SOC111 – UNIT THREE2 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Part 2 RELIGION AND POLITICAL SYSTEM Mr. Richard Fisonga CAVENDISH UNIVERSITY ZAMBIA Overview 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Marriage Family Religion The State Education Economic Institutions The Media 3. RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS • Theoretical Perspectives of Religion • Elements of Religion • Characteristics of Religion • Functions of Religion • Religious Organizations DEFINITION • Religion is the socially defined patterns of beliefs concerning ultimate meaning of life. It assumes the existence of the supernatural. -Stark • It is the way in which people express their understanding of the meaning of life. TYPES OF RELIGION Monotheism Polytheism Belief in a single god. e.g.: Judaism, Christianity, Islam Belief in multiple gods. e.g.: Greek and Roman polytheism, Shintoism, Taoism, Hinduism Theoretical Perspective of Religion • Functionalism-Durkheim • Emphasized believers’ attitudes toward sacred objects (not the objects themselves) • Religion helps to give meaning and purpose to life. • Religion reinforces social unity and stability as it offers ultimate values and ends to hold in common • Religion serves as an agent of social control of behavior • Religion promotes physical and psychological wellbeing • Serves to bind people together in times of crisis and confusion as it provides emotional security attained through communal living Theoretical Perspective of Religion • Conflict Theory-Marx • Religion reinforces social inequality and social conflict. • Religion inhibits social change • People focus on otherworldly concerns and not on each other • It helps convince the poor to accept their allocation in society (The Opium of the Masses). It drives masses into submission by offering a consolation for their harsh lives on Earth. • Religion leads to hostility and violence motivated by religious differences. Theoretical Perspective of Religion • Symbolic Interactionism – Weber • Focused on the ways in which individuals interpret their religious experiences. • Emphasizes that beliefs and practices are not sacred unless people regard them as such. • Once they are regarded as sacred, they take on special significance and give meaning to people’s lives. • Sought to understand how religion might also contribute to social change: • For example, in the Protestant Work Ethic: disciplined commitment to worldly labor driven by desire to bring glory to God explains western industrial development. • The Spirit of Capitalism-nonreligious versions of the Protestant work ethic. • Values favoring hard work, thrift, and the importance of economic success. • Personal responsibility for salvation led people to accumulate capital as proof of salvation. Elements of Religion • Sacred events - refers to phenomena that are regarded as extraordinary, transcendent, and outside the everyday course of events - that is, supernatural. • Legitimation of norms – Religious sanctions and beliefs reinforce the legitimacy of many rules and norms in the community. • Rituals – are formal patterns of activity that express symbolically a set of shared meanings. • Religious Community – Religions establish a code of behavior for the members, who belong and who does not. Characteristics of Religion • Belief in a deity or in a power beyond the individual • Presence of sacred vs profane objects, places, times • A doctrine (accepted teaching) of salvation • A code of conduct with supernatural origins • The use of sacred stories • Religious rituals (acts and ceremonies) • Prayer and other forms of communication with the deity. Functions of Religion • Religion serves as a means of social control. • It exerts a great influence upon personality development. • Religion always fear the unknown. • Religion explains events or situations which are beyond the comprehension of man. • It gives man comfort, strength and hope in times of crisis and despair Functions of Religion • It preserves and transmits knowledge, skills, spiritual and cultural values and practices. • It serves as an instrument of change. • It promotes closeness, love, cooperation, friendliness and helpfulness. • Religion alleviates sufferings from major calamities. • It provides hope for a blissful life after death. Religious Organizations • Church • A formal religious group well established and integrated into society. • Tends to be large, with inclusive membership, In low tension with surrounding society and • Tends toward greater intellectual examination and interpretation of the doctrines of religion. Religious Organizations • Sect • A religious group that sets itself apart from society as a whole. Breaks away from a church. • Wants to renew original vision of the faith. • has a small, exclusive membership and high tension with society. • It tends toward the emotional, mystic, stress faith, feeling, conversion experience. • Scientology, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Religious Organizations • Cult • A religious group outside cultural norms. • They are more innovative institutions and are formed when people create new religious beliefs and practices. • There are three types: audience cults, client cults and cult movements. • Leaders are usually charismatic. 