Religion and Society

Religion
(Refer Harlambos)
TOPICS
 Sociological Theories of Religion
 Types of Religious practices
 Animism
 Monism
 Pluralism
 Sects
 Cults
 Religion in modern society
 Region and science
 Secularism
 Religious revivalism
 Fundamentalism

Definition
It refers to the existence of supernatural beings which have a governing effect on life - Ronald Robertson

Malcolm Hamilton objected cited the example of Buddhism not having supernatural.

Evolutionists
Define in terms of evolving humans needs

August compte: animism (sympathizing with roads, machines, etc), polytheism, monotheism

Durkheim: From Totemism to present day complex religions

Talks about sacred and profane

Edward Tyler: in response to man's intellectual needs

Max Mueller: in response to man's emotional needs

Functionalist: in response to society's needs.

Society requires value consensus, solidarity, harmony and integration without which society cannot be
imagined.

Malinowski talks about promoting social solidarity in times of emotional distress that threaten stability
of society.

Parsons says religion gives us norms and promotes value consensus which ensures social order.
Criticism of Religion
 Inhibits the change in society
 Doesn't address the dysfunctions in society (ignores dysfunction)
 Acts as divisive and disruptive forces
 Hostility between religions

Marxist view:
 Religion is an illusion which eases the pain produced by exploitation and oppression
 Opium of the masses.
 Acts as a mechanism of social control and promoting dominating ideologies by maintaining existing
system of exploitation, reinforcing class relationships.
 Caste system is justified according to religion same as divine rights were being justified in Europe.

Criticism:
Religion doesn't always favour legitimate power

By Neo-Marxists
Otto Maduro: Religion is independent and Clergy members can develop revolutionary potential where
oppressed members have no outlet for grievances and can pressurized the priests to take up their cause in
South America
(Theory of Liberation Theology)
Bryan Turner: promoting consumerism in youth in modern times like charging tickets for visiting shrines,
mega sale during religous festivals, etc.

Can sometimes be an impetus for change

Engels: Role played by religion in revolutionary social change. Example of Sufi saints staying away from
rulers and close to the people, led social change.
Religion did not die in communism as Marx predicted.

Feminist Perspective
Religion is a product or patriarchy
An instrument of domination and oppression

Giddens
Christianity is resolutely male affair
God is father (male figure)
Hinduism is also having top 3 male gods

Karen Armstrong
All major religions a male affair
Women have been given peripheral and marginal position

Jean Holm
Women have roles in religion, but is always subordinate and in private sphere, limited to house.
Mary Daly
Religous language, images needs to be changed
They perpetuate the sexist world

Nasal El Sadaawi (male)

Religion is only one aspect of wider patriarchy, which needs to be overthrown by struggle.

Simone De Beauvoir
Book called "The second sex"
Women do much work for religous organisation, introduce children to religion, yet are exploited most by
it.

Carol Christ
Gave the concept of female centric religion called Thealogy

Rational Choice Theories

Compares the religion to markets in which individual has choices and consumers choose the religion as
per their needs. This is why as needs change, new religion emerges in response to it and people change
religion

****Stark and Bainbridge

Religion and Compensators Theory
Work today and you will get fruit tomorrow. Tomorrow is nowhere defined. A belief that a reward will be
obtained in a distant future or in some other context which cannot be verified.
Compensator brings in the idea of Supernatural
On Secularism
There is no secularism, religion answers universal questions and its Compensators meet universal human
needs.
Increasing religous pluralism as people have sought new sources to create Compensators.
Criticism:
There is decreasing belief in religous values and secularization is taking place. Religous pluralism is leading
to lower church memberships.

Weber: Social change has been brought by religion (Calvinism to Capitalism) and as change comes, people
tend to lose religion. Therefore seeds of secularism are present in religion itself.

Origin of Religion

Religion is a complex phenomenon and has been studied by various psychologists and anthropologists

Psychological: outcome of various forces

De Brosses

Theory of fetishism: Excessively devoted towards something

Relgion originated as the magical power associated with certain objects.

