Religion Sociology

A) One advantage and two disadvantages of functional definitions of religion are

* An advantage of functional definitions is that they are inclusive allowing us to include a wide range of beliefs and practices that perform functions such as integration. Also since they don’t specifically believe in God or supernatural there is no bias against non -Western religious such as Buddhism.

* One criticism of functionalism is defining religion is that the conservative force says that is difficult to see how religion can be functioning to socialize the majority of society’s members into morality and social integration if only a minority of people regularly attend church.

* Another criticism of the functional definition of religion is that it ignores dysfunctional aspects and gives little consideration to hospitality between different religious groups such as Ireland. These religious diversions have caused disruption and conflict rather than promoting social order.

B) Using material from item A and elsewhere I’m going to assess the functionalists view that religion benefits both society as a whole and its individual members

Functionalists such as Durkheim see religion as beneficial to society and its individual members because he says that religious institution play a central part in creating and maintaining value consensus order and solidarity he also defines religion in terms of the contribution it makes the social integration rather than any specific belief in God or the supernatural. Another functionalist Milton Yinger identifies functions that religion performs for individuals such as answering ultimate questions about the meaning of life and what happens when we die.

The anthropologist Malinowski agree with Durkheim that religion promotes solidarity , but he also believes that it performs psychological functions for individuals helping them cope with emotional stress that would undermine social solidarity. Malinowski identifies two types...