religion as community f2014

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!

Religion, community, identity

Introducing communities

Examine community as a form of belonging and identification

Immigration and community

Case study: the sociology of religion

Today

Essay question: Critically evaluate the impact of migration upon community identification in contemporary London.

Key considerations

Communities provide a primary point of social identification for many people, but…

Do these community identifications provide social

solidarity that reduces societal divisions?

Do identifications with communities within society reduce overall social cohesion?

What are the consequences of falling community identification?

What do you think of when I say ‘community’?

What is a community?

Communities are groups of people with ‘something’ in common (Crow and McLean, 2006, p.306)

Communities are a micro-structural attachment: individuals identifying with others via groups

People can be members of multiple communities, each of which provide them with a different sense of belonging

Moreover, these communities can be ‘nested’ together: there can be communities within communities

Sports team Religious group

Hall of Residence

University Course University Society

Types of community

There are a number of different forms of community

Geographic communities: The common sense and original sociological notion of community is groups living in close proximity

Communities of culture and interest: People with similar interests or ways of life

Community organisations: Concrete institutions that people are members of or associate with

Communities of meaning

Anthony Cohen (1982; 1985) argues that communities are best understood as ‘communities of meaning’ in which community plays a symbolic role in producing social belonging

Community doesn’t just automatically exist, but is based on members’ symbolic perceptions

Members may have something in common (like location), but are only a community if they construct themselves as a community

Geographical communities may act as a collection of people rather than providing intense attachments

Community as identity

As Benedict Anderson has argued, communities are mental constructs, meaning that a sense that we belong to a community requires an identification with community practices and symbols

In a simple sense, who we are is based on our perceived membership of groups and the way we understand that membership

Community is thus a ‘sense of community’ where we have a feeling that members have a shared commitment to each other or to what they have in common

Are we a community?

Do you have a sense of

community at Brunel?

Community contrasts

Cohen (1985, p.12) also argues that a community is distinguished both by what it has in common and by its differences from other communities

Communities are thus an expression of sameness and of difference

Gated residential communities are a strong example of this dynamic

Virtual communities

Our sense of place has become less important and traditional communities of interest have become less popular

Nonetheless, the desire for identification and belonging remains

Virtual communities, or communities connected by technology, have filled some of this lack

Chris and community

What communities are you involved

in?

The importance of community

Membership and identification is a fundamental element of human socialisation

Our identifications with larger social structures are often weak

Communities provide a direct and embedded attachment to society

Communities can flatten social divisions by providing a sense of belonging and social capital or networks

Beyond community

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) used the term ‘Anomie’ to describe the breakdown between an individual and community

The individual experiences a sense of normlessness and a lack of personal value

Widespread alienation and anomie may lead to societal disorder

Without any sense of immediate social identification, wider social divisions can become much more oppressive

It is argued that we live in a ‘post-disciplinary’ society in which individualism is the most powerful force

Tradition and received wisdom is no longer completely accepted

Instead a culture of self-reliance and individual expression has developed

‘Just be yourself’

Rising individuality

The rise in individualism has produced a similar decline in identification with traditional community organisations

Political parties

Sports clubs

Organised religions

Unions

Voting

Decline in community bonds

Bowling Alone

In his book, Bowling Alone (2000), Robert Putman outlined the decline in social capital and community involvement in America since 1950

Putnam largely attributes this decline to technological developments that cut us off from community engagement

More individualism, particularly anomic individualism, leads to greater social divisions as we lose trust in and bonds with each other

Thinking about the communities you are part of, is community

membership declining, or changing?

Immigration and community

Nationality is often a very strong point of cultural identity, particularly when people are living geographically outside of their nation

Consequently, many immigrants seek attachments to existing cultural communities

These attachments may prevent wider social integration

What is the value of banning foreign

language newspapers in Newham?

