In sociology there are some key theoretical and ideological principles; the main ones are Marxist, including neo-Marxist, Functionalist and feminist accounts. In this unit we need to understand what these theories are in essence, therefore gaining a key ideological understanding of them for application to other parts of society - in this case it would mean application to religions and beliefs in society.

 

We also need to understand the different theories of science which include how knowledge is socially constructed, the context of science, theory and observation regarding this as well as ideas of falsification and paradigms. This may all sound relatively complicated; however the idea of science and the critique of sociology is key to aid an understanding of the theories of sociology.

 

Once we have analysed this we can start to look at and analyse the various theories of religion which mainly consist of functionalist, Marxist, neo-Marxist and feminist perspectives. Utilising what we learn through the ideological principles we can apply our understanding directly to religion.