August Compte

There are multiple fetishism, where certain devote themselves to objects, some devote to souls,ghosts, etc

Max Mueller

Theory of naturism

Personification of natural phenomenon and holding supernatural forces responsible for them

Eg: Varuna dev for water,

Herbert Spencer

Theory of Dreams

People get dreams of supernatural beings and they start believing in them

Tyler

Animism: Notion of soul, presence of soul in non living objects

RR Maret

Studied mana theory

Animatism: Soul is existing and it makes people do work and influences them (Soul is an impersonal force)

Psychological theories

Crwaley

Main force behind religion is fear force or danger in social relations. Religion helps to tackle fear.

Malinowski writes in ‘Totem and Taboo’

In fisherman village of trobriand islands. Fisherman preach and pray to the sea as they have fear of the sea.

Religion protects from death. Everyone perceives that one day someone will die, so they lose motivation
for living. Religion comes in and saves society from disintegration

RH Lowe

Religion is marked by the presence of mysterious extra-ordinary feelings

Sigmund Freud (religion saves from guilt)

Everything has its genesis in sexual actions

Guilt feeling after having sexual intercourse, to overcome the feelings of guilt man creates religion to
overcome guilt.

Sociological Perspectives

Durkheim – sacred and profane

Parsons – value consensus

Weber – religion system influences economic system

Merton – Functional, dysfunctional and non functional aspects of religion based on types of society

Peter Berger: gives norms of living (routine habits related to religion, surya-namaskar) to appease
the cosmos and supernatural

Animism

Religion originated from the experiences of death, diseases and various actions and dreams lead the
primitives to think about existence of something mysterious immaterial power i.e. soul.

Soul is something which resides in living beings and leaves after death. Spirit and soul also leaves
temporarily during dreams.

Religion is born to satisfy human’s reasoning and intellectual needs

Monism

Believing in one thing, one religion, one cult, Existence of one faith, one church, etc

There is wide consensus

As society is becoming more modern, monism is reducing due to intermingling of different sections of
society

Monism is relatively stronger since there is unity of belief and there is more reinforcement of norms

Pluralism

Peter Berger writes in Social Reality of Religion and talks about secularism

Cosmos may not always be considered as sacred, thus the attempt of pluralism is to secularize cosmos and
define cosmos in a wider perspective beyond religion. This is seen as the beginning of pluralism.

Modern Science has played a crucial role in the process of secularization

Berger links pluralism to modernization and secularization

Bryan Wilson (seen as symbol of secularization)

Multiplicity of denominations interpreted as evidence of secularization

Presence of smaller denominations under major religions is itself a proof secularism. As denominations
increase, secularization increases.

Each denomination has its own version of truth which eventually reduces solidarity due to multiple beliefs

Berge and Luckmann

Pluralism weakens influence of religion due to no longer belief in universal meaning

Stark and Bainbridge

Oppose Peter Berger and Bryan Wilson

They state that religion is becoming stronger and not reducing. People believe in religious values but are
just diversifying into different religions

Religion is becoming a free market, with tolerance of other religions and offering compensators and
whichever compensator provides maximum benefits, people as consumers choose that.

Hierarchy:

Religion --------------- Denomination -------------- Sects and Cults

SECTS AND CULTS

(Further division of religion such as Sunni, Arya Samaj, Khalsa, Nirankari, etc.)

KEYWORDS: Relative deprivation, deviant,

Sects Definition: They are a religious groups and stand for those who dissent against the prevalent
practices in religion.

Bainbridge

“They are offshoots of existing religion as a result of division or relative deprivation within that religion”.

Ray Wallis

 Deviant groups who consider themselves as uniquely legitimate.

 People seek salvation in the sense of community offered by sects

Example of the earl 1916 of the black muslim sect provided a possible solution to the problem of poverty
and unemployment in broken families. This arose due to discrimination of blacks by whites.

Troeltsch

Sects are connected with the lower classes or those who are opposed to state and society

Peter Berger

Sects openly reject norms and values of the world and society and that is why remain in conflict with
society.

Max Weber

Sects are most likely to form within groups which are marginal in society and marginalization is justified
through “theodicy of disprivelege”

Where theodicy means a religious explanation justifying deprivation.