Free Schools

Free schools are taxpayer funded, but run by communities rather than state organisations – part of David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ network

A large proportion of these schools are ‘faith based’ (although many applications are rejected), leading critics to suggest that they will lead to social segregation as different communities establish themselves outside of the state

This return us to the issue of religious differences

You are working for the Department of Education

Under what conditions would you allow a religious community to establish a free-school?

The Sociology of Religion

This module has considered how social differences become social divisions, and how these divisions can be a form of social cohesion

Religion exemplifies these themes

Religions are differences in belief

These differences have led to passionate social divides

Religions often provide a strong basis for social cohesion through a religious community

Thematic returns

The sociology of religion does not assess the validity of belief, but the social patterns that emerge in regards to belief Who believes and when?

What changes have occurred in patterns of belief?

Why have these effects occurred?

What kinds of conflict emerge from differences in belief

and why?

The sociology of religion

Religion is as old as humanity, but definitions are difficult

“A religion is a set of beliefs, symbols and practices based on the idea of the sacred” (Stephen Fisher)

‘Sacred’ is used to distinguish religion from other ideological perspectives

What is religious belief?

Durkheim’s definition of religion is the most accepted:

“A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things,…, things set apart

and forbidden – beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them” (From The Elementary

Forms of the Religious Life, 1912, p. 8)

Durkheim defines

Durkheim suggested that religion produced social cohesion by: Providing social norms that regulate behaviour

Constructing an interpretive scheme that allows individuals to

identify themselves in relation to existence

Energising collective life by providing a point of identification

and purpose

Thus, for Durkheim, religion is a powerful force on the side of social order

Binding forces

Throughout the 20th Century social scientists predicted the end of religion – the ‘secularisation thesis’

Secularisation: The decline of religious belief, practice, and authority

Berger (1967, see Aldridge, 2009, p.133-4), suggests there are three elements to secularisation; Socio-structural: Loss of social functions e.g. education Cultural: Promotion of a secular worldview Individual: Fewer people use religion to guide their actions

Secularisation

1991 (%) 2008 (%)

Believe and always have 45.8 36.7

Believe, didn’t before 5.9 5.1

Not believe, did before 12.1 15.2

Not believe, never have 11.6 19.9

Can’t choose 22.7 21.7

Not answered 1.8 1.5

Base 1,222 1,975

Figures from British Social Attitudes (1991- 2008 ) cited in Perfect (2011), p.13

Do you believe in God?

Is the decline of religious belief in England likely to damage social cohesion?

Religious States

Why might religious belief be higher in the US

than other countries?

Like Durkheim, Marx argued that religion provided a source of solidarity in response to social divides

Conversely, this solidarity was a comfort in an unjust society and softened social divisions

Religious ‘myths’, especially in relation to salvation, prevent the oppressed from actively trying to overcome their present domination

Marx

“Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.” Source: Karl Marx (1843) Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

On a global scale, religiosity is strongest where economic and physical security are weakest (Norris and Inglehart , Sacred and Secular, 2004)

Religiosity is the extent to which; Believes in or ‘feels’ aspects of religion

Becomes involved in religious activities

Believes in the teachings of the church

Lives in accordance with those teachings and beliefs

The relationship between religiosity and income inequality is particularly evident in the slums of the 3rd world

Poor hope

Source: The Pew Global Attitudes Project, October 4, 2007

What factors might influence the

global correlation between income

and belief?

Critics of Marxism have argued that religion can be a driver of social change through community groups

The civil rights movement in the United States is an example of this process

Moreover, it is often religious groups who have the greatest solidarity with the poor

False consciousness?

Community attachment provide a sense of belonging and identification

Conversely, communities with different values can reinforce differences

Religion is a strong example of community attachment but, like other forms of community, has been steadily declining

Vital points

JUST SAY NO! SOCIAL PROTEST AND THE POLITICS OF RESISTANCE

READING

Bernard E. Harcourt (2012) Political Disobedience. Critical Inquiry , Vol. 39, No. 1 (Autumn 2012), pp.

33-55

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