the world, they preach positive messages.

3. World Rejecting Movements – Negative outlook on the world, they are known as 'millenarian movements' as they believe in the end of the world coming as they don't like the world as it is. An example of this is the Unification Church (the moonies), they believe that the leader is a reincarnation of Jesus, he refers to homosexuals as 'dirty dung eating dogs' who will burn in hell. They perform mass weddings to save as many people as possible.

Eileen Barker: Uses the moonies to illustrate an increase in NRMs. The people who join these NRMs are often from professional backgrounds and feel rejected by their own family. Therefore these NRMs offer a surrogate family.

Glock and Stark: Argue that women suffer from three types of deprivation that cause them to join NRMs:

1. Social Deprivation – Status in society, low paid jobs, housewives.

2. Ethical Deprivation – Women are generally more conservative than men therefore think society is in a moral decline and religion offers a moral social standing.

3. Organismic Deprivation – Argue women are more likely to suffer from health issues including mental health problems.

Heelas: 'The Kendal Project'. People are no longer in the congregational domain and want hollistic milleau. An area of Kendal has the highest church attendance in the UK and Heelas discovered, via surveys, the a significant growth of hollisitic milleau occurred because people think that these NAMs are more individual, less time consuming and suited to their identities.

Drane: Argues these people are joining NAMs because they're suffering from a spiritual void.

Ethnicity and Youth

Ethnicity and Youth

In 2001, 72% of the population claimed they were Christian, only 4% attended church.

Elderly (60+): are likely to be more religious.

Voas and Crockett: Argue that this is due to two reasons:
1. The ageing effect — getting older and need comfort knowing they're close to death.
2. The generational effect – more religious because growing up they lived in poverty.

Middle Aged (30-45): Likely to join NAMs as they are more spiritual and want to create their own identity.

Heelas: Argues that they don't want the congregational domain.

Young:

Brierly: Argues that the young find church boring and have no demand for religions.

Greely: Argues that the middle age teach children the right norms and values.

Mayo: Argues that the young are interested in religion as they are still searching for the answers to the bigger picture.

Peter Berger: Argues that religion is seen as a 'sacred canopy', it gives people answers to life’s questions and protects them from uncertainty.

Grace Davie: 'Vicarious religion'. She looked at religious involvement in Sweden, they have the lowest church attendance on record. She found that although they don't go to church, they voluntarily pay extra taxes in order to maintain the church and pay for a professional clergy that pray on their behalf. She argues that they don't have enough time so they have someone else do it for them. People can stay at home without feeling guilty. When there are 'interruptions to normality' people know that the church will always be there. She argues that people 'believe without belonging'.

Abby Day: 'Believe in belonging'. Argues that people who affiliate with Christianity aren't actually religious and only want to affiliate with the Christian majority. In her unstructured interviews she found that few people actually believed in a God. They only define themselves as such out of fear of being marginalised in an 'us and them' society. They don't want to be affiliated with ethnic others, young others or bad mothers.
Three types of Christians:
1. Natal Christians: Raised as Christian so affiliates with the religion.
2. Ethnic Christians: Assimilate into British culture as an ethnic minority and adopt the norms of the majority.
3. Aspirational Christians: Say they're religious to look moral.

O'Beirne: Found that the White British population viewed religion as being least important to their identity. Islamic ranked it second, after family. African Caribbean ranked it third, after culture and family. 

Max Weber: Explains why ethnic minorities are more religious than the White British.  Argues that ethnic minorities are more likely to be marginalised. Before coming to the UK many lived in poverty which shows they are more likely to be religious.

Durkheim: Argues that when people come into a new society the want a collective conscience, a sense of belonging.

Bird: Argues that ethnic minorities are more religious due to a cultural defence. In the 1950's the British African Caribbean population were mainly Christian that tried to assimilate into British society and were blocked from joining the Catholic church. Therefore they joined the Pentecostal church, a denomination which promoted a cultural defence. It helped them to overcome racism and provided the Protestant work ethic.