Sects generally tend to arise during period of rapid social change. In this situation, traditional norms of the
society are getting undermined and religion is also caught in crossfire.

Bryan Wilson

Rise of Methodism as a response to rapid social change by new working class

Reinhold Niebuhr

Sects might be short lived or come become prevalent against the existing religion.

This was rejected by Wilson, as he states that sects survive only till the time they act as sects.

Conclusion

Sects emerge as a contradiction which try to seek remedies to prevailing oppressive practices. They create
a counter culture and present alternate ideologies. Eg: Calvinism, Buddhism and Jainism.

CULTS
 They emerge in industrial society. As people start living distantly, heterogeneity and alienation Is
witnessed and people experience powerlessness. It leads to emergence of voluntary organization.
 They are not opposed to any religion and distance themselves from sects and religions
 They seek peace and communal solidarity
 They generally comprise of higher classes of people belonging to esoteric and individualistic
categories.

Ray Wallis

They are deviant only but they do not present a claim monopoly over universal truth. Cults believe in
pluralism and cater to people from all backgrounds, religion and sects. They are pluralistically legitimate.

Stark and Bainbridge

Cult are new religious or at least new in a particular society and bring in new religious innovations and
practices. Eg: Osho cult imported in the USA.

Three types of Cults (ACC)

1. Audience Cult: lectures delivered by a leader, least organized and little personal interaction.
2. Client Cult: More organized and provide services to the followers, very personalized
3. Cult Movement: More followers, and try to satisfy all the religious needs of their followers

Target audience

Youth which are alienated and responsive to change and generally cater to urban middle class which can
pay good money

Cult membership is transitory and irregular and people can be part of different religions also unlike
religion. People generally have one religion.

More prevalent in western society due to more prosperity and lesser peace of mind. In India, sects are
stronger than cults.

USA recorded a surge in cult membership post world wars.

Weber and Troeltsch – difference between Sects and Cult

Ray Wallis Diagram

Reasons of Cults in Modern Societies

1. Insecurity – crisis of social and psychological security

2. Conflict- Between traditional and modern societies
3. Change- they seek stability and an anchor in a perpetually changing societies
4. Refuge from prevailing inequalities
5. Free lunches offered by cults and sects; idea of luring people
6. Political Patronage: Political support to cults, vote banks
7. Because of Social Media: with wider approach making of cults is becoming easier

Gurus seen as middlemen between god and humans

Illiteracy promotes irrational beliefs

As history witnessed the renaissance, with the advent of science, departure of religion was initiated
 SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Similarities

 Cognitive
 Both attempt to satisfy human curiosity
 Cooperation: Religion is more collectively oriented than science but science too emphasized on
team spirit and cooperation in scientific community
 Personnel: Both have prescriptions for qualifying as being members of community
 Coming together: Science got legitimacy with rise of protestant ethics
 Both have contributed in acting against humankind as basis of wars in history.

Differences

 Science believes in taking things based on face value based on experimentation, religion is taken on
faith value
 Precision and measurement: Science believes and precision and measurement which is not possible
in religion
 Applications: scientific knowledge has more concrete application in the form of technology but
religion does not have such a concrete applicability.
 Science is universal whereas principles of religious life changes from society to society
 Sorokin states “Religion is based on unquestioned faith and science is based on questionable thesis”
 Religion is not only cognitive but also moral and cultural and tells right from wrong. Science makes
no such attempt. Example: touching the feet of elders.

 Berger played a major role in secularization of cosmos by entering regions beyond the earth and
exploring the universe.
 Positivists very often tried to contrast religion with science and stated that with rapid
industrialization, religion was losing ground.
 Compte gives three stages that is theological, metaphysical and then positivistic in which positivism
is the last stage of human evolution.
 Intellectualism is the school that tries to correlate science and religion by giving a rational basis as
to why individuals accept religion amidst all natural phenomenon.
 Marx and Weber: both predicted an end to religion with time but even science is growing we see a
resurgence in religion in different forms. (Both opined that bureaucracy would take over). But now
both are existing simultaneously.

