Department of Mass Communication

Unit-IV
Code: 5637

SOCIAL INSTITUTION-II

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

Objectives
The reading of this unit along with the suggested readings will enable the

students to:

 Explain how the religion is previewed by the sociologists?

 Highlight the importance and functions of the religion in a society;

 Elaborate the economic activity and concepts of capitalism, socialism,

democratic socialism and communism;

 Explain how modernization has affected our social order, and

 Narrate the deliberate and sensitive concepts of authority and state.

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

Definition of Religion
“Religion is the belief in an ever-living God, that
is, in a Divine Mind and Will ruling the
Universe and holding moral relations with
mankind.”
Harriet Martineau

“Religion is a system of beliefs and practices

by means of which a group of people struggle
with the ultimate problem of human life.”
J. Miltion Yinger

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

Religion --the Sociological Approach
 To the sociologist, religion, like any other aspect of
culture, is a social product, created by human beings and
not by supernatural forces. It is easy for a believer in any
particular faith to apply this perspective to other faiths.

 The sociologist refers all religions as social products and

sees religious faith as arising from socialization or re-
socialization into a particular set of beliefs.

 Sociologist focus on the complex inter-relationship

between society and religion.

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

Religion — The functionalist
Perspective

Emile Durkheim was one of earliest functionalist

theorists who applied this perspective to religion in a
systematic way. He was impressed by the fact that
religion is universal in human society, and has a vital
function in maintaining the social system as a whole.

The social function of shared religious beliefs and the

rituals that go with them is so important, He argued, that
every society needs a religion or at least some belief
system that swerves the same functions.

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

The Functions of a Religion
 It
unites the community of believers by bringing them together - in mosque, hajj, fast, church, Christmas, temple,
(mander), devali etc. periodically to perform various rituals and by providing them with shared values and beliefs
that bind them together.

 The second most important functions of the religion is to remove anxiety of the followers. Religion provides
individuals with emotional support in the uncertainty of the world. If offers explanations of common human
problems and predicaments and gives people sense of meaning and purpose in a world that might otherwise
seem meaningless.

 Religionreinforces the most important norms of a society, and they become part of religious doctrine and are
therefore regarded as sacred.

 According
to functionalist perspective theorists, the teachings found in the Quran, the Bible and other sacred
books would have no less power if they were regarded as the work of ordinary men and not as sacred scriptures.

 Religionhelps people during such major events of the life cycle as puberty, marriage and death. In most traditional
societies each of these occasions in the life cycle is surrounded by religious rituals.

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

 Religion Conflict Analysis
This approach is derived mainly from the writings of Karl Marx. He saw religion
as a form of false consciousness and as a tool of the powerful in the struggles
between competing social classes. According to him, belief in religion was the
deepest form of human alienation. By alienation he meant the process through
which people lose their sense of control over the social world that they created,
so that they find themselves "alien" in a hostile social environment.

Marx Writes:
Man makes religion, religion does not make a man --- religious suffering is at the
same time an expression of real suffering and a protect against real suffering.
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world,
and the should of soulless conditions. It is the opium to the people."

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal

The Economic Order
The economic order is the institutionalized system for producing and
distributing good and services. Economic activity is very important to
sustain life. The principal means of production that a society uses
such hunting and gathering, horticulture, agriculture, or industrialism,
strongly influences its culture and social institutions.

Ch. M. Rasheed Sal