Modood: Argues that the Islamic community are the most religious in UK society because they are more dedicated. Children are expected to follow the family religion and it diffuses into everyday life compared to the Pentecostal church. Mass immigration in the 50s meant they were far more religious and it gave them comfort against racism. The second generation wouldn't need religion as much. The third generation had a lack of religious identity and the fourth generation had no real need for religion as life is easier.

Judith Butler: Argues that religion isn't a cultural defence but rather a form of cultural transmission. Islamic women in today’s society want to combine traditional Islam with British society, known as cultural hybredity, creating a traditional heritage with Western society. Therefore there is less need for religion so they can experiment with both identities.Some argue that the Islamic youth are becoming radicalised.

Archer: Argues that this is over-exaggerated, Islam is a religion about peace, the media are manipulating extreme situations to make Islam look evil.

Choudhury: Argues that the message of Islam is misinterpreted, a lot of Preachers are teaching the wrong message. Most terrorists are uneducated on their religion as they are being misled.

Aktar: Argues that the Western media creates terrorism, by labelling people as terrorists they ultimately become their label. An example of this is the 'war on terror' that was created after 9/11.

Hopkins and Kahani-Hopkins: Argue that some middle class people are becoming radicalised as they were blocked from employment. The lack of opportunities in Western society for them makes them angry. As a result they become attracted to these radical movements.

New Religious Movements and New Age Movements (NRMs/NAMs)

New Religious Movements and New Age Movements

Stark and Bainbridge: 'Secularisation cycle'. Argue that secularisation occurs and people break away from the church and innovate a NRM or NAM causing religious revival. However, the cycle will continue and secularisation will occur again.

Types of Religious Organisations:
1. Church – Not a building, a worldwide mainstream religion. It has large membership. They follow traditional beliefs and have a long life span. They are extremely wealthy as they are exempt from tax. (Troelsch).
2. Sect – A small protest movement that originates from a church, people break away due to a disagreement over doctrine. They usually revolve around a leader. They are usually very short lived movements and are extreme. There are really dedicated to their cause. When the leader dies the movement usually dies. (Bryan Wilson).
3. Denomination – Established from successful sects. After the death of the leader the sect will establish itself as a large religion. (Niebuhr).
4. Cult – Difficult to define. They are loose in structure. They are usually a group of like-minded individuals who have a leader. People voluntarily come together to create their own community. Cults do not have to be negative. (Stark and Bainbridge) (Haddon and Long).

Bryan Wilson: Argues that not all sects follow the same route, they don't end when the leader dies (ie. Westboro Baptist Church). He argues that a small number of established sects that will continue. An example of this is the moonies, the leader died last year but the movement is still continuing. Another is Jehovah's witnesses, he argues that they are not a denomination but actually an established sect. This group cannot really be defined into a set category.

Stark and Bainbridge: Argue that there are three different forms of cults:
1. Client Cults – A movement of people that doesn't require company. It is individual. (ie. Psychics).
2. Audience Clients – Can be transmitted through the media as there is a huge audience. (ie. Astrology).
3. Cultic Movements – Dedicated people that get negative press, distance themselves from others.

Haddon and Long: Argue that cults are misunderstood, however some have done negative things many cults do positive. Many cults are actually confused with sects.

Wallis: Argues that there are three types of New Religious Movements:
1. World Affirming Movements – They are positive and are trying to help followers achieve their potential. They have an element of religion within them. An example of this is Scientology, they believe that people have a lot of potential but cannot achieve it due to their emotional baggage. They audit peoples lives and record it to keep on file, if people don't do as they want then they release their secrets.
2. World Accomodating Movements – Neither positive of negative. They usually attempt to improve the world through retreating back to traditional teachings. An example of this is the Evangelical Church, these Christians are world accommodating as they don't preach about the end of the world, they preach positive messages.
3. World Rejecting Movements – Negative outlook on the world, they are known as 'millenarian movements' as they believe in the end of the world coming as they don't like the world as it is. An example of this is the Unification Church (the moonies), they believe that the leader is a reincarnation of Jesus, he refers to homosexuals as 'dirty dung eating dogs' who will burn in hell. They perform mass weddings to save as many people as possible.

