RELG 3600 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Gunpowder Empires, Ethnic Nationalism, Christian Pilgrimage
7 May 2018
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Class 3: February 5, 2018
Freedman, Lawrence: Strategy, Preface and Chapters 1-5 (pp. ix-65)
• There are elemental features of human strategy that are common across time and
space. These include deception and coalition formation, and the instrumental use of
violence (3)
Smith, Christian, “Correcting a Curious Neglect; Bringing Religion Back In.,” (pp.1-23)
• Religion is typically in the business of supplying meaningful worldviews and moral
systems to help integrate and harmonize societies; of providing comforting theodicies to
those distressed and suffering; of rendering ideologies that legitimate the oftentimes
unjust status quo. → but it also serves to challenge and overturn social, political, and
economic systems… religion can help keep everything in place but it can also turn the
world upside down (1)
• Why has the role of disruptive religion in politics been largely ignored? (3)
o Social sciences are dominated by secularization theory → people have assumed
religion is in decline and is therefore a marginal factor
o American sociology in 1940-1970s was dominated by structural-functionalism
o Social movement literature is fragmented so scholars from different fields
o Religion played an important political role in the civil rights movement but failed
to permeate the anti-Vietnam protests, student movements, women’s
movements, or environmental movements → appeared too conservative
• the fact that the sociology of religion has historically been an organizationally isolated
field of study is a problem, not a justification. (4)
• “The disruptive potential of sacred transcendence”
o Sociological perspective: religion is a system of beliefs and practices oriented
toward the sacred or supernatural through which the life experiences of groups of
people are given meaning and direction (5) → this explanations regards humans
as meaning-craving creatures → humans have to construct meaning systems
• By helping to explain and give meaning to the world and life ai it is experienced, religion
helps to justify and sustain the world and life just as it is experienced. (6)
• Transcendent motivation: All social movements confront the problem of motivating their
participants to make and maintain a commitment to the collective cause, especially when
the activism is costly for participants. Religion offers some important and sometimes
unique solutions to this problem of motivation (9)
o Legitimation for protest routed in the ultimate or sacred (9)
o Moral imperatives for love, justice, peace, freedom, equity (10)
o Ideologies demanding self- discipline, sacrifice, ultraisas (11)
o Legitimation of organizational and strategic-tactical flexibility (12)
• Organizational Resources: Social movements require more than compelling motivations,
moral judgement. svm hols. self-discipline, and flexibility to generate political disruption.
Movements also need a variety of organizational resources by which to mobilize and
through which to channel their energy. Organized religion is well-equipped to provide,
when it so desires, these key resources to social movements. (13)
o Trained and experienced leadership resources (13)
o Financial resources (14)
o Congregated participants and solidarity incentives (14)
o Pre- existing communication channels (15)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Freedman, lawrence: strategy, preface and chapters 1-5 (pp. ix-65: there are elemental features of human strategy that are common across time and space. These include deception and coalition formation, and the instrumental use of violence (3) Ideologies demanding self- discipline, sacrifice, ultraisas (11: organizational resources: social movements require more than compelling motivations, moral judgement. svm hols. self-discipline, and flexibility to generate political disruption. Movements also need a variety of organizational resources by which to mobilize and through which to channel their energy. This is because religion deals with the sacred and the supernatural: and. perhaps. because in some situations, it may have a history or current status as a socially powerful institution. This authority. legitimacy, and protection can be put to good use for the cause of social- movement (20: political legitimacy in public opinion (20, protection of religion as a last open space (21)
