5786049
Description
Mind Map by Erin Phillips, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Erin Phillips
almost 8 years ago
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Functionalist Ideas On
Religion
- Substantive Definitions
- Focus on the content or substance of
religious belief - Belief in God &
supernatural
- Max Webber
- Sees religion as a belief in the
superior/supernatural power
- Power is above nature
- Cannot be proven or
scientifically explained
- Sees religion as a belief in the
superior/supernatural power
- Exclusive - clear line between
religious and non-religious
beliefs
- To be religious is to believe in a God or in the supernatural - conform in this widespread view
- Criticism
- Do not consider other religions that do
not believe in a God
- Accused of Western bias,
exclude religions such as
Buddhism with no idea of God
- Do not consider other religions that do
not believe in a God
- Focus on the content or substance of
religious belief - Belief in God &
supernatural
- Functional Definitions
- Defined in terms of social./ psychological
functions it performs on the individual and
society
- What religion does for the individual
- What religion does for the individual
- Emilie Durkheim
- Sees religion in terms of the contribution it
makes to social integration
- Need not be a belief in a specific God or
the supernatural
- Sees religion in terms of the contribution it
makes to social integration
- Milton Yinger
- Functions of religion such as answering
'ultimate questions' such as meaning of life
and what happens when we die
- Functions of religion such as answering
'ultimate questions' such as meaning of life
and what happens when we die
- Criticism
- If an institution helps integrate
individuals into groups it does not
make it a religion
- Football can give individuals a
sense of integration but isn't
seen as a religion
- If an institution helps integrate
individuals into groups it does not
make it a religion
- Defined in terms of social./ psychological
functions it performs on the individual and
society
- Constructionist Definition
- Interpretivist approach that focuses on
how individuals define religion themselves
- Is not possible to produce a single
universal definition of religion, people
have different ideas of what religion
means
- Alan Aldridge
- Scientology is a religion, whereas various
governments have denied this
- Shows how definitions of
religion can vary and are
influenced by who has the
power to define the
situation
- Shows how definitions of
religion can vary and are
influenced by who has the
power to define the
situation
- Scientology is a religion, whereas various
governments have denied this
- Do not always assume
religion involves God or the
supernatural
- Do not believe all religions
perform the same
functions for everyone in
society
- Do not believe all religions
perform the same
functions for everyone in
society
- Criticism
- Impossible to generalise
about the nature of
religion
- Impossible to generalise
about the nature of
religion
- Interpretivist approach that focuses on
how individuals define religion themselves
- Durkheim
- The Sacred & Profane
- Key feature of religion is the
fundamental distinction between
the sacred and the profane
- Sacred - Forbidden and inspire a feeling of awe
- Profane - the ordinary and mundane
- Profane - the ordinary and mundane
- Key feature of religion is the
fundamental distinction between
the sacred and the profane
- Totemism
- Something that holds a sacred value - eg.
The Queen
- Something that holds a sacred value - eg.
The Queen
- The Sacred & Profane
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