Max Weber: Argues the marginalised are more likely to join an NRM as they're disadvantaged and these movements can offer answers.

Steve Bruce: Disagrees with Weber and argues that people join NRMs because of progmative motives which gives them help and reach their potential and eventually financial prosperity, not religious motives such as Scientology.

Herberg: Internal secularisation within churches has resulted in the increase of NRMs. Churches therefore dilute beliefs and embrace the cosmopolitanism rather than fundamentalism (the words of sacred texts) so the fundamentalists feel rejected and then turn to sects.

Eileen Barker: Uses the moonies to illustrate an increase in NRMs. The people who join these NRMs are often from professional backgrounds and feel rejected by their own family. Therefore these NRMs offer a surrogate family.

Glock and Stark: Argue that women suffer from three types of deprivation that cause them to join NRMs:
1. Social Deprivation – Status in society, low paid jobs, housewives.
2. Ethical Deprivation – Women are generally more conservative than men therefore think society is in a moral decline and religion offers a moral social standing.
3. Organismic Deprivation – Argue women are more likely to suffer from health issues including mental health problems.

New Age Movement: More spiritual and individualistic.

Heelas: 'The Kendal Project'. People are no longer in the congregational domain and want hollistic milleau. An area of Kendal has the highest church attendance in the UK and Heelas discovered, via surveys, the a significant growth of hollisitic milleau occurred because people think that these NAMs are more individual, less time consuming and suited to their identities.

Drane: Argues these people are joining NAMs because they're suffering from a spiritual void.

Religion and Social Change

Religion and Social Change

Max Weber: Created Weberism, can be seen to be mirroring Karl Marx as he talks about the economy and Capitalism. 
He agrees with Marx; in some ways religion can prevent change from occurring. 'Theodicies of dispriviledge' those who are the poorest are the most religious due to being offered salvation in the afterlife.
Weber studied European 1500's and said that the Catholic Church was the most dominant. During this period, there was a form of Capitalism; money existed. The Catholic Church told people that having money was a sin, so they should get rid of what they had. The Church essentially wanted to keep people in poverty so they did this due to their own greed.

John Calvin: Didn't agree with what the church was doing, so he created Calvinism (a sect).The core beliefs of Calvinism:
1. Predestination: Before you are born, God has already chosen those who are going to heaven, a small elite group of people.
2. Divine Transcendence: God's power cannot be questioned.
3. Asceticism: Living without pleasure.
4. Vocation/Calling: Work is everything, this is known as the protestant work ethic.
Everyone tried to live by these beliefs but only a small elite group were successful, this created vast inequality in society (modern Capitalism).It can be argued that Calvinism created Capitalism and therefore argued that religion can cause social change.

Confucianism: An old religion of China, similar to 1500's Catholicism, became out of date very quickly because of the alternative that was presented. Globalisation affected Confucianism and sent it into decline. Due to this change in religious belief their economy has boosted because of the protestant work ethic.

Kautsky: A Marxist who criticised Weber's point that the protestant work ethic was one of the main causes of Capitalism. He argues that the protestant work ethic was a lie created by the wealthy to justify the vast inequality. He suggests that those who claimed to be Calvinists were already wealthy before it came about.

Steve Bruce: An Atheist who argued that religion can bring change if it has the backing of the wider public. He gave two examples:

• American Civil Rights Movement: Reverend Martin Luther King brought change by religion as he did things in a moral way, he was an 'honest broker', he was peaceful and not violent and had the majority of the public supporting him.

• New Christian Right: Failed to bring change as they had no support from the public they chose to distance themselves from others with similar views and were a minority group.

