SOC101Y1 Study Guide - Protestant Work Ethic, Walmart Canada, Civil Religion
Document Summary
Marx believed religion was a human creation (203) When people are deprived, they reinterpret and redefine reality instead of changing their oppressive conditions (203) Religion functions as the opium of the people (203) Those who hold power encourage religious belief among the masses to exploit them (203) Religion is aligned with the interests of the dominant few and holds in check the potentially explosive tensions in a society (203) Historically, religion and feudalism were so intertwined that revolutions would be seen as attacks on the church (204) Durkheim said when people live in a community, they come to share common sentiments and thus a collective conscience is formed (204) When they gather together, they feel like they are in the presence of something beyond themselves and is greater than the sum of their individual consciousness, and they label this experience god (204) The experience is real, but it"s not what the people involved think it is (204)
