SOC101Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Great Mosque Of Mecca, Control Order, Kaaba
How do we know what we know
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Can we trace where exactly we got beliefs from? --> often not, being exposed
to something that we don't remember
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Means different things - no consensus on definitions
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To be religious is to believe in something
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Entails actions
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Involves emotions
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Shared
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In common with other individuals
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Share / members of same religion
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Social phenomenon
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Substantive definitions - focus on what religion is
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Focus on what religion does
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Provides meaning / purpose of life
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Promotes social cohesion and a sense of belonging
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order, how people should behave
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This is acceptable, this is not
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Know what to expect
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Provides social control
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Functional definitions
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Religion as a system of beliefs, symbols, rituals, based on some sacred or
supernatural realm, that guides human behaviour, gives meaning to life,
and unites believers into a community
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Religion's origin is social
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People living in a community come to share common sentiments
that form a collective conscience
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God is the group experience itself
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Christianity - cross (sacred)
Islam - masjid al Haram "Sacred Mosque" built around
Kaaba in Mecca
Judaism - menorah, symbol of Judaism, emblem of Modern
state of Israel
Leads people to designate some objects as sacred - or totems - and
others as profane - objects of everyday world
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Religious beliefs articulate the nature of the sacred and its symbols
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Religious rituals provide guidelines as to how people should act in
the presence of the sacred
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Religious creates and reinforces social solidarity (contributes to
social stability through establishment of moral standards and sense
of belonging)
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Overemphasizes religion's role in maintaining social cohesion
Downplays religion's dysfunctions - strongly held beliefs can
generate social conflict (i.e. fundamentalism)
When religion does increase social cohesion, it often
Criticism of Functionalist Account
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Collectivity
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Durkheim attempts to combine both
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What is Religion
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March 15, 2017
12:00 PM
LECTURE Page 72