Example: During the launch of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), it was launched on Tuesday (mangal) and a
small statue was presented in the temple also wishing for the success of the mission.

Therefore religion seems to be fulfilling some higher purpose for those scientists who go to the temple not
in position of ISRO scientist but in position of a human being.
 Science, Technology and Social Change
Example: Building Green Ganesha statue to save the environment and curb water pollution.

Sociology was born in response to the advent of technology (industrial revolution)

Science is a systematic body of certified and changing knowledge based on observable facts and the
methods used to acquire this knowledge.

Technology is applied science. Tools tend to be much more efficient when made out of principles of science.

LH Morgan

Human society passed through savagery, barbarianism and civilization. These stages represent three
different levels of technology.

Parsons

Talks about change in information flow of energy (Cultural Social Political Orgasmic). Change in the flow
of energy is a result of change in technology. When cultural information changes, it slowly changes in the
lower ranks as well.

Leslie White

If you want to check how much a society is evolved, check their consumption of energy. He tried to social
evolution in terms of technology and energy consumption. Example: Dubai, Qatar, etc.

Primitive man would use more muscular energy whereas modern man uses more mental and inanimate
energy.

William Ogburn and Nimkoff***

Theory of cultural lag

There are two types of culture: Material and Non-material

Non Material culture: values, family lives, patriarchy, etc.

Material culture: possession of cars, using electronics over traditional lamps

Material culture is always ahead of non-material culture and material culture instigates changes in non-
material cultural. Therefore more number of houses and cars changes the family values. This is also called
theory of domino effect and chain reaction.

With changes in demographic structure towards youth, technology is seen rising.

Gender equality and technology:

 With technology, easier for women to access resources due to restricted mobility
 Results in women’s emancipation and participation of women
 Technology encourages women empowerment
 Technology helps to overcome class divide and social divide
  Technology is seen as an impetus for education as it penetrates in the remotest corners of the world.
Education is now being seen as investment since advent of science and technology has led people
to believe that science and technology rewards the effort and is seen as a tool for faster mobility.
 Technology is also a boon for environment as eco-friendly technologies which are power saving,
efficient and an ideology towards zero-emission technology
 As technology penetrates the hidden corners where religion prevails, inquisitiveness rises and with
inquisitive ability, people rationalize their lifestyle and drive away religion.

SECULARIZATION
Religion which doesn’t interfere with politics of the nation – Pol. Sc. Definition

It means influence of religion in all areas of social life is steadily diminishing – Sociological Definition

A process in which religious thinking, process and institutions lose social significance – Bryan Wilson

Theological Society ------------------ Secularization --------------------- Secular Society

In the nineteenth century, it was witnessed in Europe that increasing scientific knowledge was leading to
secularization.

August Compte, Max Weber and Karl Marx opined that secularization is bound to take place with
modernization of society and increase of science and technology

Evaluation of Secularization

There is little consensus on the meaning of the word secularization

Parameters to evaluate are:

1. Institutionalization: participation in church and religious institutions has decreased

2. Disengagement from the wider society and decreasing influence of religion on other sections and
categories of the society such as education, politics, and prestige of an individual and determinants
of status
3. Differentiation of religious institutions from other social institutions such as family and education.
Earlier the entire family would follow a single religion but increasingly in the modern society with
secularization, freedom to choose faith is seen.
4. Specialized institutions have come up in the political and economic sphere and religious influence
has been confined to their own matters only.
5. Religious pluralism has emerged and society sees acceptance of various denominations, sects and
cults
6. Secularization of religious institutions such as church run schools are also teaching science, and
religious institutions have built hospitals for serving mankind.
7. Generalization has taken place (Parsons) and society has almost forgotten that several practices
that emerged out of religion have transcended beyond religion. Example: Even muslims will get
discounts on Diwali, touching the feet of elders, Festivals are celebrated by all. Norms of religion are
now being seen as a way of life. This has increased the longevity of religion
8. Individualization of worship has been seen (Robert N Bellah) and collectivity in religion is seen
diminishing.
 9. Transformation- rather than seeing religious beliefs as generalized or individuated , a number of
sociologists argue that these beliefs have become secular guides to society
Example: Weber states that Protestantism gave rise to capitalism and capitalism is seen
everywhere.
10. Desacralization: Supernatural forces are no longer held responsible or controlling the world.
Scientific basis of disasters as compared to earlier theories of god’s wrath causing disasters.

