The Relationship Between Religion And Social Change

Religion can be powerful under the right certain circumstances for social change. However it can be argued that religion can be a conservative force.

This paper explores the different views of religion between three sociologist writers, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim. It discusses a few different religions and the percent of Indiana that is religious. It will go into examples about how religion has developed over time and how Christians all have one big thing in common. Throughout the paper, it will explain how Christians are trying to share the word of God and make their community a better place.

The Role of Religion as a Conservative Force and as an Indicator of Change FUNCTIONALISM Emiline Durkheim believed that religion is central to the reproduction and maintenance of social order in societies. The major function of religion is to socialise society’s members into value consensus by the following. * Setting certain values apart and infusing them with special significance.

The loss of the central place of religion as a structuring element of social life seemed to be a constant in the Western world. However, in the last decades we have attended a return of the religious or rather to a recomposition from the religious as an essential member of social and political phenomena.

The concept of religion is a contentious terrain with the subject being viewed as divisive and discordant within Nations. Beckford and Luckmann (1989) discuss religion as a continuous challenge to scientists studying society. Since the industrial revolution there has been ambivalent dichotomy of opinion towards religion with some perceiving religious ideology continuing as normal, whilst others believed the concept would be discarded as the new social order developed. This essay will consider the perspectives of Marx and Engels upon the role of Religion and will also discuss how relevant there argument is in the 21st century. The use of academic text, lecture notes and journal articles will be used to research and answer the essay

Throughout history, religion has played a significant function in society as a medium through which people connect, via various rituals and symbols (Marsh et al. 2009). When the subject of Marx, Engels and religion is discussed, the famous quote ‘Religion is the opiate of the masses’ (Marx as cited in Raines 2002, p.5) is one that is for the most part, at the forefront of people’s minds. It is often a misconception that Marx and Engels viewed religion in a predominantly negative light and saw it as something that human beings had no use for. On the contrary, as this essay will endeavour to show, Marx and Engels not only saw religion as a force used by the elite to control the repressed and justify their actions, but it is also an

The claim by Karl Marx that religion serves to reinforce exploitative social structures reveals that the sociologist was hostile to religion. Marx made this claim because of two major reasons i.e. the clergy's exploitation of the masses during this period and the support for capitalism by the church. In addition to describing religion as the opium of the people, Marx viewed religion as a platform of exploitation by capitalists who taught doctrines that prevented people from revolting against them (Ochulor & Metuonu, 2011). Following this exploitation, the capitalists encouraged the oppressed or the exploited to leave vengeance to God.

Russell McCutcheon urges terms like “religion” and “religious” should not be used by scholars when referring to the study of religion. McCutcheon even suggests these words should be abandoned and removed from our vocabulary all together. He claims studying social sciences like anthropology, sociology, and psychology and using appropriate terminology will lead to a more accurate understanding of why we as humans are religious and how our religion ultimately affects our behaviors. Feuerbach, Marx, and Nietzsche all suspect the study of religion is not about God at all, but rather the people who believe or do not believe in God. In this essay, I will elaborate on the similar yet completely different ideologies of Feuerbach, Marx, and Nietzsche and compare them to the argument made by McCutcheon.

The analysis and comparison of Karl Marx and Emile understanding of religion Introduction This essay analyses and compares the views of both Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim on religion. It encompasses the views of other scholars on the same subject. For instance scholars like Gorsuch (1988) saw religion as an important variable in people's lives and yet Marx and Durkheim view religion absolutely in an unexpected way, nevertheless both of them concur that religion is a vital part of a general public. Amid his profession, Marx talked little on the subject of religion.

Marx, Durkheim and Weber each had different sociological views of the role and function of Religion. My preferred theorists view’s on Religion is Karl Marx’s as I feel his ideas are more relevant to what Religion actually is. And I have chosen Marx’s theory on Religion as I feel that it is the most similar to my own views on the subject. His views are more interesting to me as I don’t practise any Religion and his views expand on

Religion has been, and forever will be a part of culture and society. Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim are the top three most important figures in sociology; and although each of them viewed religion differently, I strongly believe that they understood its power, and demonstrated its importance to people and societies. As such, I will utilize all three of these great minds, to demonstrate religion as an important and permanent part of culture and society.

Throughout time, the views of homosexuality throughout a country can change. Whether its religion, acceptance, laws, or social change, the views will evolve. Greece serves as an example of a country that was once accepting of homosexuality, but is slowly progressing to not be as accepting. In Ancient Greece, homosexual relationships occurred regularly between an older man, and a younger child. As stated on pbs.org,” Traditionally these relationships involved an older man and a youth and lasted until the youth reached full adulthood. Thereafter this type of relationship was frowned upon because physical love was perceived as always involving one person in a position of submission, something that was unacceptable for a full Greek citizen.” In Ancient Greece, homosexuality wasn’t much of an issue because of gender, it was an issue based on age. The acceptance of homosexuality throughout Ancient Greece has made a sharp turn in modern day Greece. Although there are currently no laws against gay marriage, there are no laws that protect homosexuals. For example, households where the main head is a homosexual couple’s do not have the same rights to protection as compared to couples that are heterosexual. Greece has experienced a turning point on their stance regarding homosexuality. A concept that was once highly accepted and viewed as common is now beginning to be looked down upon. Hate crime against homosexuals in Greece has begun to increase. As Fragkiska Megaloudi wrote on the

The crux of Emile Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of Religious Life lies in the concept of collective effervescence, or the feelings of mutually shared emotions. Through a hermeneutical approach, Durkheim investigates the reflexiveness of social organization, the balance between form and content, and the immense cooperation in collective representations. In his work, society is the framework of humanity and gives it meaning, whereas religion acts as the tool to explain it. Since society existed prior to the individual, the collective mind must be understood before the concept of the individual can be grasped. However, one component seems missing from his social theory – what underlies society in terms of rituals and rites? Only when this

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.

A religion can be seen as a unified system of beliefs and practices which are relative to sacred things and beliefs (Giddens 1972, p.224). It can shape ones thoughts and feelings and gives people a sense of hope and something to believe in. All three main sociologist writers Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim offer different perspectives on religion and how important it is to society. Some of the theorists chose to have a positive view whilst others argue the unimportance of religion. This essay attempts to discover which theorist has the most accurate perspective of religion in modern times. This is done by firstly explaining the basic ideas regarding to religion put forward by Marx, Weber and Durkheim. Then both Marx's and