Sociology of Religion
Functionalism
Emile Durkheim
Durkheim defined religion as a “unified system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things.” He said that to understand religion, we must understand sacred symbols and what they represent.
He studied Australian Aborigines in order to understand the role of religion in society. The Aborigines were divided into clans; each clan had a totem to identify itself by. The totem was the symbol of the clan and was usually a symbol of nature. The totem was carved into objects used in sacred ceremonies.
Durkheim said that since the totem was involved in sacred ritual, it was a symbol of both society and God. He concluded that the Aborigines worshiped both God and society.
Why should people worship society? Durkheim said that just as sacred things are superior to man, so was society. In worship, man finds it difficult to direct his feelings to something which is superior to him, so he directs his feelings at a symbol.
Criticisms of Durkheim include that in today’s society of many subcultures, there is little evidence to support him.
Bronislaw Malinowski
Like Durkheim, Malinowski studied small illiterate groups of people. However, he concluded that religion was helpful in times of stress. Times in life that are most stressful are surrounded by religious ritual e.g. marriage, puberty, death.
Malinowski considered death the most destructive event in life as it removes a member of the social group. However, religion is helpful here since the funeral offers hope of life after death and provides comport for the relieved. The funeral prevents social disruption.
Malinowski also found religion helpful where the outcome of events was unpredictable. He studied people on the Trobriand Islands, where fishing is all important. Before fishing in the open sea, where it is very dangerous, a religious ritual is held to help deal with the stress of unpredictability of what could happen. This promotes solidarity among the group.
Conclusion
For Functionalists religion maintains social stability by removing tension that can disrupt social order. Religion is seen in a positive light, promoting harmony in society. However, religion can also be socially destructive. Look at Northern Ireland for example.
Marxism
Marx had a utopian vision of the future in which all people would be equal because the class system would no longer exist and no one would be exploited.
He thought society fell into two groups, the working class (proletariat) and the ruling class (bourgeoisie). The ruling class owned the means of production whilst the working class could only sell their labour to the ruling class. The ruling class exploited the proletariat by paying them very little. This resulted in the proletariat feeling alienated from society. Marx believed that the only way out of this situation was for the proletariat to rise up against the ruling class and seize the means of production. Once the people owned the means of production, social classes would disappear and there would be no need for religion, since it existed only under the old social conditions.
For Marx, religion was an illusion. It dulls the pain of oppression for the proletariat but at the same time it blinds them from their true reality. Thus, it stops them from seeing what needs to be done to end their exploitation. Religion is a form of social control keeping the rich rich and the poor poor.
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed culture, the sentiment of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”
Religion dulls the pain of oppression in 4 ways: