RS170 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Protestant Work Ethic, James George Frazer, Polytheism
Document Summary
Cognitive anthropological approach to religion based on beliefs. Tried to find the core of religious beliefs through studying primitive societies (indigenous groups in australia) Animism: belief that all of nature is sacred/animate. Everything has a spirit (e. g. mountains, forest, etc. Frazer saw this as the origin of religion. Applies darwin"s theory of evolution to the development of cultures: animism polytheism (nature-based; god of thunder) polytheism (human-based; Frazer"s theory is problematic because it creates a hierarchy of cultures and is highly biased. It is not a universal theory, even though he thought it was. Functional sociological approach to religion based on how it functions in society. Also looked at indigenous groups in australia. Totemism: something that is used to represent a group, and is often worshipped. In these communities, totems were found in nature. According to durkheim, religion is about social cohesion. Religion has nothing to do with gods, but social ties.
