CHAPTER 13: THE POWER OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS AND INSTITUTIONS

RELIGION any system of beliefs about the supernatural, and the social groups that gather around these
beliefs.
SPIRITUALITY an openness to or search for “sacred” aspects of life, where “the sacred!” is broadly defined
as that which is set apart from the ordinary (or profane) and worthy of veneration.
RELIGIOSITY the sum of all the various aspects of religious activity, dedication, and belief (religious
doctrine) one finds in a group or society.
SECULARIZATION a steadily dwindling influence of formal (institution al) religion in public life; also, the
process whereby, especially in modern industrial societies, religious beliefs, practices, and institutions lose
their social significance.
SUBTANTIVE= MADDİ
From a macro-sociological perspective, they are interested in the rise and fall of religions. Durkheim and
Weber did not fully believe that reason, science, and knowledge would eradicate religion. They understood
that religion had a social value that could not be (easily) supplanted by any other social institution. Further,
Durkheim and Weber, unlike Marx, did not think that religion was a result of ignorance, delusion, or mental
illness. They saw religion as something beyond reason—something non-rational rather than irrational.
CONFLICT THEORY
Karl Marx, the earliest figure we can associate with conflict theory, viewed religion as largely a form of
social control, and, therefore, as a cause of conflict. Marx's discussion of religion was closely tied to the
concept of fetishism. By fetishism, we typically mean something that excites irrational awe or excitement.
For Marx, religion used the human capacity for irrational excitement to enslave people.
FUNCTIONALISM
Durkheim noted that religion exists in every known society. In contrast with Marx, he concluded that
religion has the power to bring people together and keep them together. Durkheim's idea that religion
promotes social solidarity places him squarely within the functionalist framework. To answer the questions,
he posed about religion, Durkheim studied totemism, the use of natural objects and animals as symbols of
spirituality.
Durkheim thought that religion divided social life into the sacred and the profane (secular). According to
Durkheim, by themselves, ritual or totemic objects and ritual activities are not important or meaningful.
Religion excites people because it brings them together in out-of-the-ordinary, emotionally moving rituals.
Durkheim believed that religion would decline as people gradually started to place more value on scientific
and technological (rather than religious) thinking.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
Sociologist Max Weber was interested in religious values and symbols, and how both affected people’s
behavior. Weber believed that people have a need to understand the world as “meaningful,” and often use
religion to find this meaning in the world, or at least, bestow meaning on the world. Weber was especially
interested in the way religious doctrines shape people's world views and behaviors. For symbolic
interactionists and other sociologists concerned with the human need for “meaning,” the survival of religion
makes sense as a way of understanding and coping with life. And as Weber also showed us, religion can play
a key role in motivating people to act in new, world-changing ways.
FEMINISM
Mary Daly, well known as a critic of established Christian churches, shows that the structure, symbolism,
and language of churches are profoundly anti-woman. Often, the only apparent female image is that of
Mary, viewed as mother and described in ways that (as many feminist theologians and sociologists point
out) make plain that she is set apart from “ordinary” women, and so cannot be truly emulated.

FUNDAMENTALISM is the belief that religions should strictly follow the oldest, most traditional, and most
basic theological texts, also known as the religion's “holy books.” Fundamentalists should not be confused
with evangelical groups, though the two sometimes overlap. For example, many fundamentalists refuse to
accept Darwin's theory of evolution, as it contradicts the religious belief that God created human beings.
From one standpoint, CIVIL RELIGION is a celebration of the state. Because civil religion is a way of
celebrating the state, it implicitly reinforces the politics of the state. But it also has all the trappings of a
religion: rites, rituals, shared values, sacred occasions, totemic objects, martyrs, etc.