Social Change And Religion

9 Key excerpts on "Social Change And Religion"

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  Unfinished Agenda

  The Dynamics Of Modernization In Developing Nations

  • Manning Nash(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  From that analytical fulcrum, the relations of religion and X (meaning here some other cultural domain, aspect of social structure, dimension of personal orientation, or facilitator or inhibitor of change or continuity) must be disaggregated into at least three levels. Religion and social change, the title of this chapter, means at least three different, complementary, and dialectical relations. At the social-psychological level, religion may be seen as a source of motivation for varieties of social action; a Protestant ethic defines work as a calling, internalized by actors in the locus c/assicus of motivational aspects of a religion. Protestantism created neither capitalism nor rational work routines; it supplied the psychological orientation to work with devotion and purpose to lay up wealth in this world as an earnest of reward in the next. At the level of social structure, religion is institutionalized in patterns of social relations and exercises normative constraint over some set of actions. Here the social position of the clergy, their followers, and the religious sanction of conduct are at stake. And finally, at the level of culture, religion deals with problems of meaning and a set of categories of time, space, and classification that account for the moral nature of human experience. The role of religion, properly constructed, should be read from the symbolic set of meanings, through their social location and normative impact, and onto the social-psychological Religion and Social Change 71 consequences of the partial internalization of symbols and meaning and the sanctions, diffuse and specific, for ignoring or violating normative patterns of behavior. All this is analytical. An anthropologist starts from regularities in everyday life and returns to them, whatever detours he may make enroute via side trips to the text or interpretations of the literati.

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  Identity Religion And Values

  Implications for Practitioners

  • C. Margaret Hall(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 10 Social Change And Religion

  Historically, religions have served as both conservative forces and catalysts for change. In their capacities as repositories of meanings, religions can motivate large numbers of individuals—even whole populations—either to sustain traditions or to reformulate goals and ideals and do things differently (Lenski, 1951). Moreover, it is only through using a broad historical perspective that people can sufficiently understand the depth and scope of religious influences, and the strength of their impact on the quantity and quality of social life and social change (Ashbrook, 1993).

  Religious differences have caused violently destructive battles in many times and places (Eisler, 1987). This destruction is linked to religions because abstractions and rigidities in belief systems frequently generate dogmas that provoke disputes and conflicts (Finke & Stark, 1992). It is this kind of bigotry that accentuates religious differences so much that they become irretrievably contradictory and incompatible, with the result that national and international disagreements may escalate into overt conflict and warfare (Eisler, 1987; Lerner, 1986).

  Religions can be thought of as consisting of those beliefs that are both individually and socially experienced as sacred (Wuthnow, 1992). Although it is crucial to forge identities through basing actions on uniqueness, and through expressing specific values of meaningful groups, there is also a point at which it is important deliberately to identify with the whole human race. For example, although it may be meaningful to identify with all women, it is also morally significant to conduct behavior according to membership in humankind. Although many people realize that there is no escape from the human condition, and that biology knows few cultural or status differences, these universal characteristics and realities have to be actively acknowledged for people to identify with the whole human race. Even where nation states no longer completely define citizens’ everyday circumstances, as they did in the 18th century, awareness of their membership in the world community must be cultivated—an awareness that in fact is facilitated by modern scientific and technological advances (Appleyard, 1993). Group moral agencies such as religions or even political parties may be prime movers of change, but individuals and groups must recognize and accept their responsibilities for the implementation and consequences of the particular changes they initiate.

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  Introduction to Sociology 2e

  • Heather Griffiths, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Openstax

    (Publisher)

  15 Religion Figure 15.1 Religions come in many forms, such as this large megachurch. (Photo courtesy of ToBeDaniel/Wikimedia Commons) Learning Objectives 15.1. The Sociological Approach to Religion • Discuss the historical view of religion from a sociological perspective • Understand how the major sociological paradigms view religion 15.2. World Religions • Explain the differences between various types of religious organizations • Understand classifications of religion, like animism, polytheism, monotheism, and atheism • Describe several major world religions 15.3. Religion in the United States • Give examples of religion as an agent of social change • Describe current U.S. trends including megachurches and secularization Introduction to Religion Why do sociologists study religion? For centuries, humankind has sought to understand and explain the “meaning of life.” Many philosophers believe this contemplation and the desire to understand our place in the universe are what differentiate humankind from other species. Religion, in one form or another, has been found in all human societies since human societies first appeared. Archaeological digs have revealed ritual objects, ceremonial burial sites, and other religious artifacts. Social conflict and even wars often result from religious disputes. To understand a culture, sociologists must study its religion. What is religion? Pioneer sociologist Émile Durkheim described it with the ethereal statement that it consists of “things that surpass the limits of our knowledge” (1915). He went on to elaborate: Religion is “a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say set apart and forbidden, beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community, called a church, all those who adhere to them” (1915).

