| SOCIOLOGY
OF
RELIGION SYLLABUS |
David G. Bromley
108 Layfayette Hall
312 Shafer St.
Office Phone\Voice Mail 828-6286
Home Phone\Voice Mail 784-3791
Email dbromley@mail1.vcu.edu
Web Site: http://www.people.vcu.edu/~dbromley
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Throughout history religion has been one of the most pervasive features
of human social organization. The
social forms through which religious belief and practice have been
expressed have been extraordinarily diverse, and
the way that religion has influenced individual lives and collective
social life has varied enormously. In this course
we explore the way in which the religious impulse has been expressed
socially, the role of religion in society, the
way in which individuals form and change religious commitments,
the various ways in which religious groups have
been organized and some characteristic patterns of their organizational
evolution, the nature of religious belief as
it is expressed collectively and individually, and controversies
over the appropriate role of religion in social life.
There will be particular emphasis through the course on the current
expression of religion in the United States. There has been a continuing
debate over the contemporary relevance of religion and various predictions
of its ultimate demise or rejuvenation as a social institution and
as a significant element in individual lives. Illustrations from contemporary
events will be used both to explore some of the perennial features of religious
expression and to
address some major religious policy issues and controversies.
COURSE TEXT
The course text is available at the VCU Book Store.
Since I have adopted this text in the past,
there may be used copies available if you so choose.
Keith Roberts, Religion in Sociological Perspective. Fourth Edition. Wadsworth, 2004.
OFFICE HOURS AND INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE
I will be available for personal meetings during the office
hours listed above. Throughout the course I will
be glad to meet with you personally to discuss issues which you
find particularly interesting, which you wish to
pursue further, or on which you would like clarification. In general
it will be preferable if you schedule a specific
meeting time even during office hours so that we will not be interrupted.
I will also be glad to schedule individual
appointments outside of regular office hours at your request.
THE VCU HONOR SYSTEM
Please be sure that you are familiar with the VCU Honor System.
The policy defines six acts (cheating,
plagiarism, facilitating academic dishonesty, abuse of academic
materials, stealing and lying) for which
there are serious penalties. I will discuss the policy during the
first class, and the Honor Pledge, "On my honor, I
have neither given nor received aid on this assignment," will appear
on each examination. Signing your name on
the examination constitutes an affirmation of this pledge. Additional
information is available through the Student
Learning Resources link on the course web page. I would be glad
to review this material with you or provide
additional information.
CLASS ATTENDANCE
I expect you to attend class regularly. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class. If you have not arrived by the beginning of class, you may be counted absent. Because I think that regular attendance is important for the learning process, I offer a reward for regular attendance and discourage non-attendance. Through the attendance policy you can can either earn or lose points on your final course average.
The scale of attendance point adjustments is as follows:
If you miss 0 classes or 1 class, you will earn 6 points on your final average
If you miss 2 classes, you will earn 4 points on your final average
If you miss 3 classes, you will earn 2 points on your final average
If you miss 4 classes, 0 points will be added or deducted from your final average
If you miss 5 classes, you will lose 2 points on your final average
If you miss 6 classes, you will lose 4 points on your final average
If you miss more than 6 classes, you will lose 4 points plus a letter grade for each additional absence
If you have unusual problems in maintaining regular attendance, please let me know so that I can respond appropriately. In cases where you are unable to attend a particular class, you may receive an excused absence that will not be counted in attendance point policy.
CLASS DECORUM
Recently classes have gotten larger, and this increases the
importance of observing basic rules of punctuality
and courtesy. Make every effort to be on time for classes and remain
through the end of each class. A designated
seating area for late arrivers and early departers will be established
to minimize disruption of class. This area is
intended for occasional use only. Side conversations during class
are very disruptive to other students listening to
the lecture or participating in discussion. Personal conversation
during class should be limited to matters relevant
to the course and of interest to the class as a whole. Please also
remember that cell phones and beepers should be
turned off while in the classroom. Finally, University Rules and
Procedures prohibit anyone "to have in his
possession any firearm, other weapon, or explosive, regardless of
whether a license to possess the same has been
issued, without the written authorization of the President of the
university..." Additional information is available
through the Student Learning Resources link on the course web page.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
All reading assignments will be drawn from the text. The attached
course organization guide provides a
listing of the organizational format of the course, the issues which
will be covered in each of the major segments
of the course, reading assignments for each course segment, and
the placement of examinations. Reading
assignments will be made in class each week for the following week
and posted on the web site. Longer term reading assignments can be obtained
from the course organization guide. Additional assignments will be made
for material contained on the course web site as indicated in the “Course
Web Site” section below.
COURSE WEB SITE
I have placed the overheads used in lectures and sample questions
for each of the four exams on the course
web site. Weekly class assignments and announcements of upcoming
exams will be posted on the web site on a
regular basis. There are also links to web sites and material drawn
from those sites that are related to topics covered in class. I will assign
certain of these materials along with normal text reading assignments.
Since web based materials are constantly changing, assignments of these
materials will be made on a weekly basis. These various resources are very
important to successful completion of the course. The web site address
is as follows:
http://www.people.vcu.edu/~dbromley
The User ID is “soc360" and the Password is “religion”
COURSE EXAMINATIONS AND GRADING
There will be four examinations. Exact dates will be announced in
class at least one week prior to the exam and
posted on the course web page. Each of the four tests, including
the final (fourth) exam, will cover only material
subsequent to material on the previous exam(s). The exam format
will be multiple choice and true/false questions.
Material from reading and lecture will appear on each examination.
Each of the four exams will comprise one fourth
of the final grade. Attendance points will be added to or subtracted
from the final percentage average of the three
exams. In the case of an emergency you must contact me in advance
and receive permission to defer taking a test at the scheduled time if you wish to be eligible for a makeup exam.
