Analyse and evaluate the relationship between religion and social change

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Abbi Short

Analyse and evaluate the relationship between religion and social change.

   The majority of sociologists today do not believe there is a simple relationship between religion and social change. They try to identify the particular factors that influence the role of religion, beliefs and institutions within different sections of society.

       Religion can be defined as a set of beliefs where people take part in certain practises often following a leader which determines how people live their everyday lives. It has key functions in modern society. The major function of religion is to socialize society’s members into a value consensus by investing values with a sacred quality. These values are moral codes which regulate our social behaviour, for example the functionalist Parsons believes that religion is embedded in our culture and our laws are based on the Ten Commandments and they act as moral glue in society. Religion encourages social integration and solidarity where everyone shares moral values. Social change can have many affects on religion by either being a force and encouraging it to grow or promoting secularisation where the amount of religious activity declines; due to this they are both closely interconnected.

    This relates to secondary socialisation, people’s morals and values have changed from 100 years ago and are now socialised into believing there are other factors that are more important than religion. As society has evolved over time, religion has changed greatly. A social movement has occurred, where as society changes so does religion. Secularisation meaning the decline of religion has helped this social movement to take place.  This has also encouraged lots of smaller religions to be formed instead of just the 19 main religions. There are denominations of each main religion which form lots of different types of religions. For example of the Christian religion there are around 38,000 denominations.  Also nowadays there are many cults and sects around the world which again increases the amount of new religions. Supporters of the secularisation theory think that industrialisation has led to changes that have gradually reduced the importance of religion in society.

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      Technology has become more advanced recently and has therefore allowed scientists to discover theories which can prove against religion. This has enhanced secularisation. Also, technology has helped the evolution of new religions due to factors such as the internet. People can learn and find out vast amounts of information about religions over the internet and therefore the information about new religions can spread quickly. Cults and sects are different religions that have been formed that are less included in everyday society. They are much more extreme than normal religions, and sects are not allowed to integrate with ...

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