Conclusion

David Martin states that secularization includes large number of discrete separate elements loosely put
together in an intellectual hold

Bryan Wilson states that although secularization is rapidly taking place but there is no adequate way of
testing commitment towards religious institutions.

The lack of research methodology has dogged down the secularization debate. Undoubtedly religion is still
widely prevalent and is continuously evolving, reviving in one or the other forms is being infused in
different spheres of life. Example: Babri masjid case.

Religious Revivalism
As society will proceed beyond modernism and secularization, society will see religious revivalism.

Secularization is not a zero sum game and not an evenly distributed phenomenon as it varies in degrees
from place to place. In India, religion still influences policies whereas it doesn’t have much impact in USA.

The belief that science will be an answer to all problems can itself be called a “religion of science”

David Martin

Religion has a changing role in different parts of the society and in different societies. Generalization of
trend with respect to secularization is not really seen.

Gilles Kepel

Claims that any trend towards secularization was reversed in around 1970s when various religious
revivalism sprang up intensively. They aimed towards recovering the sacred foundations of organizing the
society.

 Examples: Christian movements in USA, Jews movement in Europe and Muslims movement in
middle-east and emergence of ISIS.
 In USA, evangelical movement to reassert Christianity and values in USA
 Israel- Lubavitch campaigned against watering down of traditional values of Jewish belief.
 Palestine witnessing Islamic radicalization
 Gilles Kepel points towards the Salman Rushdie Affair in a liberal country like United Kingdom,
where his book Satanic Verses was banned.

New Religious movements can be classified into 3 types:

1. World Rejecting: encourages ascetic behavior and ascetic mentalities of leaving everything
materialistic
 2. World Accommodating: Advocate living with society but maintain certain strict dicated principles.
Are not in favour of ascetic behavior and renunciation.
3. World Affirming: Appreciate the world and teach the people to enjoy and appreciate the society
around us.

Religion is reentering the public sphere in new and unusual forms which are escaping the sight of
academicians.

Fundamentalism

Focus on difference between fundamentalism and religious revivalism

Fundamentalism states that “let us return to the basics and core of religious values”

Definition: It refers to a movement or belief calling for returning to the basic texts or fundamentals of
revealed religions which are believed to be pure and contain original values and behavior

It is usually contrasted with modernism and liberalism in religion. Without political legitimacy and power,
fundamentalism is equivalent to religious revivalism.

Modernism is seen as a common enemy to fundamentalism and as fundamentalists sense a threat towards
their fundamentals, they try to recruit more into the fundamentalist fold.

Anthony Giddens

High modernity and globalization has been the cause of fundamentalism since people are not able to relate
to the rapid changes (inconsistency) and after they see their faith declining, tend to move towards
simplicity. This is where the idea of fundamentalism finds them and provides them refuge.

Fundamentalism different from religious revivalism

 Selective interpretation of texts which at a later stage creates more conflict

 Propounds the infallibility of the texts

WHY PEOPLE NEED FUNDAMENTALISM?

 People seek fundamentals in order to rediscover their identity when they experience rootlessness
and see their fundamentals getting shaken due to shifting from one society to other.
 As secularism proceeded and advanced, the discussion about religion slowly stopped. This led to
the creation of vacuum which was filled by the fundamentalists as a ray of hope for those searching
for religious appeal.
 The psychological appeal of religion is very difficult to resist since it promises a better life and
optimistic environment.
 Gives the promise of community and solidarity in an increasingly individualized society.

Intense manifestation of fundamentalism is seen when non-believers are denied rights (Taliban killings,
Militancy, Terrorism, and Jihad)

Conclusion: The aim should be to balance fundamental values conducive for welfare of the society
rather than obstructing growth and practicing violence in the name of it. The strength of
fundamentalism is an indication of the weak secularization process of the modern society.