Religion as a Conservative Force

Religion as a Conservative Force

‘Conservative forces’ in this context can be defined as forces, which

protect the existing social order, and radical forces being the

opposite of conservative forces are those, which promote change.

‘’ Religion is essentially a conservative force in society and if that

is true than it would also be true that religion can also play a part

in social change.’

To evaluate whether religion is a conservative force or a force for

social change I am going to first look at the different perspectives

of what role religion takes in a society.

The functionalist perspective on religion examines it in terms of

society’s needs and is mainly concerned with the contribution religion

makes to meeting these needs; Durkheim presented an argument from the

functionalist perspective he stated that all societies divide the

world into two separate categories: The ‘sacred and the profane’.

Durkheim also put forward another argument, called totemism. Durkheim

studied an aboriginal society “the most basic form of religion.

Durkehim believed that the totem pole was a symbol and its true nature

was symbolic of the aboriginal society that worships the totem pole.

To put it simply he points out that they are worshipping their own

society. This is because the totem stands for the values of the

society that worships it. He also argued how they were completely

dependant on society itself.

Durkheim believed that social life is impossible without the shared

values and moral beliefs that form ‘collective consensus’. He believes

that without these norms and values there would be no social order,

control, solidarit...

... middle of paper ...

...e if

the ideology of the ruling-class is a strong enough force to keep

society subservient and under capitalist control Due to this, I tend

to agree with the neo-Marxists mostly, as they allow for both

theories, religion being a force for social change and act as a

conservative force to be put forward. However I can’t ignore that the

functionalists and Marxists put forward some good arguments and a very

good and interesting point in saying that sometimes it is the society

changing that shapes religion not religion that shapes society. This

means that there are four different reasons as to whether religion is

a conservative force for social change, as it takes into account how

society can prevent change and maintain the same religious views or

shape religion differently throughout the changes that occur in

society.