...Asses the usefulness of functionalist theories in understanding religion today Functionalists see society as a system that works together as a whole. Functionalism is based on a consensus; this is where each institution functions to help society by working together. Functionalists argue that religion is one of the institutions that promote social integration and social solidarity through value consensus. It is need to maintain social control Durkheim argues that religion brings people together creating social solidarity. This is done through ceremonies and ritual which unite people whether they are religious or not. He argues that most religions have ceremonies such as christenings, marriages, and funerals. Durkheim disguises between the sacred and the profane which are found in every religion. The sacred are things that are set apart or forbidden such as churches, temples. These things produce a sense of awe and respect where are profane does not. Profane are objects, activities which feature in individual’s daily life, such as shopping. Durkheim argues that ceremonies take people away from their profane part of life and bring into the sacred part of their lives. This creates a collective conscience as it unites society. Society today is more secular due to the reduction of religious beliefs rituals and ceremonies still bring people together. Functionalist would argue that even today religion still maintains social integration Durkheim argues that there is nothing special...
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...Parsons: Values and Meaning• Parsons sees religion helping individuals to cope with unforeseen events and uncontrollable outcomes. He identifies two other essential functions that religion performs in modern society. • It creates and legitimates society’s central values. This is done my sacralising them. In the USA, Protestantism has sacralised the core American values of individualism, meritocracy and self-discipline. This serves to promote consensus and social stability. • It is the primary source of meaning. It answers ultimate questions about the human condition e.g., why the good suffer and why some die young. Such events defy our sense of justice and make life appear meaningless, and this may undermine our commitment to society’s values. Religion provides answers to such questions, e.g. by explaining suffering as a test of faith that will be rewarded in heaven. By doing so, religion enables people to adjust to adverse events or circumstances and helps maintain stability Parsons: Values and Meaning• Parsons sees religion helping individuals to cope with unforeseen events and uncontrollable outcomes. He identifies two other essential functions that religion performs in modern society. • It creates and legitimates society’s central values. This is done my sacralising them. In the USA, Protestantism has sacralised the core American values of individualism, meritocracy and self-discipline. This serves to promote consensus and social stability. • It is the primary source of...
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...that suicide rates were dependent on social factors, related to both scientific laws and facts, such as religion, education and the media. Durkheim conducted a range of research to prove these predictions. For example, he found that Catholics had lower suicide rates than Protestants. From these findings concluded that suicide is caused by social factors such as too little/too much social integration and too little/too much moral regulation. Within the Catholic Church suicide is seen as a sin therefore due to this religious tie Catholics are less likely to commit suicide. Additionally, an example of suicide based on too much moral regulation is Palestinian suicide bombings. According to Durkheim, these two social factors create a typology of suicide. Altruistic suicide is due to too much social integration. Egoistic suicide is due to too little social integration. Fatalistic suicide is due to too much moral regulation. Anomic suicide is due to too little moral regulation. Furthermore, many positivists have built on Durkheim’s work. Including Sainsbury who found that social disorganisation, Anomic suicide, was the most popular type of suicide and Hallowach who found urban to rural changes make Egoistic suicide more likely. Durkheim’s work, being a Positivist, made making generalisations possible and his use of quantitative data allowed trends to be identified on a large scale due to objectivity. However Douglas criticised Durkheim’s work as believed each death must be classified...
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...Science»Sociology & Anthropology»Anthropology Durkheim and Geertz approaches to religion in society Updated on August 30, 2012 World Religions World Religions | Source Durkheim argued that religion is a social phenomenon, while for Geertz religion is a cultural system Both Durkheim and Geertz’s views of religion place emphasis on it‘s importance within a group, in relation to morality especially. However, they greatly differ in their approaches. Durkheim’s position is that the sacred is society which we are obliged to yield to and adopt within ourselves. Others though would argue that this withholds any power from the individual and also fails to consider religion as a source of power. Geertz considers religion to be a cultural system consisting of a collection of symbols which contain public and social meaning constructing the world as peoples perceive it. Yet Geertz fails to account for different interpretations and meanings of symbols despite the importance of symbols in his theory.Both theorists have ethnographic support despite their vast differences, however neither approach is completely clear of criticism. Durkheim regards religion as the means through which the clan expresses it’s being a society. According to Durkheim people experience society as a force outside themselves imposing rules of thought and behaviour which they explain in terms of God and religious forces. Religion acts as an expression of ‘a sense of dependence on a power outside ourselves’ (Radcliffe-Brown...
