In: Social Issues
... a) Identify and briefly explain some of the ways in which religion could be said to ‘exert social control over the members of society’ (June2006) b) Identify and briefly explain some of the ways in which functionalists see religion meeting the needs of society and / or individuals. (June 2007) New syllabus: 12 mark questions a)Using material from item a and elsewhere, briefly examine the extent to which religion can still be said to be functional for individuals and society (June 2002) b) Briefly examine the evidence and or arguments in favour of the view that religion can act as a force for change in society (June 2006) c) Briefly examine post-modernist views on the nature and role of religion (June 2007) NEW SYLLABUS: 40 mark essay questions • Assess the role and functions of religious institutions and movements in contemporary society. (40) Sample A2 paper (Issued May 2000) • Evaluate the view that religion acts as a conservative force in modern society (40) Jun 2001 “The main function of religion is to provide people with a code of behaviour which regulates personal and social life.” Assess the extent to which sociological arguments and evidence support this view of religion in modern society (40) January 2002 Assess and evaluate the relationship between religion and social change. (40) Jan 2003 Assess the view that in most societies, religion functions more to cause conflict than to bring about harmony...
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...“Evaluate the view that religion is an important source of moral values in contemporary societies” The debate as to whether religion is a vital source of moral values in contemporary society is continuous. Sociologists aim to know and understand exactly how and if religion plays any role in current society. This leads us to ask what exactly religion is. According to sociologists, there are three main ways of defining religion: substantive, functional and social constructionist. Max Weber (1905) describes substantive religion as a belief in a superior or supernatural power that is above nature and cannot be explained scientifically. Substantive definitions are exclusive – they draw a clear line between religious and non-religious beliefs. To be a religion, a set of beliefs must include beliefs in God or the supernatural. Functional definitions, however, are inclusive – allowing sociologists to include a wide range of beliefs and practices. Emile Durkheim (1915) defines it in terms of contribution it makes to social integration rather than specific belief in a higher being. Milton Yinger (1970) identifies functions that religion performs for individuals, such as answering ‘ultimate questions’. Whereas, the final definition is social constructionist takes an interpretivist approach focusing how religion is defined by the individual. This definition believes that it is impossible to produce a single universal definition of religion to cover all cases since in reality different individuals...
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...theories of religion Understand functionalist theories and explain the role and function of religion, and how religion contributes to social stability. Durkheim on religion: He believes that it is a central institution for creating and maintaining value consensus and social solidarity. The key feature was not the belief in God, but a fundamental distinction between the sacred and profane found in all religions. The sacred and the profane For Durkheim, the key feature was not a belief in gods, spirits or the supernatural, but a fundamental distinction between the sacred and the profane found in all religions. The sacred are 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-things that are ordinary and mundane. Furthermore, a religion is never simply a set of beliefs. It involves definite rituals or practices in relation to the sacred, and these rituals are collective-performed by social groups. The fact that sacred things evoke such powerful feelings in believers indicated to Durkheim that this is because they are symbols representing something of great power. In his view, this thing can only be society itself, since society is the only thing powerful enough to command such feelings. When they worship the sacred symbols, therefore, people are worshipping society itself. Although sacred symbols vary from religion to religion...
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...SCLY 3: Beliefs in Society Revision Guide 2009-10 Name: Remember: You have to revise everything, because essay questions will focus on more than one area of the specification. The specification: The relationship between religious beliefs and social change and stability * Functionalism: conservative force, inhibition of change, collective conscience, Durkheim and totemism, anomie; civil religions * Marxism: religion as ideology, legitimating social inequality, disguising exploitation etc * Weber: religion as a force for social change: theodicies, the Protestant ethic * Neo-Marxism: religion used by those opposing the ruling class, liberation theology * Feminism: religious beliefs supporting patriarchy * Fundamentalist beliefs: rejecting change by reverting to supposed traditional values and practices. Religious organisations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age movements, and their relationship to religious and spiritual belief and practice * Typologies of religious organisations: churches, denominations, sects and cults, with examples of each New Religious Movements and typologies of NRMs eg world rejecting/accommodating/affirming; millenarian beliefs, with examples of each * New Age movements and spirituality, with examples * The relationship of these organisations to religious and spiritual belief and practice. The relationship between different social groups and religious/spiritual organisations and movements, beliefs...
