SOC 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Structural Functionalism, Positiva Records, Polytheism
20 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Religion is a belief system and it is rooted in practice. Religion: a social institution composed of a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things. Animism (all matter is animated, your grandpa can be a deer, a tree is alive, believed it was the first belief) God is dead (mid 20th century, atheism, science overtakes) Visions, trancing, dancing, sacred items, and sacred spaces for worship. Durkheim argued that, society worships a projection of its own social structure. Religion provides an intermediate basis for social solidarity. Both are a general class of epistemological systems. Drawing from durkheim and malinowski, many current structural functionalists argue that religions: provide social solidarity, enable social control, provide meaning and purpose to life, provide psychological support and emotional support. Theme: on micro-levels, religion gives meaning to everyday life. Two dimensions: religion as a reference group. Religious symbols express the essential facts of our human existence: religious conversion.