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...Functionalist (MACRO) view on Religion Functionalists believe that society is like an organism (Organic/Biological Analogy), and different key things each play its crucial part to keep society running successfully. This can include Religion, the Economy and the people in it. For functionalists what makes order possible is a social consensus (Equilibrium or Social Harmony/agreement) – shared norms and beliefs by which society as a whole follows. Religious institutions play their part in the social consensus and also help create social solidarity. Functionalist like to keep to the status qou and any change must be very slow (evolutionary like). Durkheim says religion is an important function for society as it binds people together like a ‘Social Cement’. Durkheim: The Sacred and the Profane * Durkheim believed in an idea called THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE. Durkheim argued that the key features of religion was not the idea of believing in a certain god/goddesses or spiritual beings. But it was the fundamental distinctions between the sacred (things that are set apart, forbidden and inspire feelings of awe, fear, compassion surrounded by taboos and prohibitions.) and the profane (these are things that have no social value) found in all religions. A religion is not a set of beliefs, it involves definite rituals or practises in relation to the sacred. These rituals are often collective – performed by social groups. * Powerful feelings in believers indicates to Durkheim that...
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...Comparison and Contrast of Theories of Karl Marx, Max Weber and Émile Durkheim. While influence on modern social science can be traced to many revolutionary figures, perhaps none had greater influence on modern social science than three social theorists/sociologists, Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim who have been known as principle architects of modern social science. Although modern theory of sociology was founded by Max Webber and Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx has had a profound impact on the evolution of modern sociology. Each of the three figures contributed to sociology in many ways through different approaches to social class and inequality. Many might argue that there are similarities between these sociologists’ theories and that they examined ideas that were similar; however, they all came to different conclusions. Karl Marx was influenced by political economists who believed that the cost of production was determined by the amount of labor. Along with these and other influences, Karl Marx approached social problems and inequalities through his theory of alienation, which focuses on separation of things that naturally belong together. Marx’s theory further describes estrangement of individuals from their human nature as results a society divided into social classes. Karl Marx argued that class is decided by ownership or non-ownership of production. He also saw class as having connection to the means of production while Max weber’s idea of alienation is based on the concept...
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...DIPLOMA IN SOCIAL WORK AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES COURSE CODE: SWD112 COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY QUESTION PICK ANY SOCIOLOGY FOUNDING FATHER, WRITE HIS OR HER CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY BY HEZEKIAH KELLY .M.O. D12SG0016 DATE: JUNE 2013 EMILE DAVID DURKHEIM (1858 – 1917) BRIEF HISTORY AND EARLY LIFE STAGES OF DURKHEIM Durkheim was born in the eastern Pascoag providence of Lorraine, which at that time was part of Germany, on April 15th 1858. He came from a long line of conservative French Jews but, he decided early in his life he would not follow in his family’s footsteps. He led a completely secular lifestyle. he never completely detached himself from his family or the Jewish community. Many of his colleagues and students were either from the Jewish community or of blood relation. In 1879 Durkheim entered École Normale Supérieure, as a very promising student. That year’s class was one of the most brilliant in the nineteenth century. Many of his classmates, such as Jean Jaurès and Henri Bergson, went on to become very influential to France’s history. Very early in his career, Durkheim became interested in the scientific approach to society by reading works by social scientists, Herbert Spencer and Auguste Comte, and studying with Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges. Thus, he found many problems with the French Academic System, because they had no social science...
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...Through the book, Durkheim is Dead many of the first sociological theorist and theories are introduced. The main purpose of the book is to ultimately illustrate and better explain these sociological theories and theorist through mystery and an illusion of real life events. The book’s characters consist of Sherlock Holmes, John Watson and a list of notable sociologists. The setting of the story occurs in London England during the year of 1910. To begin the wife of notorious social theorist Max Weber solicits the service of Sherlock Holmes because she fears that her husband is unstable and may bring harm to himself or someone else. Mrs. Weber requested that Holmes discreetly accompany them to the conference they came to London to attend, Holmes then decides that he...
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...of Functionalist theories in understanding religion today Functionalists have put forward their perspective on religion and how it benefits both society and the individual starting with how religion brings people together harmoniously, creating social cohesion and a sense of belonging as people believe in the same thing and all abide by the same rules. Religion creates and maintains a value consensus whilst giving society social order. By confirming to religious beliefs this allows us to gain morals and therefore Functionalists see religion as a positive aspect to society. Durkheim defines religion as ‘a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things’. He says all societies divide the world in to the sacred and the profane. Sacred are things set apart and forbidden, inspiring feelings of awe, fear and wonder. Profane are ordinary things that have no significance. Durkheim’s views on sacred symbols represents society’s collective consciousness which is the shared norms, values, beliefs and knowledge that make social life possible; without such consciousness it would crumble. Participating in shared rituals binds individuals together reminding them that they are a part of a community. Religion defines values as sacred giving the people great power compared to the non-believers. Through collective worship society understands the moral bonds that unite them. Durkheim also argues that religion functions to reinforce the collective unity/ social solidarity of a group...
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...Durkheim on solidarity Of all the things I’ve learned about from researching Durkheim’s thoughts and ideas, the most striking one were the ones which surrounded social solidarity. To put it simply, social solidarity is a set of norms, values and morals that hold a certain group of people together. He described it as a “wholly moral phenomenon which by itself is not amenable to exact observation and especially not to measurement” (Durkheim 1997). Durkheim believed that there were two types of solidarity, Mechanical and Organic Mechanical solidarity, despite what one might guess from its name, describes the social integration of members of a society who are connected by their homogeneity of beliefs, values and lifestyle. The defining aspect of mechanical solidarity is its collective consciousness. The group acts as one, all actions in unison. “All we require is for the functions to work together in a regular fashion” (Durkheim 1997). In this type of society it is often found that individuality is moderately or sometimes harshly discouraged and is usually punished by the group. Durkheim states that “the more intensity of punishment is the greater the more closely societies approximate to a less developed type- and the more the central power assumes an absolute character” (Tiryakian 1964). These types of societies are usually found in rural villages and other less developed communities. Organic solidarity is a slightly more modern version of solidarity that is born from the interdependence...
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...elsewhere, examine some of the reasons why there might be ‘correlations between suicides and other sets of social facts’ (12 marks) A correlation is a mutual relationship or connection between two or more things. Some distinctive correlations between suicide and other sets of social factors would include correlations such as the correlation between suicide and religion and suicide and marriage. For example the item includes one correlation stating that “suicide rates were higher in predominantly protestant countries” Suicide has been defined by Durkheim, although it has been defined in four ways as suicide is too complex to define in one way, these definitions being Altruistic, Egoistic, Anomic and Fatalistic. Although Douglas has stated that there are more in depth and more accurate definitions of suicide. Starting with the first correlation being suicide and religion, in relation to this, Durkheim’s definition of Egoistic suicide explains that in egoistic societies, individual rights, interests and welfare are heavily stressed and allegiance to the wider group is weak, with people being encourages to look after themselves and those particularly close to them at the expense of the wider society. Egoistic Suicide is defined as suicide in societies where people regard their own individual happiness as very important. As a result, social bonds are weak and there is a low level of social integration. Egoistic societies are often closely related to Protestantism, a strand of Christianity...
