Education and Religion

1
Chapter 12

• Education and Religion

2
Chapter Outline

• An Overview of Education and Religion
• Sociological Perspectives on Education
• Problems in Education
• Religion in Historical Perspective
• Sociological Perspectives on Religion
• Types of Religious Organization
• Trends in Religion in the United States
• Education and Religion in the Future

3
Education and Religion

• Powerful forces in contemporary societies.
• Impart essential values, beliefs, and knowledge.
• Grapple with issues of societal stability and
  social change, reflecting society even as they
  attempt to shape it.

4
Functions of Education

• Manifest functions
• Socialization
• Transmission of culture
• Social control
• Social placement
• Change and innovation

• Latent functions
• Production of social networks
• Restricting some activities
• Creation of generation gap

5
Conflict Perspective

• Education is a vehicle for reproducing existing
  class relationships.
• Unequal funding is a source of inequality in
  education.
• Access to colleges and universities is determined
  not only by academic record but also by the
  ability to pay.

6
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy- students perform
  according to the expectations of their teachers.
• Students labeled as gifted may achieve at a
  higher level because of the label.
• Some girls learn to attribute success to effort
  while boys learn to attribute success to
  intelligence and ability.

7
Religion

• Seeks to answer important questions such as why
  we exist, why people suffer and die and what
  happens when we die.
• Comprised of beliefs, symbols and rituals.
• All known groups over the past 100,000 years have
  had some form of religion.

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Four Main Categories of Religion

1. Simple supernaturalism - belief that
   supernatural forces affect people's lives
   positively or negatively.
2. Animism - belief that plants, animals, and
   elements of the natural world are endowed with
   spirits that impact events in society.

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Four Main Categories of Religion

1. Theism - belief in a God or Gods.
2. Transcendent idealism - belief in sacred
   principles of thought and conduct, such as truth,
   justice, life and tolerance for others.

10
Major World Religions
Followers Founder Date
Christianity 1.7 billion Jesus 1st century C.E.
Islam 1 billion Muhammad ca. 600 C.E
Hinduism 719 million No specific founder ca. 1500 B.C.E.
Buddhism 309 million Siddhartha Gautama 500 to 600 B.C.E.
Judaism 18 million Abraham, Isaac, Jacob ca. 2000 B.C.E.
Confucianism 5.9 million Kung Fu-Tzu 500 B.C.E.
11
Functionalist Perspective

• Religion has 3 important functions
• Providing meaning and purpose to life.
• Promoting social cohesion and a sense of
  belonging.
• Providing social control and support for the
  government.

12
Conflict Perspective

• According to Karl Marx, religion is the "opiate
  of the people."
• Max Weber argued that religion could be a
  catalyst to produce social change.

13
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

• Religion serves as a reference group to help
  people define themselves.
• Womens versions of a certain religion usually
  differ from mens versions.

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Characteristics of Churches and Sects
Church Sect
Organization Large, bureaucratic, led by a professional clergy Small, faithful group, high degree of lay participation
Membership Open to all members usually from upper and middle classes Closely guarded membership, usually from lower classes
Worship Formal, orderly Informal, spontaneous
Salvation Granted by God Achieved by moral purity
Attitudes Toward Other Religions Tolerant Intolerant
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Trends in Religion in the U.S.

• The rise of a new fundamentalism has occurred at
  the same time as a number of mainline
  denominations have been losing membership.
• Some members of the political elite in Washington
  have vowed to bring religion "back" into schools
  and public life.

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Goals 2000 Educate America Act

• Passed by Congress in 1994 to challenge the
  nations public school system to meet specific
  goals by 2000.
• Very little progress has been made.
• The stated goals are overly idealistic.

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Goals 2000 Educate America Act

• Three key goals
• Students leave grades 4, 8, and 12 with
  competency in English, math, science, history,
  and geography.
• U.S. students will lead in science and
  mathematics achievement.
• Every adult will be literate.