Learning Objectives

 

• Understand different sociological definitions of religion

• Understand how different sociological theories explain the role and functions of religion, and how religion contributes to social stability

• Be able to evaluate different sociological definitions and theories of religion

• Be able to describe a range of examples of religion and analyse their role in social change

• Understand sociological explanations of the role of religion in promoting social change

• Be able to evaluate different sociological explanations of the relationship between religion, social stability and social change

 

To begin we need to understand what religion is and how it differs from other kinds of belief; does it need to be supernatural? What is the role of religion in society and what functions does it perform? Added to this who actually benefits from religion?

 

We need to initially define religion and following on from this focus on the main sociological theories of the functions of religion - functionalism, Marxism (including neo-Marxism) and feminism.

 

Following on from this we need to see how religion could be seen as a force for social change or a force that supports traditional values. We therefore need evidence for this; including that of Calvinism in the 17th Century that arguably brought in capitalism to Western Europe, there is also the American black civil rights movement and the struggles of Kentucky coalminers. Added to this we need to know liberation theory and political change in Latin America.

 

We examine the theories sociologists have developed to account for the role of religion in bringing about social change.