Unit 3 Sociology

WORKBOOK ANSWERS

AQA A2 Sociology Unit 3

Beliefs in Society

This Answers book provides suggestions for some of the possible answers that might be given for the questions asked in the workbook. They are not exhaustive and other answers may be acceptable, but they are intended as a guide to give teachers and students feedback. The student responses for the longer essay-style questions are intended to give some idea about how the exam questions might be answered and are based on actual student responses in previous exams. The examiner comments (underlined text) have been added to give you some sense of what is rewarded in the exam and which areas can be developed. Again, these are not the only ways to answer such questions but they can be treated as one way of approaching questions of these types.

Topic 1 Religion, science and ideology

What is religion?

1 Religions that believe in one God.

2 Religions that believe in several Gods.

3 Emile Durkheim.

4 Animism applies to early and simplistic tribal or folk religions that believe spirits can exist in animals, rocks and plants.

5 A polythetic definition is a list of typical characteristics that most religions share, such as belief in a deity, concern for the sacred, rituals and practices etc.

6 A substantive definition of religion is concerned with stating what it is, such as an emphasis on the existence of supernatural forces or the idea of the Holy. (It was developed by the anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor to distinguish it from tribal society’s primitive belief systems of animism.)

7 Functional definitions of religion can be too broad, meaning that ironically even secular movements such as nationalism or a revolutionary cause could be included in this definition through uniting people together. Durkheim conceded that the French Revolution (1789–99) had many religious characteristics, e.g. sacred symbols and moral obligations.

8 Some religions could be excluded if too...