Functionalists see society as...
Society has basic needs it must meet to...
Institutions perform certain functions to maintain the social system by meeting a need. The most basic needs are...
Functionalists say this makes social order possible...
Durkheim (1915)
Religious institutions play a central part in creating & maintaining value consensus, order and solidarity.
Durkheim's key feature of religion...
Sacred things - set apart and forbidden, inspiring feelings of awe, fear and wonder, with taboos and prohibitions.
Sacred things create powerful feelings in believers because they represent something of great power.
Rituals - religion has sacred & collective rituals/practices. For example; worship.
He believed the essence of religion could be discovered by studying its simplest form in the simplest society.
The Arunta worship their emblem - the sacred totem.
Durkheim believed these clan members were really worshiping society.
A criticism of Durkheim's idea is that he used secondary data of the Arunta.
Durkheim said the sacred symbols represent society's collective conscience.
Regular shared religious rituals reinforce the collective conscience and maintain social integration.
Religions make us feel a part of something greater than ourselves, it strengthens us to face life's problems.
The cognitive functions of religion:
Durkheim, on the cognitive functions of religion:
Durkheim & Mauss (1903)
Malinowski (1954)
Important with an controllable/uncertain outcome:
In times of life crises:
Parsons (1967) 2 other essential functions of religion
1. Religion does this by sacralising norms & values, by promoting value consensus and social stability. E.g in US Protestantism has sacralised the core American values of individualism, meritocracy and self-discipline.
Bellah (1970) Civil Religion
Civil religion integrates society in a way that individual religions can't. American civil religion involves loyalty to the nation-state & belief in God. These values equal being a 'true American'.