Sociologists who have studied the role of religion in society, and perhaps more specifically Functionalists and traditional Marxists often tend to adopt the view that religion is a conservative force.

Authors Avatar

Francesca Cifaldi

  1. Assess the extent to which religion can be seen as a conservative influence.

Sociologists who have studied the role of religion in society, and perhaps more specifically Functionalists and traditional Marxists often tend to adopt the view that religion is a conservative force, ‘conservative’ meaning that it favours keeping things the way they are and inhibiting change.  Restraining change can be seen as a force for stability and social order, and is thus reflected in the majority of conservative thinkers.

Functionalists believe that society’s religious basic shared beliefs, values, traditions and norms that make the society run smoothly through group worship and celebration serves to create cohesion and group solidarity. In maintaining this social solidarity, religion acts as a conservative force because if or when it fails to perform this function, new ideas may emerge that effectively become the new religion.  Durkheim (1912) regarded ‘new religions’ such as nationalism and communism as taking over from Christianity, but still performing the same essential functions. Functionalists are therefore saying that religion in its form changes, but what remains unchanged is its function.                                          Religion for them carry out key roles in society such as socialisation to society’s members especially the children into a value consensus by investing values with a sacred quality and thus acting as moral codes, both formal and informal controls, to regulate out social behaviour and as a result control social change.                                                                                                                                                               Religion may also provide social integration and solidarity by encouraging collective worship to strengthen commitment and group unity. Uniting members with shared values and thus reinforcing social solidarity can also mean that deviant behaviour is restrained and social change restricted, by establishing collective conscience and obligations between people.                                                                Another way in that religion can be seen to inhibit change is in the prevention of anomie whereby religion acts as a barrier to social upheaval of religious revivalist movements that may create normlessness and so behaviour of society’s members are less regulated. The British Industrial Revolution is an example of where religious movements grew in times of anomie.                                                               Functionalist also see religion as a way to relieve the stress on life-changing events by providing meaning and religious rites of passage, which without such, can undermine people’s commitment to the wider society and therefore,  maximising social disruption and controlling social order.

Join now!

However, this view of religion as a conservative force is weakened by the fact that church attendance is declining in most Western society’s and so cannot be performing these functions to the majority of society’s members. It is also worth noting that society is not based upon one religion and one collective act of worship, as in the case of many modern multi-faith societies and with religious beliefs being expressed individually, if at all.

 Marxist thinkers believe that religion is the ‘opium of the people’ making them disillusioned by how religion (the drug) is affecting society and keeping order in ...

This is a preview of the whole essay