SOC224 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Junk Science, Doctrine, Medicalization

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC224
• Professor: Alison Dunwoody

Document Summary

Belief: anything that you personally think is true represents on your beliefs. Belief systems: religious doctrines (christian, islamic), the knowledge contained in particular disciplines of science (astronomy, zoology), and the ideologies of specific political parties (liberal, new democrats) are all belief systems that are shared among large groups of people. Religion and science represent different belief systems. Belief systems can, themselves, be deviant i. e. junk science. Interested in the social aspects of religion: they look at how religion develops and evolves over time. Also interested in a particular role that religion play in the whole of society and also focuses on the relationship of religion and other social organizations (politics, education, legal system) Ecclesia: state religions: where a specific religious belief system is adopted at the government level. Official religion of that country i. e. russian orthodox: we contrast ecclesia with churches --> churches are not the official religion of the country but typically they are large powerful religious groups.