Liberation Theology

Bloch: Marxist who argued that the majority of the time religion is a conservative force. However, it is a dual character and therefore has the potential for change.

Otto Maduro: Argues that in extreme circumstances religion can be a force for social change. Discusses South America in the 1960s, there was a lot of poverty in these countries and were governed by dictatorships, the only place they could turn to was the church. The priests were poor just like everyone else. The priests decided that change needed to occur, they separated themselves from the Catholic church and led a revolution. The priests had this influence as people trusted them. These priests were condemned by the Pope for going against the wishes and teachings of the Catholic church.

Gramsci: The priests are the organic intellectuals and provide the counter hegemony and therefore provide social change.

Althusser: The Bourgeoisie have an interest in religion as it is part of the ideological state apparatus and social change helps to keep them subdued.

Religion as a Conservative Force

Religion as a Conservative Force

Functionalism

Religion is a social institution that provides society with a value consensus, a specialised division of labour and social order. Functionalists believe that religion is a conservative force as it stays the same and keeps other things the same.

There are three functions of religion:

1. Socialisation (Parsons).
2. Collective Conscience (Durkheim).
3. Psychological Functions (Malinowski)

Durkheim: Believed that religion is totemism, his study of the Australian Aborigines allowed him to prove that religion was bringing communities together under a symbol. He calls this a 'collective conscience' as everyone is together in agreement. He believes that all religious experience is collective (integration). It teaches norms and values (latency). Therefore religion is expressive and prevents suicide due to the pre-requisites that it instils. He argues that religion is a metaphor for altruism, as it teaches people that God is special and that people are normal, but, they're not really worshipping a God they are worshipping society. Society is more important than the individual.

Parsons: Argues that religion maintains the value consensus through socialisation as it provides people with sacred moral codes, if people do not follow this code then there will be sanctions in the afterlife.

Malinowski: Studied the Trobriand Island. He found that they had a rite of passage known as the 'kula', which was giving shells to other islands as a way of maintaining friendships however this was a dangerous act. He found that they would use their religion during these periods of uncertainty to give them comfort, they also used it as a form of overcoming 'the crises of life' (grief). He argues that the same occurs during our society as people often turn to God during times of need. He calls all of this 'psychological functions'.

Rob Bellah: 'Civil Religion', supports Durkheim's theory of totemism. He argues that America is the land of immigrants so the government had to find a way of uniting everyone under one banner, so they created 'Americanism'. They created the idea of an American God that united everyone together and the symbol is the flag. People are not worshipping a God, they are worshipping the fact that they are from America.

Grace Davie: Criticises Durkheim as religion does not always have to be collective. 'Vicarious religion'. She looked at religious involvement in Sweden, they have the lowest church attendance on record. She found that although they don't go to church, they voluntarily pay extra taxes in order to maintain the church and pay for a professional clergy that pray on their behalf. She argues that they don't have enough time so they have someone else do it for them. People can stay at home without feeling guilty. When there are 'interruptions to normality' people know that the church will always be there. She argues that people 'believe without belonging'.

Robert Merton: 'Dysfunctions', argues that religion can cause wars as well as providing social order.

Heelas: Argues that people don't like 'Congregational domain' (traditional churches), these are in decline in the post-modern world as people don't like being told what to do and do not accept what they have to say. Identities are fluid, people would have been in one religion previously but now they are not as they have a choice. People are starting to experiment with 'Hollistic millieu' (NAMs/NRMs). These are now replacing religion, therefore functionalism is a meta-narrative as they do not talk about NAMs.

Terry Sanderson: 'Church attendance', he argues that religion cannot be a collective conscience as only 4% of the population attends church. He claims that the church has lost its core business, 'hatch, match and dispatch' (christenings, weddings and funerals). However people are now going to alternatives instead of going to the church.

Marxism

Written in the 1800's, the modernist era. It is a structural theory. It is a conflict theory around social class and economic inequality.

