SOC100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Abrahamic Religions, Totem, False Consciousness
9 Oct 2014
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An answer to the question of the meaning of life. God keep our land : religious authority declined, it governs fewer aspects than it used to, other institutions have grown in importance (medicine, psych, criminal justice, education) durkheim would point this out. Formal policy of canadian government (operated by various churches) Ethnic cleansing removal of the ethnicity of a people (prevent a different cultural socialization) Functional definitions focus on what religion does for people (social cohesion is dominant theme of functionalism) (use it when can"t find substantive) Substantive definitions focus on what religion is (core elements, rituals, belief in higher being, etc. ) (more difficult) (religions helps social cohesion) Some scholars argue that defining religion is a decidedly christian approach to studying religion (step back from defintions to do this) Woodhead (2007) (textbook) questions the dominance of functional conceptualizations of religion (sociologists tend to denigrate religious behaviours that don"t fit into a christianity-like pattern of organization)
