Durkheim believed that the main function of religious belief is to promote social stability which is reinforced by the collective conscience. The collective conscience is the shared values and moral beliefs and without them there would be no social order, social control, social solidarity or cooperation. Durkheim says that the attitudes of respect towards the sacred is the same attitudes applied to social duties and obligations, therefore people are worshipping society and recognising the importance of the social group. Religion strengthens the unity of the group and promotes social stability by bringing them together at religious rituals. When being together in religious rituals, social groups are able to express their faith and their common beliefs and values.
Tocqueville argues that the only thing which will keep Americans away from these dangers, which would undoubtedly lead to despotism is religion as source of moral education. He says that all decisions by man are a result of the values which man has received from god and without these values we would be left to a life full of disorder. Religion indirectly affects the state through mores which are described as “the whole moral and intellectual state of a people.”(287) These mores are what prevents democracies from being engulfed by the dangers which are products of tyranny and despotism. In a state without religion “each man gets into the way of having nothing but confused and changing notions about the matters of greatest importance to himself and his fellows”(444) and when combating materialism, the presence of religion “places the
These differences in answers stem from each individual’s personal beliefs and morals. These beliefs and morals in turn stem from that individual’s history and culture. Thus, religion plays an important role in answering this question. At the most basic level, the religious person would answer that the purpose of being human is to “do onto others as you wish to have done onto you”. However, as society becomes less and less religious and consumerism increases in importance, this foundational rule, the golden rule, is being replaced with an
Sacred objects differ from religion to religion, but they all serve the same primary function and that is to unite the believers into a collective and give them a sense of belonging, and to also create social harmony. However, Postmodernists such as Stjepan Mestrovic argue that Durkheim’s theory cannot be applied to modern society due to the increasing diversity that has split the collective consciousness, so now there is no longer one shared value system for religion to reinforce, and so it cannot create social harmony. Bronislaw Malinowski, another functionalist, agrees with Durkheim’s theory that religion promotes social solidarity and social harmony. But, he believes that it does so by performing psychological functions for individuals, like helping them cope with mental stress that may undermine social solidarity. Malinowski identifies two situations where religion performs this role, one of them being times of a life crisis.
This is often thought to involve a belief in a god or gods, but this is not the case in all religious beliefs. The central meaning of ‘religion’ is, in fact, simply the way in which shared beliefs establish regulations, rules or bonds of obligation among the members of a community. This essay is going to highlight some of the ways in which religion serves in the interests of the powerful in society. Durkheim argues that the main function of religion is to promote social stability because when people have the same beliefs, they often have the same norms and values. However, Karl Marx argues that religion the opiate of the masses therefore it distracts the attention from the possibility of taking action to improve the social world by making false promises about the happy and satisfying life after death in the next world, which in turn gives the rich and powerful the ability to oppress the working class without guilt.
Assess the functionalist view that religion benefits both society as a whole and its individual members (18 marks) Functionalists believe that religion is beneficial for both society as a whole and it’s individual members, this is because it unifies society and creates consensus, which in turn gives each individual member a source of support when they need it. However some theorists disagree with the functionalist ideology. Firstly, functionalist claim religion benefits society in a number of ways, it creates a sense of social solidarity, meaning a shared sense of identity, history, norms and values (a collective conscience). This is supported by item A, ‘religions contribution to value consensus and social integration’. Functionalist explain that if all of a societies members are part of the same religion then they all share the same belief system, resulting in consensus between all of its members.
Belonging is a fundamental aspect of the human condition. Sharing of similar values and morality between an individual and the community in which they reside, enriches their sense of belonging as a result of expectations being met. Complete conformity ensures an individual’s membership to a group or unity, therefore enhancing their sense of belonging. Individuals who do not conform to the norms and conventions of the society in which they reside are denied membership, and as a result, live a life of isolation and fail to belong. These comparative experiences of belonging prevail through Raimond Gaita’s memoir Romulus My Father, and Ed Sheeran’s song lyrics The A Team.
He talks about our consciences, both authoritarian and humanistic. He even goes into detail about why it’s better to Garra 2 obey out of love then out of fear. Erich also states that “For centuries, obedience was insisted as a virtue, and disobedience was insisted as a vice.”(Fromm 683). This statement implies that obeying was the right thing to do, and disobeying was the wrong thing to do. He even uses religion and terms that deal with religion throughout his article for more evidence.
The Civilizations and its Discontents; How does it relates to self and others. Despite the fact that the civilization is supposed to bond us together in love eventually, our consciousness of guilt and the belief of religions come in conflict with one another. Civilization determines and directs the person happiness and the interests of society. Sigmund Freud assesses these concepts in his writings. Civilization is defined how people relates to one another.
Religion diverts attention away from inequality by uniting groups of people, providing a sense of comfort and safety from capitalism, giving moral codes for all people to focus on rather than the inequalities of capitalist society and allowing individuals to focus on living their life morally so they have a peaceful afterlife. Religion also reproduces demand for material goods as it is a notion for respectability by purchasing material life as it shows that you are rich and successful which therefore supports civil religion – a faith in the country - and by having these goods such as a flag, it can show support in the civil religion. Additionally religion encourages the proletariat to accept their role in life by offering individuals to focus on living their life morally so they have peaceful afterlife, encouraging people to overcome challenges that may be hard to overcome and discouraging revolution and violence. Moreover religion justifies inequality between classes by providing answers to life and why people are in a particular situation and promises more in the after life so people are less bothered about inequality. These are all part of