1. Primitive Communism – There is no concept of private property and everything’s shared within communities. People are in promiscuous hordes.
2. Ancient Societies – The first signs of a class system, agriculture grows forming a new wealthy elite. They want to possess as much land as possible, therefore taking over other countries.                                                                                                              REVOLUTION – Those that were enslaved realised that they needed to break down the empire as the elite were too weak.
3. Feudalism – The leaders of the resistance form the new aristocracy who take over from the ruling class. Religion is created by the aristocracy to avoid another revolution and to give them the divine right to rule, Marx refers to this as the 'opium of the people'. People began to trade their resources with one another.
4. Capitalism – The merchants become the leaders as they could provide for the masses better than the monarchy, they became the Bourgeoisie.                                               REVOLUTION – Socialism, 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat'. The masses will work together to create a Communist society.
5. Communism – Society is perfect, there is no need for religion as it oppresses.

Marxists believe that religion is a conservative force and prevents change/revolution. It was created by the Monarchy during Feudalism as a way of controlling the peasants and giving them the divine right to rule. As a result, religion was adopted by the Bourgeoisie as in a Capitalist society religion would be part of the superstructure that helped to maintain the false class consciousness.

Marx: 'Opium of the masses, the sigh of the oppressed creature'. He argued that religion is the drug of the people, it keeps the Proletariat passive and maintains the false class conscious. It dulls the pain of exploitation.

Engels: 'Salvation in the afterlife'. Argues that the point of religion is to prevent revolution. It does this by justifying the suffering as a test from God and by passing the test you are earning your right to go to heaven. Extreme poverty will always exist within Capitalism as inequality is a key part of Capitalism. In a way, Christianity is similar to Marxism as they are both trying to help the poor but the difference is the answer, Christianity claims that salvation will be achieved in the afterlife, Marxists argue that salvation can occur in Communism. An example of this is third world countries who are some of the most religious countries in the world.

Halevy: Argues that religion can prevent a revolution. Since industrialisation there hasn't been a revolution in Britain, this is because religion and the creation of the Methodist church. During early industrialisation the Proletariat were becoming upset with the Church of England and were alienated from the church. The Proletariat were beginning to walk away from religion which could result in a revolution, so the Bourgeoisie created a new type of religion, the Methodist church. This was designed to the needs of the working class. This kept the workers in religion and prevented a revolution.

Hook: Blames the Catholic church from inequality as they benefit from it and want to maintain it. If the Catholic church wanted to eradicate poverty and AIDs in Africa then they could, but they don't want to. There is overpopulation and STDs in Africa, the Catholic church preaches to them that contraception is a sin, particular priests have been known to pierce condoms to prove that they are ineffective. They maintain this inequality to maintain their membership.

Leach: Argues that the Church of England reflects the interests of the wealthy. The church of England is dominated by the wealthy, 80% of Bishops were educated at Oxbridge, therefore their views only represent the rich.

Otto Maduro: 'Liberation theology'. Argues that in extreme circumstances religion can be a force for social change. Discusses South America in the 1960s, there was a lot of poverty in these countries and were governed by dictatorships, the only place they could turn to was the church. The priests were poor just like everyone else. The priests decided that change needed to occur, they separated themselves from the Catholic church and led a revolution. The priests had this influence as people trusted them. These priests were condemned by the Pope for going against the wishes and teachings of the Catholic church.

Feminism

Mary Daly: (Christian Feminist). Argues that when religions were polytheistic they were good for gender equality as there were both male and female Gods. However, Christianity hasn't helped gender inequality as it established the dominance of monotheism, which is always male. She argues that the only way equality will be achieved within religion is if the God can be viewed as a woman.

Karen Armstrong: Argues that the worship of men can be seen in the way that the church is run as women are blocked from powerful positions within the church. Due to God being a man, Jesus and his followers being men, women should not be allowed to hold high positions within the church.

