According to Durkheim, when people live together, they com

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Chapter 16

• Religion

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Chapter Outline

• Classical Approaches in the Sociology of Religion
• The Rise, Decline, and Partial Revival of
  Religion
• The Structure of Religion in the world
• World Religions
• Religiosity
• The Future of Religion

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Durkheims Theoryof Religion

• According to Durkheim, when people live together,
  they come to share common sentiments and values.
• These form a collective conscience that is larger
  than any individual.
• When we experience the collective conscience
  directly, we can distinguish the daily world of
  the profane from the transcendent world of the
  sacred.

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Durkheims Theoryof Religion

• Totems - certain objects as symbolizing the
  sacred.
• Rituals - public practices we invent to connect
  us with the sacred.
• The function of rituals and of religion as a
  whole is to reinforce social solidarity.

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Durkheims Theory and the Super Bowl

• Durkheim would consider the Super Bowl trophy and
  the team logo to be totems.
• The game itself is a public ritual.
• The game is a sacred event in Durkheims terms
  because it increases social solidarity and
  cements society.

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Criticisms of Durkheim

• Conflict and feminist theorists have two
  criticisms against Durkheim
• Overemphasizes religions role in maintaining
  social cohesion, when religion often incites
  social conflict.
• Ignores the fact that when religion increases
  social cohesion, it often reinforces social
  inequality.

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Question

• The sacred refers to
• common sentiments and values that people share as
  a result of living in the same society
• the secular, everyday world
• the religious, transcendent world
• public practices designed to connect people to
  the transcendent world

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Answer c

• The sacred refers to the religious, transcendent
  world.

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Civil Religion

• A set of beliefs and practices that bind a
  population together and justify its way of life.

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Weber A Symbolic Interactionist Interpretation

• Max Weber stressed the way religion can
  contribute to social change.
• Weber captured the core of his argument in an
  image
• If history is like a train, pushed along its
  tracks by economic and political interests, then
  religious ideas are like railroad switches,
  determining exactly which tracks the train will
  follow.

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Weber A Symbolic Interactionist Interpretation

• For Weber, a combination of factors prompted
  capitalist development in non-Catholic Europe and
  North America
• favorable economic conditions
• the spread of certain moral values by the
  Protestant reformers of the 16th century and
  their followers.

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Weber and the Protestant Ethic

• Weber wrote that followers of Protestant
  theologian Calvin stressed the need to engage in
  worldly activity and display industry,
  punctuality, and frugality.
• People could assure a state of grace by working
  diligently and living simply.
• In contrast, Buddhism and Confucianism hindered
  worldly success in competition and capital
  accumulation.

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Question

• Weber recognized
• importance of the economic factor in explaining
  the rise of capitalism
• one-sidedness of any exclusively economic
  interpretation of the rise of capitalism
• role of certain Protestant moral values in
  stimulating the rise of capitalism in Western
  Europe and North America
• b. and c.

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Answer d

• Weber recognized the one-sidedness of any
  exclusively economic interpretation of the rise
  of capitalism and the role of certain Protestant
  moral values in stimulating the rise of
  capitalism in Western Europe and North America.

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Secularization Thesis of Religion

• Religious institutions, actions, and
  consciousness are on the decline.
• Critics
• There has been a religious revival in the U.S.
  over the past 30 years.
• Survey evidence shows religion in the U.S. is
  resilient.

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Who Think Religion Is Very Important, 44
Countries
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Social Condition of Religion
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Question

• How confident are you in organized religion?

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GSS National Data
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Fundamentalists

• Fundamentalists interpret their scriptures
  literally, seek to establish a direct, personal
  relationship with the higher being(s) they
  worship, are relatively intolerant of
  nonfundamentalists, and often support
  conservative social issues.

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Fundamentalists

• Example attitudes toward abortion
• In 2000 23 of Americans identifying themselves
  as fundamentalists agreed that abortion is
  acceptable if the woman wants it for any
  reason.
• 43 of Americans who identify as part of moderate
  or liberal denominations agreed with the
  statement.

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Question

• Do you believe that the Bible is the actual word
  of God, to be taken literally word for word?
• Yes
• No

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Revised Secularization Thesis

• Holds that worldly institutions break off from
  the institution of religion over time.
• As a result, religion governs an ever smaller
  part of most peoples lives and becomes largely a
  matter of personal choice.