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...SCLY 3: Beliefs in Society Revision Guide 2009-10 Name: Remember: You have to revise everything, because essay questions will focus on more than one area of the specification. The specification: The relationship between religious beliefs and social change and stability * Functionalism: conservative force, inhibition of change, collective conscience, Durkheim and totemism, anomie; civil religions * Marxism: religion as ideology, legitimating social inequality, disguising exploitation etc * Weber: religion as a force for social change: theodicies, the Protestant ethic * Neo-Marxism: religion used by those opposing the ruling class, liberation theology * Feminism: religious beliefs supporting patriarchy * Fundamentalist beliefs: rejecting change by reverting to supposed traditional values and practices. Religious organisations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age movements, and their relationship to religious and spiritual belief and practice * Typologies of religious organisations: churches, denominations, sects and cults, with examples of each New Religious Movements and typologies of NRMs eg world rejecting/accommodating/affirming; millenarian beliefs, with examples of each * New Age movements and spirituality, with examples * The relationship of these organisations to religious and spiritual belief and practice. The relationship between different social groups and religious/spiritual ...
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...Nuremberg established a precedent in human experimentation and human rights movement? Table of Contents A. Plan of Investigation………………………………………………………………………3 B. Summary of Evidence………………………………………………………………………...4-7 C. Evaluation of Sources…………………………………………………………………………….8 D. Analysis……………………………………………………………………………9 E. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………10 F. Bibliography………………………………………………………………………11 G. Appendix A. Plan of Investigation This investigation assesses to what extent was the significance of the Doctor’s Trial in establishing a precedent for human experimentation and the advancement of the human rights movement. The body of evidence would contain all the events that lead to a change of the view of human experimentation and rights. The researcher evaluated the process in which the Doctor’s Trial at Nuremberg marked an example to human rights today and how the Nuremberg Code helped exercise the decisions made at the Nuremberg trials. Primary sources as the partial transcript of the Doctor’s trial were used to evaluate the contribution of the verdicts made at the trials to human rights. Documents will be analyzed in regards to their origin, purpose, value, and limitations in order to properly evaluate the evidence. B. Summary of Evidence On December 9, 1946, an American military tribunal opened criminal proceedings against twenty-three leading German physicians and administrators for their willing participation in war crimes and crimes...
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...The Influence of Music on Self and Society - Values in Music in Eastern and Western Cultures David Eaton July, 2003 Throughout history the unspoken but highly evocative language of music has exerted powerful influences on individuals and societies alike. Felix Mendelssohn once remarked that music is more specific about what it expresses than words written about those expressions could ever be. That music has the power to express, convey and illicit powerful emotions is without question, however the issue of music's moral and ethical power, and how that power affects individuals and societies, is one that receives too little attention in our post-modern world. Ancient cultures held strong beliefs in the moral and ethical power of music and as such it was imperative for artists within those cultures to exercise a certain moral and ethical responsibility in their creative endeavors. As a professional musician for over thirty years I concur with that premise and it is primarily from the axiological, rather than a theoretical or aesthetic viewpoint that I approach this discourse. The responsibility of artists to the social environment in which they live and work is something that I have always had strong sentiments. As we now find ourselves beginning a new millennium, questions with regards to music's origins, its spiritual, religious and mystical properties, its moral and ethical power, its transcendent qualities, the role of the arts and artists and the importance of art in general...
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...The Branches of Philosophy Transcript S1: Hello, and welcome to another presentation in Philosophy 201: Philosophy and Contemporary Ideas. In this presentation, I want to introduce you to three major branches of philosophy, and talk about each branch a little bit separately, and then I’ll finish off by talking about some miscellaneous branches of philosophy that are kind of an overlap of those three branches. S2: The first major branch of philosophy is the branch of metaphysics. The word metaphysics means, ‘above or beyond physics.’ It investigates questions of reality and existence. But as the word implies, it’s not just simply the existence that we see or the things that we experience with our senses, but what’s beyond those. What’s beyond this real world that we see here? Why does it work the way that it works? Why is it here? How did it get here? Those are some metaphysical areas that we deal with here. We can break metaphysics into four sub-categories here. The first sub-category is cosmological metaphysics, and this deals specifically with the origin and purpose of reality. Why does anything exist at all? That’s often been called the first philosophical question. Why does anything exist? Where did reality come from? How did it develop the way that it was? What is its purpose—why is it here? Those are all cosmological questions. A second area of metaphysics is theological metaphysics, and this deals with the reality of something beyond the natural reality...