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COURSE ORGANIZATION GUIDE
This is a survey course in the sociology of religion. The overall
objective of the course is to examine religion as a
social form from a sociological perspective. In order to do this
we will first explore how sociologists approach
religion and contrast this approach to those of religious believers
as well as other social science disciplines. Next
we will examine some of the basic social components of religion,
the social material out of which religion is
fashioned socially. Building upon this discussion, we shall then
consider how these various components are organized in different kinds
of religious groups and in different social locations. Examination of these
issues will constitute the segment of the course. In the second segment
of the course, we will examine a number of different kinds of religious
organization, both conventional forms of religious organization (churches)
and oppositional religious organization (movements). Our objective will
be to identify the social conditions under which these alternative kinds
of religious organization emerge and how these kinds of organization are
connected to the social locations in which they are created and sustained.
Each of the course section headings below contains a description of that
section of the course relates to the overall course objective.
SECTION I: PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION
The objective of the "Perspectives on Religion" section of the course is to identify what constitutes a sociological perspective on religion. What is religion from a sociological perspective? There are a number of different perspectives on religion, and there are important differences among them. One of the most important differences occurs between the way committed believers and social scientists approach religion. Since this is a social science course, it is important to establish the distinctive nature of the social science approach, its strengths, and its limitations. We will examine the way that anthropologists, psychologists, and sociologists approach and define religion and the differences between religion and other ways of knowing.
1. Roberts, Chapter 1, pp. 3-25, "What Do We Mean by the Term Religion?"
2. Roberts, Chapter 2, pp. 26-42, "A Scientific Perspective on Religion"
3. Roberts, Chapter 3, pp. 45-68, "The Role of Religion in Society: Macro Perspectives"
SECTION II: THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
The objective of "The Religious Experience" section of the course
is to identify the central elements of religious
experience. What are the core social components of religious experience
from a sociological perspective? We will
focus on two elements of religious experience, myth and ritual.
What is it that distinguishes myth and ritual from
other social forms and why are these forms so central to religion?
We will use two of the most important forms of
religious experience, conversion and symbolic healing, to illustrate
these processes.
1. Roberts, Chapter 4, pp. 69-94, "Religious Experience, Symbol Systems, and World Views”
2. Roberts, Chapter 5, pp. 97-129, "Conversion and Commitment”
FIRST EXAMINATION
SECTION III: THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
The objective of "The Beginnings of Religious Organizations" section of the course is to offer a sociological interpretation of the organizational origin, development, and dilemmas of religion. How do religious organizations emerge and develop? From a sociological perspective, religion is more than beliefs and more than individual practice, it is expressed through some social form. We will a model of religious organization development and illustrate different possible outcomes for religious groups.
1. Roberts, Chapter 6, pp. 161-180, "Emergence and Viability of Religious Movements: Mobilization of Resources and Plausibility of the World View"
2. Roberts, Chapter 7, pp. 156-174, "Survival of Religious Movements: Mobilization of Resources and Plausibility of the World View"
SECTION IV: THE PLACE OF RELIGION IN THE SOCIAL ORDER
The objective of the "The Place of Religion in the Social Order" section of the course is to identify major sources of social division along religious lines. Why are there so many types of religious belief, practice, and organization, and how are they patterned socially? The primary focus in this section of the course is on the relationship between religion and social class. We will also examine two major sociological perspectives on religion, consensus and conflict approaches, through which the place of religion in the social order is understood. These two perspectives yield very different understandings of the role of religion in the social order.
1. Roberts, Chapter 9, pp. 201-218, "Religion and Social Stratification: Interactive Processes"
2. Roberts, Chapter 10, pp. 219-249, "Social Stratification and Religious Ideology"
SECOND EXAMINATION
SECTION V: THE DIVERSITY OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION AND EXPRESSION
This section of the course constitutes the beginning of the "second
half" of the course. The first section of the course was devoted to discussion
of various elements or religion from a sociological perspective and the
way in which religious groups are formed and developed. For the remainder
of the course we will be examining the spectrum of established religious
groups, from liberal to conservative. In order to set the stage for a discussion
of the major differences in religious organization across the social order,
we will first develop a typology of religious
organizations and of the kind of social locations in which each
occurs. The objective of the “Religious
Organizations" section of the course is to begin an examination
of the patterning of religious organized in different
social locations. In this case, what are the distinguishing characteristics
of different religious organizations and how
can we account for them sociologically?
1. Roberts, Chapter 8, pp. 176-198, "Analysis of Religious Groups and Organizations"
2. Roberts, Chapter 11, pp. 253-271, “ Religion and Prejudice: Christianity and Racism”
3. Roberts, Chapter 12, pp. 273-300, “Religion and Prejudice: Christianity, Gender, and Sexism.”
THIRD EXAMINATION
SECTION VI: ISSUES AND DEVELOPMENTS IN RELIGION
The objective of the "Issues and Developments" section of the course
is to examine issues that have produced conflict within and between religious
organizations through American history and new developments in religious
organization. With respect to conflicts, Race and gender have been
two major sources of division through American
history. More recently, abusive practices by religious leaders and
organizations have become a major social
issue.With respect to new developments, technological innovation
and global organization have both reshaped
religious organization and practice in a variety of ways.
1. Roberts, Chapter 13, pp. 306-328, "Secularization: Religion in Decline or in Reformation?”
2. Roberts, Chapter 14, pp. 329-352, "The Marketing of Religion"
3. Roberts, Chapter 16, pp. 372-397, "Religion and Globalization"
FOURTH (FINAL) EXAMINATION
The final examination is scheduled for Thursday, May 3 at 8:00 AM