RELEVANCE : Sociology
Religion and Society: Sociological theories of religion. Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism, sects, cults.
NEWS IN SHORT:
- A self-proclaimed 33-year-old tantrik was arrested by Navi Mumbai police in Maharashtra for allegedly cheating a 26-year-old woman of Rs 4.57 lakh under the pretext of performing some “black magic” to make her estranged lover marry her.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Syllabus:
- The structural-functional approach to religion has its roots in Emile Durkheim’s work on religion. Durkheim argued that religion is, in a sense, the celebration and even (self-) worship of human society.
- Durkheim proposed that religion has three major functions in society:
- it provides social cohesion to help maintain social solidarity through shared rituals and beliefs,
- social control to enforce religious-based morals and norms to help maintain conformity and control in society, and
- it offers meaning and purpose to answer any existential questions.
- Religion, for Durkheim, is not imaginary, although he does deprive it of what many believers find essential. Religion is very real; it is an expression of society itself, and indeed, there is no society that does not have religion.
- We perceive as individuals a force greater than ourselves and give that perception a supernatural face. We then express ourselves religiously in groups, which for Durkheim makes the symbolic power greater.
- Religion is an expression of our collective consciousness, which is the fusion of all of our individual consciousness, which then creates a reality of its own.
CRITICISM
- The primary criticism of the structural-functional approach to religion is that it overlooks religion’s dysfunctions. For instance, religion can be used to justify terrorism and violence.
- Religion has often been the justification of, and motivation for, war. In one sense, this still fits the structural-functional approach as it provides social cohesion among the members of one party in a conflict.
- For instance, the social cohesion among the members of a terrorist group is high, but in a broader sense, religion is obviously resulting in conflict without questioning its actions against other members of society.