Intro to Sociology Final Exam Study Guide 1 Social scientists recognize that religion exists as an organized and integrated set of beliefs behaviors and norms centered on basic social needs and values sociologists distinguish between religious experience the conviction or sensation that one is connected to the divine religious beliefs specific ideas that members of a particular faith hold to be true and religious rituals practices that are either required or expected of a particular group 2 Durkheim defined religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things To him sacred meant extraordinary something that inspired wonder and which seemed connected to the concept of the divine He argued that religion happens when there is a separation between the profane ordinary life and the sacred He believed above all that religion is about community and that it helped bind the members of society to a group 3 Weber saw religion as a precipitator of social change He examined religion on economic activities and noticed that Protestant societies were the most highly developed capitalist societies and that their most successful business leaders were Protestant He wrote that Protestant work ethic influenced the development of capitalism Thought that religion could be understood as something separate from society 4 Marx believed that religion reflected the social stratification of society and that it maintains inequality and perpetuates the status quo He believed that religion was just an extension of the working class and their economic suffering He famously argued that religion is the opium of the people 5 Theoretical approaches and religion a Functionalists believed that religion served several purposes in society such as providing answers to spiritual mysteries offering emotional comfort and creating a place for social interaction and control He said that religion and society depend on each other for their existence value and significance b Conflict theorists viewed religion as an institution that helped to maintain patterns of social inequality They believed that religion has been used to support the divine right of oppressive monarchs and to justify unequal social structures The Vatican has a lot of money while the average Catholic parishioner has a small income c Symbolic interactionists study the symbols and interactins of everyday life saying that beliefs and experiences are not sacred unless individuals in a society regard them as sacred the cross They are interested in what these symbols communicate A topic of interest for a symbolic interactionist might by the interaction between religious leaders and practitioners 6 Monotheism the belief in a single god ex Judaism Islam 7 Polytheism the belief in multiple gods ex ancient Greeks and Romans 8 Atheism the belief in no gods 9 Totemism the belief in a divine connection between humans and other natural beings 10 Sects of Christian faith Christians believe that the messiah has already appeared in the person of Jesus Christ describe their God as three persons in one the Ten Commandments Mormons use the Book of Mormon which they believe contains other parts of Christian doctrine and Jesus life that aren t included in the Bible Catholics use the Bible which includes the Apocrypha which is no longer included in the Protestant versions of the Bible Jews and Muslims they recognize Christ as an important historical figure but they don t believe that he is the Son of God and they don t believe that the messiah s arrival has been fulfilled Similarities they all share many of the same historical religious stories 11 Megachurch a Christian church that has a very large congregation averaging more than 2 000 people who attend regular weekly services 12 Liberation theology the use of a church to promote social change via the political arena most often seen in attempts to reduce or eliminate social injustice discrimination and poverty proponents of this kind of social change include Francis of Assisi Martin Luther King Jr and Desmond Tutu 13 Downfall of Religion Durkheim Weber Marx and Freud anticipated secularization claiming that the modernization of society would bring about a decrease in the influence of religion 14 Formal Education the learning of academic facts and concepts through a formal curriculum ex the modern U S educational system 15 Universal Access to Education the equal ability of all people to participate in an education system the modern idea of universal access arose in the United States as a concern for people with disabilities 16 Latent Functions hidden unstated functions with sometimes unintended consequences ex courtship social networks working in groups political and social integration 17 Manifest Functions openly stated functions with intended goals ex socialization social control social placement 18 Cultural capital cultural knowledge that serves metaphorically as currency to help one navigate a culture ex members of upper and middle class have more cultural capitalism than the lower class so the educational system maintains a cycle in which the dominant culture s values are rewarded 19 Hidden curriculum the type of nonacademic knowledge that one learns through informal learning and cultural transmission 20 Sociological perspectives and education a Functionalists view education as one of the most important social institutions in a society They believe that education contributes to 2 kinds of functions manifest functions and latent functions b Conflict theorists do not believe that public schools reduce social inequality They believe that the educational system reinforces social inequalities arising from difference in class gender and race They view education in more of a negative way c Symbolic Interactionists sees education as one way labeling theory is seen in action They might say that this labeling has a direct correlation to those who are in power and those who are being labeled ex low test scores and poor performance in a particular class often lead to a student being labeled as a low achiever 21 Grade inflation the idea that the achievement level associated with an A today is notably lower than the achievement level associated with A level work a few decades ago ex over the past few years businesses have noticed that A level students don t have the competency evident in the past They find themselves in the position of educating new hires in abilities that in the past had been mastered during
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