Flashcards
r. THEORIES OF RELIGION
Cards in this deck (38)
- 1Functionalists see society as acting like an ________ with basic needs that need to be fulfilledOrganism
- 2Each _________ performs certain functions to maintain the social system by meeting a need.Institution
- 3What is society's most basic need?For social order & solidarity
- 4What makes order possible?Value consensus
- 5What is this?A set of norms and values for people to follow
- 6What, does Durkheim argue, plays a central part in creating and maintaining social order, solidarity and value consensus?Religion
- 7For Durkheim, the key feature of all religions is the distinction between the ________and the ______Sacred and profane
- 8What is meant by the sacred?Things set apart and forbidden
Inspiring feelings of awe, fear and wonder - 9What is meant by the profane?Things that are ordinary and mundane
- 10Religions have sacred rituals. What is meant by saying these rituals are collective?Performed by social groups
- 11Durkheim argues that sacred things create feelings of great power because they are _______ representing things of great powerSymbols
- 12What does Durkheim argue this thing of great power can only be?Society
- 13What does this mean is happening when people worship sacred symbols?People are worshipping society
- 14What function does sacred symbols perform?Uniting believers into a single moral community
- 15What society did Durkheim study and why?the Arunta clan
He believed the essence of all religion could be found by studying its simplest form in the simplest type of society - 16What was the clans emblem?A totem
- 17What did the totem rituals reinforce?The groups solidarity and sense of belonging
- 18What does Durkheim argue the clan members are really worshipping when they worship the totem?Society
- 19What else do sacred symbols represent?The collective conscience
- 20What is the collective conscience?The shared norms, values and beliefs that make cooperation between individuals possible.
- 21Without the collective conscience, what will happen to society?It will disintergrate
- 22Regular shared religious rituals reinforce the collective conscience and maintain _______ ________Social integration
- 23Rituals also remind individuals of the ______ of societyPower
- 24Thus, religion performs an important function for ___ __________The individual
- 25By making us feel part of something that is...Greater than ourselves
- 26This strengthens us to face what?Lifes problems
- 27Durkheim sees religion as being the source of all of our ________ capacitiesCognitive
- 28What are these?Our abilities to reason and think conceptually
- 29In order to think, we need categories e.gTime, space
- 30________ provides the concepts and categories we need for understanding the world and communicating with othersReligion
- 31Durkheim and _______ (1903) argue that religion provides basic categories such as time, space and causationMauss
- 32Give an example of how religion does thisA creator bringing the world into being at the beginning of time
- 33Who argues that religion performs psychological functions?Malinowski
- 34What are these psychological functions?It helps people to cope with emotional stress that would undermine social solidarity
- 35In what 2 situations does religion perform this role?- Where the outcome is important but uncontrollable and uncertain
- At times of life crises - 36What are Parsons two other essential functions of religion in modern society?- It creates and legitimates societies basic norms and values
- It provides a source of meaning, answering 'ultimate questions' - 37How does religion create and legitimate societies basic norms and values?By sacralising them (making them sacred) - this promotes social solidarity and value consensus
- 38—
Information
- Description
- A-Level A2 SOCIOLOGY Flashcards on r. THEORIES OF RELIGION, created by ashiana121 on 22/02/2016.
- Created by
- ashiana121
- Views
- 17
- Tags
- Rating