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  Readings in the Sociology of Religion

  The Commonwealth and International Library: Readings in Sociology

  • Joan Brothers, A. H. Richmond(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Pergamon

    (Publisher)

  T h i s introduces a n o t h e r p r o b l e m , n a m e l y the extent to w h i c h c o m m u n i t y life a n d social changes affect religious experience a n d c a n m a k e religious organizations develop o n defined l i n e s . 18 Milton Yinger concludes t h a t t h e sociology of religion is broadly speaking the scientific study of the ways in which society, culture a n d personality influence religion —influence its origin, its doctrines, its practices, the types of groups w h i c h express it, the kinds of leadership, etc. A n d , oppositely, it is the study of t h e ways in w h i c h religion affects society, culture a n d personality—the processes of social con-servation a n d social change, the structure of n o r m a t i v e systems, the satisfaction or frustration of personality needs, etc. O n e m u s t keep continuously in m i n d the interactive n a t u r e of these various e l e m e n t s . 1 9 I n all these formulations W a c h ' s definition of the p r o b l e m c a n clearly b e discerned. T h e words h a v e changed, b u t not the 16 B. Häring, Macht und Ohnmacht der Religion. Religionssoziologie als Anruf, Salzburg, 1956, p. 18. 1 7 N. Greinacher, Soziologie der Pfarrei, Wege zur Untersuchung, Colmar-Freiburg, 1955, pp. 6, 8. 1 8 P. J. Bouman, Begrippen en Problemen, 7th ed., Antwerp-Amsterdam, 1958, p. 145. 1 9 J. M. Yinger, Religion, Society and the Individual. An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion, New York, 1957, p. 20 f. 36 P. H. VRIJHOF problern. T h e r e is, however, one difference, t h a t — a t least in n o n -Catholic writers—religion, while still regarded as a n independent, distinctive p h e n o m e n o n , is n o longer one t h a t is i m m u n e from questioning. B o u m a n asks h o w far society a n d changes in social structure affect religious experience. Goldschmidt includes in his formulation of the sociology of religion n o t only religious behaviour, b u t also religious content.

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  Exploring Social Change

  Process and Context

  • Bridgette Wessels(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  It then addresses the relationship between action and institu-tions through time in terms of grand social transformations. This is followed by a consideration of how change is experienced in intersubjective and sub-jective terms. This is followed by outline of an approach to social change that does not fully address both structure and agency, namely convergence theory. The chapter then considers the issue of the relationship between structure and agency in order to consider both broader social change and personal senses of change. This is then followed by a discussion about under-standing change through the relationship between social and natural order in 10 Exploring Social Change 11 contemporary experience. Recent social change in terms of the development of an information society is then explored before discussing a study of social change in two cities in the North of England. This empirical study serves to show how scholars seek to understand senses of change and how change might be framed. Studying social change To study social change involves scholars having to identify change, which requires considering what constitute the points of change and what the boundaries of change are. Thus, historians construct historical periods and sociologists identify characteristics typical of particular historical moments. To really grasp a sense of change means understanding the dynamics of peo-ple’s actions and interpretations, the social contexts of change and the social relations in which change is occurring. Abrams (1982) argues that social sci-ence does not always capture change in a rich and analytical way. Rather, he contends that in some cases different aspects of social life are captured, analyzed and abstracted from their contexts within and over time. This can be seen in ahistorical research that captures a ‘snapshot’ of a social phe-nomenon without reference to the dynamics of process in time.

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  Communicating Religion and Atheism in Central and Eastern Europe

  • Jenny Vorpahl, Dirk Schuster, Jenny Vorpahl, Dirk Schuster(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter

    (Publisher)

  However, the effect of the socialist system on the religiosity of the society was still considerable. I will try to present this from a sociology of knowledge perspective in the next section.

  4  Approach to religious change from a sociology of knowledge perspective

  Studies examining the effect of religious socialization on religiosity focus on its three main agents: family, peers and church, ultimately concluding that family is the key agent in this process.28 The role of religious socialization is to develop a worldview, which is basically built upon discussion and other forms of communication with others (parents, peers, etc.), yet “if such conversation is disrupted, the world begins to totter, to lose its subjective plausibility.”29 The subjective reality of this world hangs from a “thin thread of conversation.”30 On the disruption, Berger also mentions the ‘leaving of a social milieu,’ which from another perspective can be a change in the social milieu, the loss of a habitual and accepted worldview. I argue that, during the socialist system, the process of transmitting religious knowledge through socialization was radically changed by erasing religion from the public sphere, abolishing religious organizations and existing communities which were – besides family – the common and fundamental spheres of religious knowledge transmission.

  Similarly to what was meant by the expression “Whoever is not with us is against us,” which in the first period of the system served to describe the attitude of the system toward anyone who did not want to be part of it, religious institutions functioning outside of the private sphere were now considered the enemy. This hostility toward any and all forms of public religiosity did not result in the disappearance of religion from the public sphere. It was there, in a hidden form, hand in hand with the political resistance, while it was also part of the private sphere just as before. Besides the political aspect of strengthening religiosity, religious socialization still had a significant effect on social resistance to the undermining of religion, since the majority of society was socialized before the socialist system was put in place. Thus, in this period, confining religion to the private sphere could happen only in theory.

