Identify And Briefly Explain Three Func

He chose to view religion as a negative thing unlike Durkheim who viewed it in a positive way. Marx believed that “humanity makes religion; religion does not make humanity.” (Kessler. A, 2001). Karl Marx states that opium and religion can be an effect on human suffering by removing the incentive to do whatever is necessary to overcome it. Hamilton points out that “religion offers compensation for the hardship of this life in some future life, but it makes such compensation conditional upon acceptance of the injustices of this life.” Religion, to Marx, does not have the power to lead to social change. (Kessler. A, 2001). Max Webber attempted to demonstrate that religious beliefs were not mechanically connected to the economic structure of society, it shapes individuals behavior and actions in everyday life. Overall, it can be seen that the three main sociology writers differ greatly when it comes to ideas regarding religion.

Religion is a major foundation for many cultures. It is present all over the world in many different shapes and forms. But all religions have one thing in common, communality. Naturally, with rituals such as congregation people of religion are brought together. This community worships together, but this relationship extends further than the confines of a church. Members of the same church, or religion, have the same core values, and these commonalities result in a community that would not have otherwise existed. When there is a disregard for religion, there is a loss of community and thus a step

Some Feminists argue that religion is still oppressive due to fundamentalism. Religious fundamentalism is usually against the increased autonomy of women because it violates ancient religious teachings and arguable male dominance of women. USA anti abortionist’s pro-life groups opposed women’s right to choose beliefs and this has resulted in some extremists blowing up abortion clinics and murdering doctors involved in the abortions. Cohen and Kennedy say fundamentalist reforms are born out of fear of women’s liberation undermining religion and the foundations of society. This illustrates how women are still oppressed by religion because they’re choices are being limited.

Feminists see religion as an instrument of patriarchy which means that society is based around male domination; they believe that this is a set of beliefs and practices responsible for women’s subordination. However functionalists believe otherwise and argue that its function is not to oppress women but to keep society stable whilst Marxists believe that religion oppresses the working class not females.

Not just any institution, the Catholic church yields power and influence on a global scale. Yet again, we see the presence of both an oppressor as well as the oppressed. The Catholic Church has been viewed as the ‘defender of all that is right and just’ throughout history because it claims that many of its unholy actions were carried out in the name of God. As we study history to make sense of the present, we can often become naïve, accepting ‘facts’ at face value. With that said, we form ‘silences’ just like in the historical narrative

Marxist believe that religion acts inevitably as a conservative force because religion is an ideological state apparatus which spreads capitalist ideas, thus maintains the social hierarchy, and in doing so maintains harmony and consensus in society. This is reinforced by Marx who claims religion is the opium of the people hence religion dulls the pain of oppression for them. Marx claims that religion is still a conservative force as through the use of ideology it justifies the oppression of the proletariat e.g. in the hymn ‘rich man at his castle the poor man at his gate, god made them high and ordered their estate’. This suggests god created inequality; as a result

Martin uses a functionalistic approach to understand the role religion plays in society, exploring each object with hermeneutical suspicion, believing, for the sake of this study, that any supernatural claims are false. By exploring such concepts as classification, structured society, and habitus, Martin explains how “we, as humans, are a product of society”. He focuses on answering questions such as “what’s going on” and “whose interests are served” by skeptically looking at the way in which people use legitimation, authority, and authenticity to push their own agendas.

Throughout history, religion has worked as a great unifier of diverse people. Its overarching messages have worked to bring together people of different backgrounds be it racial, political, or economic, giving masses a common goal. Much of the world’s charity work is on behalf of religions which instill values that provoke these selfless actions.

