PERSPECTIVES |
Problems of the Functionalist PerspectiveInterdependent elements (interdependence)
Functioning whole (organic quality)
Stability of the internal environment (equilibrium)
Maintenance of boundaries (bounded)
Emphasizes stability and under-emphasizes conflict and change
Functions are seen as primary and dysfunctions as secondary, which produces a conservative effect
Promotes the assumption that religion is indispensable
The perspective is static as apposed to dynamic
Emphasizes integrative processes over disintegrative processes
Circular reasoning
Individual Functions
Providing meaning in lifeBelonging and Identity Functions
Explanations for injustice, suffering, death
Explanations for personal success, bounty
Congregations as community centers
Congregations as ethnic group centers
Group affiliation as a source of personal identity
Societal Functions
Cultural – provides transcendent legitimation for moral rules and values
Structural – creates a moral community among people with diverse interests
Prevention of social change
Opposition to science
Conservative effect on political mobilization
Prevention of individual mobility, universalistic standards, ideology free social relations
Emphasis on community over the individual
The ruling class upholds religion consciously or unconsciously because it is alienated from the truth, just as are the subordinate classes.Subordinate Classes and Religion
In order to maintain its privilege, the ruling class views the social order as not simply the way that humans organize themselves but as “in the nature of things.” The existing social order is the only way that order and stability can be maintained. Inequality, superiority and subordination are inevitable features of human society.
This is not simply rationalization. The ruling class fears social disruption as well as its own dependence upon forces that appear and actually are beyond its control. Members of the ruling class feel that they must do what needs to be done to preserve stability and order.
For the subordinate classes, religion is a sedative, a narcotic that inhibits an understanding of their plight. It promotes an escape from the harshness of realityConflict Model of Society
Religion does not provide any real solution to subordinate class problems but rather provides temporary relief to those in the subordinate classes and makes life bearable
Further, religion is used to convince the subordinate classes that would benefit from social transformation that their condition is inevitable and has been ordained by a higher power
Religion can be an expression of protest against oppression and distress in the subordinate classes (as in the case of millennial movements). However, such protest is not effective in changing social conditions.
Presumes elite solidarityReligion as a Source of Social Conflict
Presumes all behavior is motivated by self-interest
Presumes all behavior is economically founded
Emphasis on conflict and dissensus over cooperation and consensus
Prejudice
Outgroup hostility
Conflict with secular authority
Religion is a source of internal cohesion but not external integration
Conflict between religious groups is particularly likely when religious loyalties are co-extensive with class, race, ethnic, linguistic, or political loyaltiesConflicts between Religious Groups and Society in the United States
Jewish expulsion from England (1290), France (1306), and Spain (1492)
Nineteenth century Protestant-Catholic-Jewish conflict in the United States
Protestant-Catholic conflict in Northern Ireland
Hindu-Muslim-Sikh conflict in India
White (Dutch Reformed Church) repression of blacks in South Africa
Israeli (Jewish)-Palestinian (Muslim) conflict in the Middle East
Serbian (Eastern Orthodox)-Bosnian (Muslim) conflict in former Yogoslavia
Roman Catholic-Muslim conflict in East Timor, Indonesia
Anti-semitic “hate crimes” in the United States
MormonConflicts within Religious Traditions
Amish
Quakers and Mennonites
Native Americans
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Branch Davidians
Waldensians and Albigensians
Indian Hindu use of theology to perpetuate the caste system
White, Christian use of conversion to eradicate black African slaves’ cultures
Roman Catholic condemnation of “Americanism”
Mennonite shunning of deviant members
Mormon expulsion of feminists
Jehovah’s Witnesses expulsion of individuals challenging leaders’ authority
Conservative Christian rejection of homosexuals and individuals afflicted with AIDS
Episcopalian schisms over gay marriage
Liberal-conservative divisions among Southern Baptists
Laymen and women could preach and administer the sacrament of the Lord’s SupperSecular Conflicts
The Latin liturgy should be abandoned because practitioners could not understand it
Masses and prayers for the dead were of no effect
Purgatory was not a real place to which souls journeyed after death but was metaphorical for the trials and tribulations of individuals during their lifetimes
There were sectional rivalries between north and south. Northern nobles hoped to reduce the power of the south and expropriate its wealth