The History of

Religion as a
Sociological Concept
Émile Durkheim Karl Marx

Émile
Durkheim, Max
Weber, and
Ang Panitikan sa Panahon ng Karl Marx were
pioneers in the
Paggising ng Damdaming study of the
Makabayan ી. તh ારિ relationship
between religion
and society in
Max Weber the 19th century.
 Durkheim defined RELIGION
as a unified system of beliefs and
practices related to sacred things, which
Émile Durkheim he believed meant extraordinary and
connected to the divine. He argued that
religion occurs when there is a
separation between the profane and the
sacred, and that religion is about
community, binds people together,
promotes behavior consistency, and
offers strength during life's transitions
and tragedies.
 Durkheim applied NATURAL
SCIENCE METHODS to study society,
arguing that the source of religion and
Émile Durkheim morality is the collective mindset of society,
and that these values need to be maintained
for social stability. RELIGION provided
social cement, holding societies and cultures
together, and faith justified society's
existence beyond mere explanations.
Durkheim argued that religion represents the
power of society, and even if traditional
religion disappeared, society wouldn't
necessarily dissolve.
Classical Sociology: Émile
DurkheimDurkheim, a sociologist and political
economist, analyzed religion in his work The
Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
(1912). He argued that RELIGIONS, both
primitive and modern, fulfill social and human
needs by providing social solidarity through
RITUALS, ICON WORSHIP, and BELIEF in
supernatural beings. This analysis became the
basis of the functionalist perspective in
sociology, explaining the existence and
persistence of religion based on its necessary
function in unifying society.
 On the other hand, German
sociologist and political economist MAX
WEBER believed religion was a precipitator
of social change. He examined the effects of
RELIGIOUS BELIEF on economic activities
and noted that heavily Protestant societies
were the most highly developed capitalist
societies. Weber argued that the Protestant
work ethic influenced the development of
capitalism by overturning traditional anti-
materialist Christian values of poverty. He
noted that certain Protestantism supported
the pursuit of material gain by motivating
believers to work hard, be successful, and
not spend their profits on frivolous things.
 MATERIAL WEALTH WAS NO
LONGER SEEN AS A SIGN OF SIN,
BUT AS A SIGN OF GOD’S FAVOUR.

(The modern use of “work

ethic” comes directly from Weber’s
Protestant ethic, although as Weber
noted, the compulsion to work hard
in one’s calling had by the 19th and
20th centuries largely lost its
religious connotations.) As he
summarized
 “In [Puritan theologian
Richard] Baxter’s view the care for
external goods should only lie on the
shoulders of the ‘saint like a light
cloak, which could be thrown aside
at any moment.’ But fate decreed
that the cloak should become an iron
cage” (Weber 1905, p. 181)