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... Robert Thurman: “The primary Buddhist position on social action is one of total activism, an unswerving commitment to complete self-transformation and complete world-transformation.” Stated in simplest terms, engaged Buddhism means the application of Buddhist teachings to contemporary social problems. Engaged Buddhism is a modern reformist movement. A practitioner is socially engaged “in a nonviolent way, motivated by concern for the welfare of others, and as an expression of one’s own practice of the Buddhist Way” (King Being 5). In this description Sallie B. King invokes the spirit of the Bodhisattva vow: May I attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. According to Ken Jones engaged Buddhism is “an explication of social, economic, and political processes and their ecological implications, derived from a Buddhist diagnosis of the existential human condition” (Kraft New). Jones emphasizes the social theory underlying engaged Buddhism. According to engaged Buddhists the “three poisons” of greed, anger and ignorance apply both to the individual and to “large-scale social and economic forces” (Kraft New); their remediation is therefore the collective concern of society. As the subject of numerous treatises, anthologies, lectures and symposiums, engaged Buddhism plays a vital role in the twenty-first century dialogue concerning universal humanism and human rights. Ken Jones writes that the original 1989 edition of his book, The Social Face of Buddhism...
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...1991. While at CDEC, he was also co-principal in the 1989 EDUCOM award winner for Best Humanities Software (published in 1996 by Routledge as A Right to Die? The Dax Cowart Case). He also coauthored the CD-ROM The Issue of Abortion in America (Rountledge, 1998) Dr. Cavalier was Director of CMU's Center for the Advancement of Applied Ethics and Political Philosophy from 2005-2007. He currently directs the Center's Digital Media Lab which houses Project PICOLA (Public Informed Citizen Online Assembly), and is also co-Director of Southwestern Pennsylvania Program for Deliberative Democracy. Co-Editor of Ethics in the History of Western Philosophy (St. Martin's/Macmillan, England, 1990), Editor of The Impact of the Internet on Our Moral Lives (SUNY, 2003) and other works in ethics as well as articles in educational computing, Dr. Cavalier is internationally recognized for his work in education and interactive multimedia. He was President of the "International Association for Computing and Philosophy" (2001 - 2004) and Chair of the APA Committee on Philosophy and Computers (2000-2003). Dr. Cavalier has given numerous addresses and keynote speeches here and abroad. In 1996 Cavalier was designated "Syllabus Scholar" by Syllabus Magazine in recognition of his life long work with educational technologies. In 1999 he received an award for "Innovation Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology" at the 10th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning...
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...mdaslam@iiu. edu.my) b Department of Economics, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Gombak, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Email: hafasf@gmail.com) a ABSTRACT This paper argues that research and publications in the area of methodology of Islamic economics is very significant for a meaningful development of the discipline. Although the discussion on methodology of Islamic economics in contemporary Islamic economics literature is rather limited, this paper reviews the works of selected scholars who have attempted to present works on ‘methodology’ and their approach to the process of theory building in Islamic economics. The paper then presents some implications of these views based on the position that methodology investigates the criteria, rationalizations, arguments and justifications used in theory appraisal as well as evaluating the reliability of theories, this paper concludes that greater resources, both human and financial, need to be channeled to developing uÎūl al-iqtiÎād, a fundamental, but vastly, neglected area of research in contemporary Islamic economics. JEL Classification: B41, B49, B59, Z12 Key words: Methodology, Islamic economics, uÎūl al-iqtiÎād. *An earlier version of this paper was presented at the International Conference on Islamic Economics and Economies of OIC Countries, 28-29 April 2009, Kuala Lumpur. The authors thank Dr. Habib Ahmed for his comments during the conference as well as to the journal referees for their...