4. GOVERNMENT/THE STATE/POLITICAL SYSTEM • Meaning of Political system • Power • Authority • Types of governments • Branches of government • Politic and Administration Meaning of Political System/State/Government • The institution which resolves conflicts that are public in nature and involve more than a few people. It can be city, provincial, national or even international. • An institution that regulates the use of and access to the power. • It is an organizational structure that directs and coordinates people’s involvement in the political and economic activities of a country or some other territory. • Power and Authority are basic components of government Power • Power • Pareto, Max Weber and other social scientists have defined power as the main requirement of human life. • Society maybe divided into two: the Rulers and the ruled. • Power lies with the rulers and it is used on the general public over the ruled. The rulers rule on the basis of power only. • Horton and Hunt, “The ability to control the activities of others”. • Max Weber, “Normally we call power as the ability of man or a group to impose their will, even in the face of opposition.” • MacIver, “Power is the ability to control, influence and direct men or their behavior.” • Goldheimer and schills, “The ability of a man by which he influences the behavior of others for his own interests.” WEBER’S THREE TYPES OF AUTHORITY • 1. Traditional Authority • relies on sanctity of time-honored norms that govern the selection of someone to a powerful position. • chief, king, queen • “It has always been like that” • renounce heritage and identity to choose differently Weber’s Three Types of Authority • 2. Charismatic Authority • Exceptional and exemplary qualities of the person in power. Obeyed because their followers believe in and are attracted to leader’s vision. • Revolutionary change • Emerge during times of crisis • Successfully persuade followers to make extraordinary personal sacrifices • Vision is not always ethical • Will not last forever Weber’s Three Types of Authority • 3. Legal-Rational Authority • Derives from a system of rules that formally specify the qualifications for occupying a powerful position. • Specify scope of that power and appropriate conduct. • People comply with demands because the power belongs to the position (and by extension, the person holding the position). • Example: Parliament, Presidency, Council etc, THE FOUR TYPES OF GOVERNMENTS • 1. Theocratic Government • “Rule of the deity”. • Power shared by secular ruler and religious leader OR secular gov leaders devoted to principles of the dominant religion • Uphold divine laws • No legal separation of church and state • E.g.: Vatican, Afghanistan under the Taliban 4 Types of Governments • 2. Authoritarian Government • Government does not recognize any formal limits to its power • May be restrained by the power of other social institutions • Single person, group, social class holds power • Likely to be anti-Communist • Lesser of 2 evils • Receives support from others benefiting from their leadership • E.g.: Saddam Hussein, 4 Types of Governments • 3. Totalitarian Government • Extreme form of authoritarianism • System of centralized government where the state has the total authority over society and manipulates all aspects of culture to control the private lives and morality of citizens • Typically follows Communist principles • exp: 1984 4 Types of Government • 4. Democratic Government • Began in Ancient Rome • Citizens elect representatives to make laws and establish public policies. • The power to choose leaders is in the hands of the ruled. Arms/Branches of Government POLITICS AND ADMINISTRATION • Administration - refers to the aggregate of persons in whose hands the reigns of government are for the time being. • Constituent functions of administration - contribute to the very bonds of society and are therefore compulsory. • Examples of constituent functions: • The keeping of order and providing for protection of persons and property from violence and robbery. • The definition and punishment for crimes • The administration of justice in civil cases. Politics and Administration • Ministrant functions of Administration - Those undertaken to advance the general interest of society such as. • Examples of ministrant functions: • Public works • Charity and • And all those that are merely optional. END • Next • Education • Economic Systems and • The media
