"Evaluate the view that in contemporary society religion acts as a social glue"

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“Evaluate the view that in contemporary society religion acts as a social glue”

The view in the title is a functionalist’s view. Durkheim claims that religion is to do with the sacred and certain things, people and places are perceived to be sacred for example Jesus Christ, totem and the Tajmahal. He claims that what people perceive to be sacred are actually symbols of a collective consciousness. By worshipping these sacred things etc. they are actually reinforcing the beliefs, values, norms and tradition which make social life possible. He says religion reinforces and strengthens social solidarity. Malinowski says that religion meets the psychological needs of people; there are two situations that religion is characteristically involved. The first of these is life crises such as birth and death, these events may lead to uncertainty and religion provides valuable mental attitudes. The second is where the out come is uncertain but important for example the Trobriand islanders and their fishing. In this way according to Malinowski religion reinforces social solidarity and discourages anxiety. Parsons claims that religion is our primary source of meaning; it answers the eternal questions and help to understand things like suffering and pain. It also produces, sacralises and legitimises the core values of society e.g. Protestantism in the USA encouraged individualism, democracy and equality of opportunity. Bellah claims that there is a civil religion and gives the example of America and its faith in Americanism, he says that civil religion unites society. However the functionalist view can be criticised: It focuses on the positive aspects of religion and ignores that it is the cause of conflict in much of the world e.g. Northern Ireland and conflict between protestants and Catholics, It does not explain the origins of religion, explaining what functions religion performs does not help us to know where it came from. Durkheim did his studies I small scale non-literate societies, it is difficult to see how religion performs its functions in out large complex religiously plural society. Bellah’s idea of civil religion gets around this problem but because of the problems with defining religion it is difficult to say whether or not civil religion can be classed as a religion. In light of the criticism the functionalist view of religion helps to explain its functions but is of limited use.

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Marxists believe that religion maintains the capitalist rule and keeps the proletariat in its place. It does this by reinforcing a false consciousness. Religion puts people’s fate in the hands of supernatural beings therefore discouraging the realisation that they can work for social change. It seems to support social order and threaten punishment for those who resist e.g. St. Paul’s letter to the Christians of Rome and the church in medieval Europe teaching that the unequal states were god’s creation and anyone who challenged this would be punished by damnation. Today main stream religions still legitimises privilege and inequality ...

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