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  Leadership in Science and Technology: A Reference Handbook

  • William Sims Bainbridge, William S. Bainbridge(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  307 S cience and religion frequently come into conflict in the modern world, as much as both of these institu-tions would like to avoid competing with each other (Bainbridge 2009). First, the religious views of many ordinary people cause them to reject particular scientific theories and findings that conflict with tenets of their faith. This has consequences for both education and pub-lic policy because these people are often both parents and voters. Second, science studies religion both directly, in the social sciences, and indirectly in areas like cosmol-ogy and evolutionary biology. Although some studies may document religion’s value to society, other research undercuts its claim to truth. Third, both religion and sci-ence are features of modern culture, which is rapidly evolving in unknown directions, forcing both of these institutions to change in unforeseen ways. This chaotic situation means that leaders may not be able to predict what conflicts lie ahead, so they must prepare themselves for the unexpected. Leaders in many areas of science may rightly feel that their own specialty does not bring them into conflict with religion. However, to the extent that the sciences become more unified in coming years, fewer and fewer domains of research will be entirely insulated from conflict with faith (Wilson 1998). Furthermore, there is much to learn from the methods of leaders in disciplines that have directly studied religion, in the social and cognitive sci-ences. In past centuries, religion and science had much in common, and they were often combined in seeking answers to the great questions about the meaning of exis-tence. Recently, several small, but challenging, new reli-gious movements have arisen that have presented themselves as sciences. Thus, sociocultural trends can bring science and religion together, often unexpectedly.

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  Social Media and Religious Change

  • Marie Gillespie, David Eric John Herbert, Anita Greenhill, Marie Gillespie, David Eric John Herbert, Anita Greenhill(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter

    (Publisher)

   Details of the UK Economic and Social Research Council ’ s Centre for Research in Socio-Cultural Change, co-hosted between the Open University and Manchester University can be found at: http://www.cresc.ac.uk/about-cresc (accessed 21 Sept 2012). meanings around religion in relation to the shifting boundaries between the sa-cred and secular in contemporary mass and social media. In this context, one key question linking socio-cultural processes with tech-nological innovation and social inequality is raised by Haughey and Campbell in the first quotation above: to what extent have social media reduced the ‘ narrative power ’ of media professionals, challenging the ‘ highly centralised system of symbolic production ’ of the media industries, and hence demythologising what Nick Couldry has called the ‘ myth of the mediated centre ’ (2003: 45)? Or, to approach the issue from a slightly different angle (and again engaging Coul-dry), if the media are indeed the chief source of our knowledge of the world ‘ be-yond our immediate locality ’ , then to what extent has the growth of social media resulted in the redistribution of society ’ s ‘ narrative resources ’ in the interests of a ‘ wider social justice ’ (Couldry 2011: 48 – 9)? Another key question raised by Lynch in the second quotation above is, what challenges face any public per-formance of the sacred in contemporary mass and social media rich societies? Does pluralism undermine public performances of the sacred? Does reflexivity produce disenchantment with conventional and institutionalized forms of reli-gion, or can social media create and sustain shared and plural senses of the sa-cred beyond conventional religious definitions? The contributions to this collection address these questions from different perspectives using various methodologies.

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  Theology and Religious Studies in Higher Education

  Global Perspectives

  • D.L. Bird, Simon G. Smith(Authors)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Continuum

    (Publisher)

  I regard this way of referring to religion as one side of a two-pronged definition. The other, based on the work of the French sociologist, Danièle Hervieu-Léger, situates religious communities in his-torical, social and cultural contexts by insisting that religion transmits an authoritative tradition, or what Hervieu-Léger calls ‘a chain of memory’ (1999: 89). This two-sided approach, at once focusing on what adherents themselves postulate, while at the same time emphasizing patterns of com-munity authority, provides a definition of religion freed from theological associations. Part one of the definition: focus on the community’s beliefs and experiences The first part of my definition of religion restricts the study of religion to ‘identifiable communities’, which means that religion is always, in the words of Jeppe Jensen (2003: 117) a ‘social fact’. Theories about religion, of course, as Jensen (2003: 118–21) argues further, are also social facts, which means that scholars of religion must always conduct their research in a self-critical, reflexive and transparent manner. Nonetheless, when we speak about religion, we are describing and interpreting that which is observable and testable as part of identifiable social systems. The scholar of religion cannot study individual experiences as religion, unless the experiences are 102 Theology and Religious Studies in Higher Education somehow embedded in shared social constructs that are codified, symbol-ized and institutionalized in communities. In the case of individuals who testify to intense experiences of an extramundane reality, these can be treated as religion only if the individual incorporates the experiences into the life of an already existing identifiable community, or, as in the case of many charismatic leaders or prophets, forges the experience into a new religious movement comprising a definite group.

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