The church are making changes and now are planning to allow women to be Bishops, this will occur in 2015. ← They may be diluting their own beliefs in order to maintain their popularity (Herberg).

Bird: Argues that in the Catholic church, Priests are to remain celibate because women are impure and are dirty, and they have to remain completely pure.

Jean Holm: Argues that in Islam, if a woman is menstruating, she is denied access to the mosque. She argues that the devalues women as this is something that they cannot help and it hinders their worship.

Simone de Beauvoir: Views patriarchy in religion the same way as Marx viewed class inequality. Argues that in religion, men are the Bourgeoisie, they control everything. Women are like the Proletariat, they have no power at all, she refers to them as 'second class believers' they are not seen in the same standard as men. She argues that women need to protest against this and change it.

El Sadaawi: (Islamic Feminist). Argues that it is not religion that is patriarchal, it is the male manipulation of religion that has made it patriarchal. An example of this could be that they were the ones who wrote the sacred texts and decided that it was a male God.

Burchill: Argues that the veil is a mobile prison, it is a sign of male ownership.

Helen Watson: Argues that the veil has nothing to do with male property, the real purpose is liberation as many women are judged based on their appearance, therefore western women are oppressed more as they are judged entirely on the way that they are looked, the veil prevents Islamic women from being judged in this way as they are only able to be judged on their intellect.

Mac an Ghail: 'Male gaze', men think that they have the right to look at any attractive female that they see.

Statistics suggest that women are far more likely to go to church than men are.

Miller and Hoffman: Argue that women are more likely to go to church in comparison to men as they have been socialised to seek comfort, they need the protection that it offers.

Greely: Argues that women are far more likely to go to church after they have had children as they want to raise their children properly. It is the sign of a good parent and it is part of their role as the expressive leader.

Linda Woodhead: Argues that things have progressed, the previous theories were written during periods when women were housewives. Now, female employment is more common they may not have time to attend church. She argues that there are three types of women in contemporary society:

1. Home centred – Women who don't work and have a lot of time on their hands. They are more likely to attend traditional churches.
2. Work centred – Contemporary women who are in full time employment. They are more likely to be secular as they do not have time to attend church.
3. Jugglers – The women who attempt to juggle work and religion. As they don't have time to be part of traditional religions, they get involved in NAMs.

Religion, Science and Ideology

Religion, Science and Ideology

Peter Berger: Argues that religion is seen as a 'sacred canopy', it gives people answers to life’s questions and protects them from uncertainty.

Definitions of Religion:

• Substantive (what religion is) – Max Weber: Argues that religion is the belief in the supernatural. Substantive definitions are therefore exclusive as if there is no idea of a 'God' within the religion then it is not a religion.
• Functional (what religion does) – Yinger: Argues that religion provides society with social order, maintains the value consensus and the specialised division of labour. Functional  definitions are therefore inclusive.
• Social Constructionist – Alan Aldridge: Argues that each individual has their own definition on what religion is. Social constructionist definitions are therefore inclusive.

Types of Religion:

1. Totemism (Durkheim): Argues that religion is the belief in a sacred (holy) symbol. He researched the Australian Aborigines and found that they would try to differentiate themselves from each other by choosing an animal or a plant to be their symbol that they would worship and place on totem poles. In the end it was the drawing of the symbol that they were praising, not actually the symbol itself.
2. Animism (Evans-Pritchard): A belief in ghosts and spirits, nothing to do with a 'God'.
3. Theistic: Religions that involve a 'God'. Mono theistic, one 'God'. Poly theistic, many 'Gods'.
4. Buddhism: The Buddha is a symbol of how to live your life. Their religion is a code on how to live your life, how to improve yourself and achieve enlightenment.

