SOC 105 1st editionExam # 3 Study Guide Lecture 24 (March 27)Sociological Conceptions of Religion- Religion  That institution in society that helps people adjust to those things that are both undesirable and inescapable. - Karl Marx:o Mode of Production  Relations of production  Superstructureo The way we produce things determines the relationships among people (conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat) and the production process, which determines social institutions and entities. o Superstructure  Family, religion, the state, education, culture, and the way we think. o Marx believed that the superstructure reproduces the existing social structures and classsystems and legitimates the existing system by telling people that this is just the way it’s supposed to be. o “Religion is the Opiate of the Masses” Keeps you dumb, stops you from being mad about the way things are in the world and rebelling. - Emile Durkheim:o Religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things which unites into one single moral community called a church all those who adhere to them.o Those beliefs lead us to behave in certain ways. o Defining something as sacred has profound meaning; we act the way we do based off of meanings. Lecture 25 (March 30)- Durkheim said you had to take religion more seriously than Marx did, because it’s a huge factor in life. - Answers to why there is evil and suffering, and what happens when you die (the most undesirable and inescapable things possible).- What we learn in church carries beyond the church. - The beliefs taught by religion brings about solidarity:o Social norms: how we behave and how we treat each other. - Symbols  Signs to which we attach generalized meaning- Vessels for meaning- Symbols vary from faith to faith and from person to person. Lecture 26 (April 1)- Binary Oppositiono Normal / Devianto Good / Evil- Durkheim said that religion draws a difference between the sacred and the profaneo This causes us to act in certain ways. o Religion structures behavior - Sacred things are the things that are set apart or forbidden. You must approach them with awe and reverence. - Profane things are all that is not sacred. They are the mundane, every day aspects of life. - Ritualo One way religion structures behavior o Required practiceso Forbidden Acts - Shared Beliefso Shared Beliefs give people a purpose and meaning of existence o Commonly – held moral code- Emile Durkheimo Solidarity is the product of social integration and moral regulation o The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912)o Arunta – a Totemic society and religiono Totemic societies have totem poles with animals on them; but they’re not worshipping the animals, they put the animals on the totem poles because they have qualities they aspire to have themselves. o Durkheim’s conclusion from this is that when a society worships its god, it is worshippingitself. o The first thing we experience that is external to us and coercive over us is our parents. o Religious experience have a great deal to do with your experience with society and its control over you. o We apply the characteristics and aspects that we desire and attribute it to an entity (Allah, God)Lecture 27 (April 6)- Marx:- Social Structure/ Economy  Religion- Because of the economy, religion acts in certain ways- Religion is the super structure, and it acts to reproduce and legitimate the existing economy and social structure. - Weber:- Opposite of Marx- Religion  Industrial capitalism (Social Structure/ economy)- Industrial capitalism arises from a set of religious beliefs. - The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism o Weber saw the pursuit of wealth being equated with godliness.o Thought this was fairly unusually for religion – money was not usually equated with holiness. - Colonists in America saw life as a “calling” in service to Godo Their religion was fundamentally new and different than in England. - Asceticism  A self denying way of life. Deny, particularly your material self, and work towards your calling. - Calvinism and predestination  There is an elect group of people (that have already been chosen) who have been chosen to go to heaven. o Designed to induce fear and anxiety in the people. o People being to search for signs from god of election.  People tract the number of hours they put into things, and the rewards that theyget from their hard work and self-denial. o This leads to ways of thinking that has an elective affinity with industrial capitalism.o The way of thinking is perfect for industrial capitalism – always calculating, profit, thinking about competitors, deals, instrumental, means ends ways of thinking about the world. - For something to occur there are necessary and sufficient conditions. - Weber said that for Industrial Capitalism to occur, the rise of the protestant work ethic was a necessary condition. - Culture/Religion  Capitalismo This produced a characteristic habit of thought and action Hard work Self-denial  Formal rationalityo Protestant work ethic  The specific and peculiar rationality of western industrial society. o Accumulation of wealth will come with this work ethico This will allow the start up of industrial capitalismo You need wealth to buy machines, pay workers, start factory, etc. o The accumulation of wealth allows industrial capitalism to develop. - Weber is from symbolic Interactionist theorists- We act on the basis of motives, morals, how others think…Lecture 28 (April 8)- Formal Rationality and Bureaucracy - Organizations as “Cultural Carriers”- Formal Rationality as key cultural development of modern ageo Calculability – Look at projects; how much effort they put into and what they get out of it. Looking for signs of predestination.o Efficiency o Predictability o Maximum Control - Rise of Bureaucracy “Ideal – Typical” Bureaucracy- Break down all tasks into a series of specialized tasks (aka “offices”)o This is efficiento An office is a set of organizational taskso Power resides in the office, not the persono Responsibilities and rights of any office have to be carefully placed; not just with a person. - Hierarchy of command - Bureau  Set of drawers. Top drawers are the top places in the chain of command for a bureaucracy. o Power flows downward from the top to the bottom - Officials pursue a career in the organization –now this is so common we don’t