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    Functionalism

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    Stacy Ben
    Functionalism views religion as serving important social functions by helping to maintain social order and stability. Durkheim argued that religion distinguishes the sacred from the profane, creating social solidarity through a collective conscience. Other functionalists like Parsons and Malinowski believed religion provides core values, helps societies make sense of life's difficulties, and prevents social disruption by unifying groups. While functionalism emphasizes religion's positive social roles, its failure to consider religion as a source of conflict is a limitation of the theory.

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    Functionalism

    Uploaded by

    Stacy Ben
    131 views19 pages
    Functionalism views religion as serving important social functions by helping to maintain social order and stability. Durkheim argued that religion distinguishes the sacred from the profane, creating social solidarity through a collective conscience. Other functionalists like Parsons and Malinowski believed religion provides core values, helps societies make sense of life's difficulties, and prevents social disruption by unifying groups. While functionalism emphasizes religion's positive social roles, its failure to consider religion as a source of conflict is a limitation of the theory.

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    Functionalism views religion as serving important social functions by helping to maintain social order and stability. Durkheim argued that religion distinguishes the sacred from the profane, creating social solidarity through a collective conscience. Other functionalists like Parsons and Malinowski believed religion provides core values, helps societies make sense of life's difficulties, and prevents social disruption by unifying groups. While functionalism emphasizes religion's positive social roles, its failure to consider religion as a source of conflict is a limitation of the theory.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    131 views19 pages

    Functionalism

    Uploaded by

    Stacy Ben
    Functionalism views religion as serving important social functions by helping to maintain social order and stability. Durkheim argued that religion distinguishes the sacred from the profane, creating social solidarity through a collective conscience. Other functionalists like Parsons and Malinowski believed religion provides core values, helps societies make sense of life's difficulties, and prevents social disruption by unifying groups. While functionalism emphasizes religion's positive social roles, its failure to consider religion as a source of conflict is a limitation of the theory.

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    Sociological

    Functionalism
    Religion as a social glue

    Or when is a god a society in


    disguise? The Functionalist
    perspective on religion.
    Functionalist views on Religion
    Functionalists are concerned with how societies
    maintain themselves in an orderly fashion.
    They say that societies try to generate value
    consensus, which is when individuals share
    the same norms & values. When studying
    institutions such as religion, they ask
    themselves: "What part does religion (or the
    family...or the education system...or the
    media...) play in maintaining social order?
    What are its functions for society as a
    whole?"
    Religion and Social Change
    Durkheim regarded Nationalism and
    Communism as the new religions of
    industrial society, taking over from
    Christianity
    Flag waving, nationalism etc are the new
    forms of displaying collective
    sentiments
    Totemism is a view of nature and
    Totemism life, of the universe and man,
    which colours and influences the
    Aborigines' social groupings and
    mythologies, inspires their rituals
    and links them to the past. It unites
    them with nature's activities and
    species in a bond of mutual life-
    giving, and imparts confidence
    amidst the vicissitudes of life. The
    totem provides a tangible
    expression of a man's relationship
    to his deities. Everything in the
    Aboriginal world contains an
    essence or spirit that had its
    beginnings in the Dreamtime.

    The clans people of the crow believe they are descended from
    the Dreamtime's crow spirit who became a man.
    Durkheim

    argued that it was the function of religion to


    distinguish the sacred from the profane. This
    shared sense of the sacred helps to bind
    societies together. Durkheim looked at
    studies of Australian Aborigines, who had a
    religion called totemism. In worshipping their
    totem, a tribe was worshipping a symbol of
    itself. This created social solidarity through
    a collective conscience.
    Talcott Parsons

    American Functionalist Talcott Parsons


    said that religion provides "core values"
    for societies, and tries to make sense of
    unanswerable questions about death and
    the meaning of life. By strengthening
    norms, religion creates cultural
    homogeneity.
    Malinowski

    Malinowski was an anthropologist who


    studied the Trobriand Islands. (Again, a
    small-scale, preliterate society - do these
    ideas apply to industrial societies like the
    UK?) He found that the tribe used religion
    in coping with life crises, and with
    prediction and control. This helps
    prevent social disruption and unifies the
    group.
    Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942)
    Compelled anthropology out
    of the armchair
    advocated participant
    observation, learning the
    language--stressed need to
    document the native's
    perspective
    focus on 3 main types of
    data:
    1. institutions and customs
    2. the imponderablia of
    everyday life
    3. narratives, folklore,
    myths
    Bellah

    Bellah and his ideas of how civil religion


    helps to give Americans a faith in their
    country and their way of life.
    Investigation in pairs

    Take Durkheims concept of collective


    conscience work in pairs.
    Think of ways in which sport played by
    national teams, has become a new
    religion in the UK today.
    Do National successes in sports become
    an important element?
    Evaluation?
    As well as remembering some of the above, you
    should be able to apply it to everyday situations.
    Making sense of bereavement? Church attendance
    increasing in America in the aftermath of the terrorist
    attacks. Prediction and control? Remember how you
    started praying when your rabbit got sick or when you
    thought you (or girlfriend) might be pregnant (Joke!).
    You should also be able to evaluate the theory. It
    doesn't explain increasing secularisation (decline in
    religion and its influence). It doesn't explain how
    religion can often be the source of conflict rather
    than harmony: Northern Ireland, between Arabs &
    Jews, between different churches.
    Activity

    Activity religious beginnings

    Activity belief net


    Note taking

    Functions of religion in modern society


    Socialization
    Social integration
    Civil religion
    Preventing anomie
    Coping with stress
    Criticisms of functionalism
    Functionalism: refocus

    The key concern of functionalist


    writing on religion is the contribution
    that religion makes to the well-being of
    society; its contribution to social
    stability and, value-consensus.
    Methodology as an evaluative point

    Elementary Forms was based on bad


    (and second hand) anthropology. It is
    argued that Durkheim misunderstood
    both totemism and the aboriginal tribes
    on which his study was based.
    It is claimed that Durkheim's analysis is
    not applicable to societies that
    are typified by cultural diversity
    Marxists next week
    Marxists would argue that religion far from being an
    instrument of social solidarity, is an instrument of social
    control and exploitation. However Durkheim clearly
    recognised this:
    Religion instructed the humble to be content with
    their situation, and, at the same time, it taught them
    that the social order is providential; that it is god
    himself who has determined each one's share,
    religion gave man a perception of a world beyond
    this earth where everything would be rectified; this
    prospect made inequalities seem less noticeable, it
    stopped men from feeling aggrieved.
    Religion and Social Change
    'Religion is a kind of spiritual
    gin in which the slaves of
    capital drown their human
    shape and their claims to any
    decent life'
    .

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