{"id":4531,"date":"2019-09-21T23:06:33","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T17:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=4531"},"modified":"2019-09-21T23:06:33","modified_gmt":"2019-09-21T17:36:33","slug":"sociology-previous-year-solved-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/sociology-previous-year-solved-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Sociology: Previous Year Solved"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>Critically analyze the contemporary relevance of Durkheim\u2019s theory of religion.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>Answer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Durkheim argued that the source of religion is not any mysterious or supernatural force, but <strong>society <\/strong>itself. An object of worship is only a \u2018<strong>symbolic representation\u2019 <\/strong>of the collective sentiments and beliefs of the members of the society. The feelings of awe and reverence that it generates is the same as that generated by society, itself. Therefore, in the worship of the \u2018<strong>sacred\u2019<\/strong>, an individual is worshipping society and it s belief systems. Religion is therefore to be understood as a clear distinction between the \u2018sacred\u2019 and \u2018profane\u2019 and the <strong>source of the sacred is society itself.<\/strong> <strong>Religion has its foothold in society. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>b<\/strong>) Since religion is the \u2018divinization\u2019 of society, therefore religious beliefs and practices reinforce \u2018collective conscience\u2019. Religion therefore becomes a <strong>source of group<\/strong> <strong>solidarity. <\/strong>Participation in religious rituals further strengthen the \u2018moral bonds\u2019 and therefore <strong>integration <\/strong>in society.<\/p>\n<p><strong>c) <\/strong>Durkheim argued that there is \u2018<strong>something eternal in religion\u2019<\/strong>. Though religion was not doomed to total obsolescence in modern societies, but there would be a decline in the social significance of religion. <strong>Secular morality would come to replace religious morality.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Durkheim\u2019s explanation of religion was based on the study of <strong>homogenous aboriginal societies <\/strong>and therefore it is difficult to \u2018<strong>generalize\u2019 <\/strong>it and apply it on <strong>contemporary complex modern society.<\/strong> According to <strong>Hamilton, <\/strong>Durkheim\u2019s views on religion are more relevant to small, non-literate societies, where there is a close integration of culture and social institutions, where work, education, family life, leisure tend to merge and where members share a common belief and value system. In modern societies, there are many sub-cultures, social and ethnic groups, specialized organizations. As a result of this multiculturalism and plurality of beliefs, it is difficult to conceive of religion as \u2018divinization of society.\u2019 This \u2018<strong>divinization\u2019 <\/strong>through religious beliefs and practices is a possibility in small scale, simple societies but in modern complex societies, where there exists plurality of groups, beliefs, life-styles, such a conception of religion has it\u2019s limitations.<\/p>\n<p>According to <strong>Robert K. Merton<\/strong>, Durkheim showed that in a non-literate civilization, religion might have integrative functions, but in <strong>multi-ethnic, multi-religious society <\/strong>religion could have certain \u2018<strong>disintegrative\u2019 <\/strong>aspects too. Such a <strong>dysfunctional aspect <\/strong>of religion, especially to be seen in contemporary times cannot by accounted by Durkheim\u2019s theory of religion. If a single religion dominates a society, it may be an important source of \u2018social stability\u2019. If a society\u2019s members adhere to numerous competing religions however, religions differences may lead to <strong>destabilizing social conflicts<\/strong>. Examples, of <strong>religious conflict within a society <\/strong>include struggles between Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims in India; Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland; Shia and Sunni Muslims in Iraq; clashes between Muslims and Christians in Bosnia; and \u2018<strong>hate crimes\u2019 <\/strong>against Jews, Muslims and other religious minorities in the United States. Therefore, in contemporary times, religion can <strong>threaten social integration <\/strong>as much as it can contribute to it.<\/p>\n<p>Durkheim\u2019s understanding of religion as \u2018worship of the society\u2019, emphasizes only on the <strong>positive functions <\/strong>of religion. <strong>Karl Marx<\/strong>, argues that religion undoubtedly has a strong ideological element and these religious beliefs and values often provide justifications of <strong>\u2018inequalities\u2019 <\/strong>of wealth and power. This is especially to be seen in many of the <strong>traditional religions <\/strong>of the world.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>The contemporary society however, provides some <strong>empirical support <\/strong>to Durkheim\u2019s conception of religion in modern societies, as evidenced in the emergence of <strong>New religious movements<\/strong>. These \u00a0encompass an enormous diversity of groups, ranging from <strong>spiritual<\/strong>, <strong>self help groups<\/strong>, <strong>sects <\/strong>and <strong>cults<\/strong>. Many of these groups can be explained as a response to increasing <strong>modernization <\/strong>and <strong>rationalization <\/strong>of societies. As a result of increasing \u2018reflexivity\u2019 and questioning of traditional rituals, the emergence of these religious groups have ensured the \u2018<strong>vitality\u2019 <\/strong>of religion in modern societies.<\/p>\n<p>However, <strong>religious fundamentalism <\/strong>as a \u201cdiscernible pattern of <strong>religious militance by self\u2013styled true believers\u201d <\/strong>seen mostly as a response to \u2018<strong>processes of modernization\u2019<\/strong>, is a phenomena which cannot be explained by Durkheim\u2019s conception of religion. Being <strong>anti\u2013modernist <\/strong>in it\u2019s orientation, religious revivalism of the \u2018fundamentalist type\u2019, is a source of great threat to contemporary social order. Fundamentalism is edged with the possibility of <strong>violence <\/strong>and examples of violence inspired by religious allegiance are not uncommon. Ex. <strong>Fundamentalist movements <\/strong>among Jews in Israel, Muslims in Pakistan, Palestine, Egypt, Sikhs and Hindus in India. <strong>Terrorism <\/strong>spawned by fundamentalist groups, as evidenced in the 9\/11 attacks in the U.S.A.\u2019, and suicide bombings. Religious fundamentalism, has the potential to <strong>divide <\/strong>a \u2018religious community\u2019 as well as create <strong>schisms <\/strong>in the wider society and this is in complete discontinuity with the role of religion as envisaged by Durkheim. As <strong>Hamilton <\/strong>argues that it is often out of religious convictions that individuals will fly in the face of society or attempt to withdraw from it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Therefore, Durkheim\u2019s \u2018theory of religion\u2019 derived out of a study of an aboriginal tribe, has it\u2019s limitations as well as it\u2019s own relevance in understanding religion in contemporary times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Critically analyze the contemporary relevance of Durkheim\u2019s theory of religion. \u00a0Answer Durkheim argued that the source of religion is not<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114,115],"tags":[392],"class_list":["post-4531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sociology-optional","category-sociology-optional-paper-i","tag-union-public-service-commission-upsc"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4532,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4531\/revisions\/4532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}