SOC100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Puritans, Mass Media, Gfk Entertainment Charts
Ideological institutions: Religion & Media
● Two institutions that (attempt to) control what we think: religion and mass media
● What are “religions”? Definitions of religion: substantive and functional
○ Substantive definitions focus on what a religion is: e.g., is there the belief
in a higher being and supernatural forces?
○ Functional definitions focus on what religion does: e.g., how religion
connects people to one another through rituals and beliefs
● Religion is still important
○ Religion is still an important force in the modern world, despite the
Enlightenment and the “secularization” of most domains of life
■ The founders of sociology did not expect religion to survive in the
modern (industrial, scientific) world
● What the founders thought
○ Enlightenment thinkers thought human progress moved people away from
religious belief towards rational thinking based on empirical evidence
■ Sociologists today are interested in how religious beliefs affect
different aspects of life, like work, family, education, and politics
● For example, Religion reduces unethical behavior by consumers
○ In this study, consumer reactions to 11 unethical consumer behavior
scenarios are investigated using sample data asking them to indicate on a
scale from 1-5 how tolerant they were to 11 certain consumer behaviors
■ Ex: Drinking a can of soda in the supermarket without buying it,
taking towels from hotels, cutting long lines, etc.
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■ Nationality is found to be a significant predictor of how consumers
view various questionable behaviors
■ Gender is not a significant predictor
■ Age and religious affiliation are found to be significant predictors of
consumer ethical perceptions
○ Found that there were religious variations in results
■ Religious affiliation has a significant impact on perceptions of ten of
the 11 ethical behaviors
● People affiliated with Islam and Eastern religions are
generally less tolerant of unethical consumer behavior than
others
● Muslim consumers hold even less tolerant views than other
people with Eastern religious affiliations
■ However, “Puritans” are most likely to be young Christian women
● The data formed five clusters from least tolerant responses
to most
○ Cluster 1: the “puritans,” holds the least tolerant views
of unethical consumer behavior
○ The majority of the “puritans” were young, female,
Christian and they were from the USA and UK
● Conflict theory and religion
○ Marx: religion is a form of social control
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■ Religions support the dominant ideology--the values that benefit the
ruling class and their interests
■ Used to confuse people into not knowing what they want
○ The working class uses religion to cope with their difficult lives
■ They accept their hardships as a test of faith and the will of God
■ Religion makes ordinary workers submissive, uncritical, and easy to
manipulate (i.e., drugs them)
● People in power promote the way of thinking that you’ll go to
heaven in the end of hardships
● Feminism and religion
○ Feminists focus on how traditional religions are misogynistic
■ In most mainstream religions, women are excluded from positions
of power
○ E.g., the symbolism and language of Christian churches denigrate women
■ God is presented as male
■ Mary is asexual, untainted, and “pure”
■ Males are at the top of the church hierarchy
● Functionalism and religion
○ Durkheim: religion has the power to bring people together
■ Symbols, rituals, and ceremonies also help people to escape
everyday “profane” life
○ Crosses and other holy objects are used in rituals and ceremonies to
reinforce group solidarity and shared group beliefs
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SOC100H1 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Two institutions that (attempt to) control what we think: religion and mass media. Functional definitions focus on what religion does: e. g. , how religion connects people to one another through rituals and beliefs. Religion is still an important force in the modern world, despite the. Enlightenment and the secularization of most domains of life. The founders of sociology did not expect religion to survive in the modern (industrial, scientific) world. Enlightenment thinkers thought human progress moved people away from religious belief towards rational thinking based on empirical evidence. Sociologists today are interested in how religious beliefs affect different aspects of life, like work, family, education, and politics. For example, religion reduces unethical behavior by consumers. In this study, consumer reactions to 11 unethical consumer behavior scenarios are investigated using sample data asking them to indicate on a scale from 1-5 how tolerant they were to 11 certain consumer behaviors.