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...Ramy Mostafa El Housiny POLS 310 Professor Ahmed Abd Raboh Term Paper Criticize the modernization theory using all available materials on modernization and its critique, providing your own opinion on how modernization leads to development. The way people, societies, and countries develop and interact with each other have a strong influence on deviance. Although societies may differ in appearance and way of life, they all have crime, religion, family structure, politics, and economy. The vast differences in societies are constantly studied and theorized. Grand theories, for example, are meta-theories that examine an aspect of society on a global or national scale. One particular theory of interest is the modernization theory. The modernization theory suggests that the main causes of crime are the repercussions of the rapid development and modernization of nations (Howard 148). The theory of modernization is composed of three distinct Parts: (1) Identification of types of societies, and explanation of how those designated as modernized or relatively modernized differ from others; (2) specification of how societies become modernized, comparing factors that are more or less conducive to transformation; and (3) generalizations about how the parts of a modernized society fit together, involving comparisons of stages of modernization and types of modernized societies with clarity about prospects for further modernization. (Defining Modernization) Part one explains that there...
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...the view that the main function of religion is to promote social stability (33 marks) Social stability refers to harmony and integration within society, the main function of religion has long been argued between sociologists depending on their perspective. Among those that agree are functionalists, for example Durkheim and his study on totem worship, on the other hand Marxists argue religion oppresses the proletariat in order to maintain a capitalist society. The main sociologists that support the view that the main functions of religious beliefs is to promote social stability are functionalists. They believe that religion performs functions and helps society, this is because society’s most basic need is the need for social order and solidarity so that its members can cooperate and to do this there needs to be value consensus, which without this individuals in society would pursue their own selfish desires and society would disintegrate. One functionalist that supports this argument is Durkheim which he states that religion and its institutions play a central part in creating and maintaining value consensus, order and solidarity. He distinguishes the difference between the sacred and the profane. He says that the sacred are the things set apart and forbidden that inspire feelings of awe, fear and wonder and are surrounded by taboos and prohibitions. By contrast, the profane are things that have no special significance. Therefore a religion is never simply a set of beliefs. It...
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...to whether sociologists believe religion does or does not inhibit social change will be discussed throughout this essay. Whereas sociologists such as Functionalist and Marxists believe that religion acts as a conservative force, thus inhibiting social change whether that is positive or negative, others believe that religion is a radical force and a major contributor to social change Firstly, functionalists believe that religion socialises its members through promoting shared norms, values and morals which prevent change as it promotes integrity and social solidarity. Functionalists such as Durkheim and Parsons argue that life is impossible without the shared norms, values and morals enforced in society and without them, believe that society would fail. Durkheim sees religion as having traditional conservative beliefs about moral issues and many oppose changes that would allow individuals more freedom in their personal lives for example, the Catholic Church forbids divorce and abortion etc. This supports the idea that religion inhibits change because it upholds the functionalist ideology of ‘family values’ and often favour the more traditional and out-dated ideas of family such as the patriarchal domestic division of labour. However, it is hard to see how religion can socialise the majority of society and stop social change from happening when in today’s society, only a minority of people regularly attend church or believe in a traditional religion. Furthermore, Functionalist...
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...arguments and evidence support functionalist views of the role and functions of religion in contemporary society. Functionalists see society as based upon consensus, where each institution functions to help society work together as a whole with shared ways of thinking and behaving. One example of this is the Ten Commandments which include a number of the principles highlighted in the U.K law system. As a result of this, functionalists such as Durkheim and Parsons see religion as a means of integration and social control within society. They believe that the shared rituals and collective worship of religion help reinforce the consensual values and norms of society, and that without these shared values society could not function. Sociologist Bellah believes that there is a much stronger sense of consensus values in the USA, where strong religious roots are very apparent through American’s worshipping of the flag, thus worshipping their country. Parsons however still believes that this can also be seen in Britain. Functionalists also see religion as a form of social control, providing religious backing and answers for society's rules, so people will abide by them. Functionalists such as Malinowski also believe that it is a way of coming to terms with life changing events like death, marriage and baptisms, helping individuals within society to work through the crises of life. The question of whether or not religion is still relevant in a postmodern society is dependent upon a number of...
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