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...Crime and Deviance exam questions Crime questions – Qu. 1 & 2 – both worth 21 marks.You should spend 30 minutes on each question and each should have a traditional essay structure (include an introduction and a conclusion, at least two sides of the argument, two or more theories, relevant studies and as much evaluation as you can cram in!). You also need to show ‘conceptual confidence’ – this just means that you should make it clear to the examiner that you know and understand the important concepts, e.g. anomie, relative deprivation.Make sure you make reference to the item – both essay questions will have their own item. You can often use the information in the item as a springboard into the essay in the introduction. However, you will be penalised for ‘overuse of the item’, so don’t just copy it out. You can use short quotes or statistics from the item though. | Question: | What to include: | Assess the view that ethnic differences in crime rates are the result of the ways in which the criminal justice system operates. | This question is essentially about the presence (or not) of institutional racism in the police, courts and penal system. You will need to compare the importance of this as opposed to explanations that argue that ethnic minorities do commit more crime - either as a result of relative deprivation (left realism) or poor upbringing, absent fathers, etc (new right). * Try to include some stats, reference to patterns of offending, stop and search...
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...Curricula Committee created this document. The members include: Andrew Gold, Professor, College of Law; Laura Hartman, AVP & Professor of Business Ethics, Department of Management; Karyn Holm, Professor, Department of Nursing; Scott Paeth, Asst. Professor, Religious Studies Department; Charles Strain, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs; Marco Tavanti, Asst. Professor, Public Services Graduate Program; David Wellman, Asst. Professor, Religious Studies Department. This guide draws from various resources prepared by others including copyrighted materials reprinted with the permission of the Markkula Center for a Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University (www.scu.edu/ethics), from Larry Hinman, Ethics: A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory, 3rd edition (Belmont CA: Thomson Learning, 2003), from Marco Tavanti, “Thinking Ethically” (unpublished), David Ozar, “A Model for Ethical Decision-Making.” (unpublished). Ethics Across The Curricula At Depaul A Common Ethics Language For Dialogue As part of DePaul’s VISION twenty12, in particular Objective 1e: “Provide opportunities for all students to learn ethical systems and demonstrate ethical practice,” and in response to the ever-increasing demand for more ethical behavior on the part of business, the professions, in politics, and in...
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...definitions of crime, deviance, social order and social control * The distinction between sociological theories of crime and other theories (eg biological, psychological); crime and deviance as socially constructed * Functionalist theories of crime: Durkheim, anomie, collective conscience; Merton’s strain theory; manifest and latent functions; functionalist subcultural theories * Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of crime: classical Marxism, laws reflecting class interests; Neo-Marxism, hegemony, the CCCS studies, critical and new criminology * Interactionist theories of crime: labelling theory, the self-fulfilling prophecy * Feminist theories of crime: patriarchy, male control of women’s lives * Control theory and other contemporary approaches to crime: social bonds, communitarianism, situational prevention; postmodern theories; Foucault on individualisation and surveillance * Realist theories: New Left Realism and Right Realism * The relevance of the various theories to understanding different types of crime, and their implications for social policy. 2 The social distribution of crime and deviance by age, ethnicity, gender, locality and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime * Study of statistics and other evidence on the social distribution of crime by age, ethnicity, gender, locality and social class, including recent patterns and trends * Issues related to and explanations of the social distribution of crime and deviance...
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...definitions of crime, deviance, social order and social control * The distinction between sociological theories of crime and other theories (eg biological, psychological); crime and deviance as socially constructed * Functionalist theories of crime: Durkheim, anomie, collective conscience; Merton’s strain theory; manifest and latent functions; functionalist subcultural theories * Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of crime: classical Marxism, laws reflecting class interests; Neo-Marxism, hegemony, the CCCS studies, critical and new criminology * Interactionist theories of crime: labelling theory, the self-fulfilling prophecy * Feminist theories of crime: patriarchy, male control of women’s lives * Control theory and other contemporary approaches to crime: social bonds, communitarianism, situational prevention; postmodern theories; Foucault on individualisation and surveillance * Realist theories: New Left Realism and Right Realism * The relevance of the various theories to understanding different types of crime, and their implications for social policy. 2 The social distribution of crime and deviance by age, ethnicity, gender, locality and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime * Study of statistics and other evidence on the social distribution of crime by age, ethnicity, gender, locality and social class, including recent patterns and trends * Issues related to and explanations of the social distribution of crime and deviance...
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