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Perceived Adequacy of the Church in 12
Postindustrial Countries
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Perceived Adequacy of the Church in 12
Postindustrial Countries
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Perceived Adequacy of the Church in 12
Postindustrial Countries
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Question

• Revised secularization thesis focuses on
• re-enchantment of the world
• restriction of religion to just the spiritual
  part of peoples lives
• the way religion has become a personal and
  private matter rather than one imposed by
  institutions
• all of these choices

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Answer b

• The revised secularization thesis focuses on the
  restriction of religion to just the spiritual
  part of peoples lives.

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Church, Sect, and Cult
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Church, Sect, and Cult
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Religious Preference U.S., 2002
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Religious Preference by Class, United States, 2002
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Question

• What is your current religious affiliation?
• Protestant
• Catholic
• Jewish
• None
• Other

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Five Major World Religions

• Similar in three ways
• With the exception of Hinduism, charismatic
  leaders helped to turn them into world religions.
• With the exception of Hinduism, all had
  egalitarian and emancipatory messages at their
  origins.
• Over time, the charismatic leadership of the
  world religions became routinized.

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Routinization of Charisma

• Webers term for the transformation of divine
  enlightenment into a permanent feature of
  everyday life.
• Involves turning religious inspiration into a
  stable social institution with defined roles,
  such as interpreters of the divine message,
  teachers, dues-paying laypeople, and so forth.
• Involves the weakening of the ideals of freedom
  and equality.

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Formation of World Religions Four Conclusions

• New world religions are founded by charismatic
  personalities in times of great trouble.
• The founding of new religions is typically
  animated by the desire for freedom and equality
  in the afterlife, and in this life.
• Routinization of charisma makes religion less
  responsive to ordinary people, and supports
  injustices.
• New world religions could emerge in the future.

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Question

• How often do you attend religious services?

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GSS National Data
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GSS National Data
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The Future of Religion

• Secularization is one of the two dominant trends
  influencing religion throughout the world.
• Between 1972 and 2002, the percent of Americans
  expressing no religious preference increased from
  5 to 14.
• People attending religious services once a month
  or more fell from 57 to 47

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The Future of Religion

• Even as secularization grips many people, many
  others in the United States and throughout the
  world have been caught up by a religious revival.
• The two contradictory social processes of
  secularization and revival are likely to persist,
  resulting in a world that is neither more
  religious nor more secular, but one that is more
  polarized.

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Quick Quiz
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• 1. Which of the following is a criticism
  frequently lodged against Durkheim's theory of
  religion?
• Religion often heightens the sense of belonging
  to certain groups.
• Religion often incites social conflict.
• Religion often reinforces social inequality.
• Religion often incites social conflict, and
  religion often reinforces social inequality

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Answer d

• The ideas that religion often incites social
  conflict, and religion often reinforces social
  inequality are criticisms frequently lodged
  against Durkheim's theory of religion.

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• 2. A civil religion is
• a religion that encourages its members to
  participate actively in the political arena
• a religion that does not discriminate on the
  basis of race, class, gender, or sexual
  orientation
• a religion that contributes to social change
• a set of quasi-religious beliefs and practices
  that binds the population and justifies its way
  of life

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Answer d

• A civil religion is a set of quasi-religious
  beliefs and practices that binds the population
  and justifies its way of life.

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• 3. According to the secularization thesis
• religious institutions, actions, and conscious
  are on the decline worldwide
• religious institutions, actions, and conscious
  are likely to disappear in the near future
• religiosity is negatively correlated with level
  of economic development
• Communist governments, which promoted atheism,
  lowered the level of religiosity in their
  countries

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Answer a

• According to the secularization thesis religious
  institutions, actions, and conscious are on the
  decline worldwide.

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• 4. Which of the following is not a characteristic
  of a cult?
• Cults are groups of people committed to a
  religious vision that rejects mainstream culture
  and society.
• Cults are generally led by charismatic
  individuals.
• Cults tend to recruit members from all segments
  of the stratification system.
• Cults tend to disappear after a relatively short
  period of time.

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Answer c

• The following is not a characteristic of a cult
• Cults tend to recruit members from all segments
  of the stratification system.

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• 5. The routinization of charisma is Weber's term
  for the transformation of divine enlightenment
  into a permanent feature of everyday life.
• a. True
• b. False

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Answer a

• The routinization of charisma is Weber's term for
  the transformation of divine enlightenment into a
  permanent feature of everyday life.