Different Religious Organisations:

1. Church (Troeltsch): Not a building, a worldwide mainstream religion. It has a large membership. They follow traditional beliefs and have a huge life span. Extremely wealthy and are exempt from tax. An example of this could be Christianity.
2. Sect: A small protest movement that originates from a church who break away because of a disagreement over doctrine. They usually revolve around a leader. These are very short lived movements. They are usually extreme. When the leader dies the movement usually dies. Really dedicated to their cause.
3. Denomination (Niebuhr): These come from successful sects. After the death of the leader, the sect will establish itself as a large religion. An example of this is the Methodist church.
4. Cult: Difficult to define. Loose in structure. Usually a group of like minded individuals that have a leader. People voluntarily come together and create their own community. Cults do not have to be negative.

Ideology: An ideology is a set of beliefs based around a core principle.

Marxism: Believe that the ideology of religion is Capitalism, as it is part of the superstructure that instils the false class consciousness. (Stuart Hall).

Radical Feminism: Believe that the ideology of religion is patriarchy. (Laura Purdy – Political Action). (Shulamith Firestone – Reproductive Technology).

Religion and science can both be viewed as ideologies as they are both a set of beliefs based around the core principle. After 'Enlightenment' science became the dominant belief system.

Karl Popper: ‘Fallacy of Induction’. Popper is very positive towards science due to ‘falsification’ (using evidence to disprove a theory). He argues that the point of science is to prove your own theory and other theories wrong. He claims that science is the dominant belief system as it is the largest. As any cause and effect relationship can be proved wrong at any time due to one exception. He argues that religion is not a science as you cannot test religion like you can with science.

Robert Merton: Argues that science is all about falsification and that science is the dominant belief system due to having the ‘CUDOS’ norms:
C – Communism; No private property within science.
U – Universalism; Everyone is equal.
D – Disinterestedness; No fraud within research.
OS – Organised Scepticism; Encourage others to be critical of your work.

Thomas Kuhn: Argues that science is the dominant belief system as it has a ‘fixed paradigm’ (a way of doing things), the people within science have a set way of doing research. Change within science is very rare. The paradigm is the foundation of the subject area, in order for change to occur it would require a scientific revolution. He argues that religion isn’t a science as there is no fixed paradigm and there is too much conflict. Therefore religion is pre-scientific.

Keat and Urry: Argue that within the field of science, they study a variety of topics such as closed belief systems and open belief systems. Closed beliefs are things that are never challenged , open beliefs are things that are challenged. They argue that science is versatile and therefore religion could be a science as they debate ideas that can’t be proven.Since the Enlightenment, secularisation has occurred.

Evans-Pritchard: Believes that religion is a closed belief system. He studied the Azande tribe who believed in animism. They believe that all misfortune comes from witchcraft, people can commit witchcraft from their stomachs, but this is unintentional. They created a mechanism to test this, they'd visit the Shaman who would feed a chicken a benge, if the chicken died then it would prove that witchcraft had occurred. However, the benge was actually poisonous so it would always die. This brings people closer together and is a mechanism of social control. It is a closed belief system as it is never challenged.

Polyani: Argues that religion is a self sustaining belief system as it is never challenged as queries can always be answered.As society is now more rational and scientific, people question things. Therefore religion has declined as they can't get answers.

Herberg: Argues that internal secularisation has occurred, religions have diluted their beliefs. They are trying to attract more people in order to maintain their membership.

Marxists: Would argue that science and religion are part of the superstructure and help to maintain the false class consciousness.

Feminists: Would argue that science and religion are patriarchal as they are very male dominated and it is difficult for women to excel in these fields.

Postmodernists: Would argue that science and religion are outdated as we are no longer in the modernist era. They each claim a 'monopoly of the truth' which is a metanarrative as society is fragmented and identities are fluid.

Karl Manheim: Argues that all ideologies are:

1. Written by intellectuals – therefore they do not understand everyday life.
2. One sided – they are subjective.

There are two types of world view:

1. Ideological – traditional/past
2. Utopian – future

He argues that society needs a 'free floating intelligentsia'. An objective world view that everyone can understand.