He recognized the threat that liberation theology posed against the Catholic Church and called on Catholics to reject it (Duncan 2018). Since the Catholic Church teaches the doctrine of papal infallibility, the Church expects its followers to believe and agree with his word. The masses are expected to submit to what the Pope says and resist the selfish urge to rebel for their own interests. Marx may argue that the Catholic church continues to sway the masses into believing the Pope’s ‘infallible’ words; hence, the people are becoming ‘opiated’ and do not feel the need to start a revolution in order to free themselves from oppression. Before the Catholic Church started becoming more liberal under the leadership of Pope Francis, it would stress that theologians who support liberation theology, such as Leonardo Boff, are being heretical by disagreeing with the Pope and are, therefore, straying from the ‘pure’ Catholic faith (Duncan 2018). When liberation theologians are seeking to bring about social justice to the poor, they are doing so through non-spiritual, Marxist means and not through the Catholic faith. Marx may conclude that the Catholic Church’s earlier rejection of liberation theology proves that religion continues to remain completely separate from Marxism and must be abolished because it inhibits the proletariat from carrying out a

Generally, Marx’s position on religion is drawn up in an entirely negative manner. In his writings, he expresses his belief that religion is a set of doctrines intended to stabilize, while at the same time bring into servitude the working class people. In addition to that, he argues that the society’s inclination towards religious excitement serves to represent a reaction to disaffection. Also, Marx contends that, since religion causes human beings to feel delusive happiness it makes an erroneous mental representation in as well as of itself. Indeed to him, it is an instrument utilized to sustain cultural systems together with ideologies that in most cases encourages oppression in the society (Parsons 38-46).

Religion is powerful in that it controls followers’ behaviours and beliefs throughout their entire lives; it is a form of social control. Catholicism is one of the most widely known religions influencing more than 2 billion people around the world (Ross). Within Catholicism not everyone are seen as equals; men have greater privilege than women. The bible and church are from a male’s point of view (Christ 86) and passages within the bible are used to enforce a sexual hierarchy. In fact, the oppression of women begins with the first story in Genesis about creation, which portrays females as being inferior to men and even of an evil nature. This one passage is the main source of justification of oppression of woman in the church (Daly 13).

As industry was booming, the mass immigration into the cities proved to be hurtful for some parishes that did not have the space to hold many parishioners. Money from the upper class, however, erected new churches and places of worship, large enough and accommodating for most, but now discriminatory against the lower class. Religious leaders thought that lucrative churches would solve the economic problems of the time, but all it really did is widen the gap between social classes even more.[4] Religion was no longer about faith, but rather it became a business, aiding to the rich, taking from the poor. Karl Marx saw a need for equality without religious interference, and he expressed it in the Communist Manifesto, stating, “Society could no longer live under this bourgeois.”[5]

To understand the religion as a social control tool, it is necessary to understand the term socialization. Many sociologists have placed more focus on defining the term socialization. Ward (2011) defined the term socialization as the process through which an individual acquires the ways of a social group or a society so as he or she can fit in it. In his invitation to sociology, Koenig (2013) defined the term ‘socialization’ as the process through which acquires knowledge of how to become a member of the society. It is only through socializing that an individual is able to learn normative values, skills, beliefs, languages as well as other essential arrangements of action as well as thoughts significant for any given social life.

The functionalist analysis of religion is concerned with the contribution religion makes to meeting society's needs such as social solidarity, value consensus and harmony and integration between its parts. Durkheim = == ==

According to Marx, religion can be seen as the opiate of the people (Engels, Marx 1955, p.41). Here, Marx is suggesting that just like opium, religion is trying to relieve people of the pain and suffering in their lives. Marx also puts forward the idea that religion is used by its oppressors in order to make people feel better about their lives. Thus, it can be seen that Marx chooses to adopt a negative view of religion. Max Weber can be seen as the only sociologist to place so much scope and emphasis on the subject of religion (Nisbet, p.250). Biographical and textual evidence suggests that biblical religion played a part in shaping and influencing Weber's life and the context of his sociology. Weber's main concern was to attempt to demonstrate that religious ideologies were not mechanically connected to the economic structure of society, however it does shape individuals behavior and actions in everyday life (Swingewood 1984, p.152). Weber also came to several conclusions regarding the remarkable relationship between capitalism and Protestant. According to Weber, the more capitalism had a free hand to alter social distribution, the larger the relationship between capitalism and protestant (1930, p.4). Overall, it can be seen that the three main sociology theorists differ greatly when it comes to ideas regarding to religion.