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Assess the View That Science Has Replaced Religion as the Main Ideological Influence in Society Today.

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Assess the view that science has replaced religion as the main ideological influence in society today.

Many argue that the radical social changes brought about by industrialisation have led to religion being undermined by scientific rational thought. For instance, many phenomena, such as earthquakes and diseases, are explained in terms of science rather than through religion. On the other hand, religious thoughts are still dominant in some aspects of life- for instance; many still reject the theory of evolution, or see evolution as guided or initiated by some divine force. Whether or not science has replaced religion as the main ideological influence in modern society is a question that requires answering in two elements. Are science and religion ideological? Although there are many who argue that religion is an ideology or contains ideological aspects, whether or not science is remains a controversial subject which requires criticisms of the objectivity. If science is not an ideology then the view given by the essay question is falsified. If both are ideological then we may proceed to assess the whether science has supplanted religion in this sense. The term “ideology” is difficult to define. Roughly, an ideology is a belief system or framework of ideas which present a partial or distorted view of reality. In this assessment, I wish to apply Manheim’s definitions of two types of ideology- an ideology which justifies current social order, and an ideology which presents a utopian view of how society should be ordered. This essay will follow the following pattern; first we will assess to what extent science and religion match the criteria of these types of ideologies and secondly, has science supplanted religion as the dominant ideology of this type?

Many conflict theorists argue that religion is an ideological force serves to maintain a social

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