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Effects of Religion in Society
The impact of religion in society
Effects of Religion in Society
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Weber saw religion from a different perspective; he saw it as an agent for change. He challenged Marx by saying that religion was not the effect of some economical social or psychological factor. But that religion was used as a way for an explanation of things that cause other things. Because religious forces play an important role in reinforces our modern culture, Weber came to the conclusion that religion serves as both a cause and an effect. Weber didn’t prose a general theory of religion but focused on the interaction between society and religion. Weber believed that one must understand the role of religious emotions in causing ideal types such as capitalism. He explained the shift in Europe from the other worldliness of Catholicism to the worldliness of early Protestantism; according to Weber this was what initiated the capitalist economic system. As he mentioned in his book The Protestant Ethic and the spirit of capitalism, capitalism isn’t about being rich. Weber said that there was a connection between religions. He mentioned that Protestants are more likely to be successful businessmen than Catholics. The reason for this was because he believed that a protestant earns money to accumulate savings, not for luxuries. By implying this, he claimed that modern capitalism arose in Western Europe and it is specific to protestant values and faith. Marx Weber goes on and explains capitalism, he explains the work ethic in terms of religious sentiment claiming that financial pursuits was rooted from work ethic and in turn become the new religion. "Man is dominated by the making of money, by acquisition as the ultimate purpose of his life." While Karl Marx views capitalism as a way to repress from having the elite control the wealth,... ... middle of paper ... ...ity beyond this world which manifests itself in our midst and makes itself known and brings about a change in our reality.” In other words, his study of religion is the examination of the different forms and places in which the sacred is manifested. Weber and Eliade both argued that religion should be understood in its own terms. Although both Marx and Weber have different views about religion, they all agree that misery stems from the forces of society and capitalism. Marx believed that religion provides relief for suffering in the material world. Weber believed that motivation comes from the individuals wish to overcome problems, supported by religious work ethic to do well for the common good. Unlike Durkheim who mentions the sacred and the profane while relating it to societies needs, Eliade proclaims that the concern with religion is with the super natural.
First, I want to identify who Marx and Nietzsche are and their critiques on religion. Karl
Marx argues religion acts as a drug to be more exact like opium. People who usually do drugs do it typically because it is an escape from their problems. Likewise, people typically follow a religion because it help’s them escape from their problems. Following a religion helps them to numb the pain of reality. Some people born in society have it better than others and for those who do not religion turn into a great hope for them. Additionally, Marx goes onto say religion is man made and we do not need it to survive. Furthermore, the more people have the less they tend to care about religion. For example,
Weber also thought there was a link between capitalism and the Protestant work ethic. Specifically he looked at Calvinism. Calvinism was a simple way of life in which you were to do good for others. The way into heaven was to do the greatest good for the greatest number of
Marx’s opinion is that religion is an illusion that provides reasons and excuses to keep society functioning just as it is. Much as capitalism takes our productive labor and alienates us from its value, religion takes our highest ideals and aspirations and alienates us from them, projecting them onto an alien and unknowable being called a god.
Weber destabilizes the relationship between base and superstructure that Marx had established. According to Weber, the concept of historical materialism is naïve and nonsense because superstructures are not mere reflections of the economic base. (“The Protestant Ethic” and “The Spirit of Capitalism (1904-5) Weber agrees that the economy is one of the most faithful forces in modern life. However there are other social and legal factors which exhibit power and thus influence society. These factors help define bureaucratic society or Weber’s concept of modern society which operates through the rational administration of labor. According to Weber, the condition of modern society is disenchantment, which, through rationalization (division of labor), worldly activity is no longer motivated by cultural or spiritual values (meaning) but is instead motivated by economic impulsion. Ironically though, Weber attributes religious aestheticism (meaning) to the root of rationalization, and once mechanism (capitalism) takes off on its own, that religious root is no longer needed to justify work. Thus, mechanized petrification emerges, leaving hardly any room for spontaneity, with a few exceptions. In establishing a definition of modern society, Weber, unlike Marx, acknowledges that certain ideas can have great influence on material conditions. He suggests a more complex, dynamic relationship between economy and superstructure. Human activity is motivated by reasons other than just capitalist consumption. For example, many people act based on meaning, such as religious or spiritual. Values shape how people live. Weber accuses Marx of being an economic determinist for believing that the mode of production is the only force that moves the base. Weber believes that social and legal factors such as status, class, party, and the division of social honor from economic order in addition to the economy influence modern society, which, according to Weber, is a bureaucracy organized through the rational administration of labor. Weber believes that human history has been the progressive rationalization of life (modernity). The increased rationalism (measuring/controlling the labor process, ie: assembly line) based on logic and calculations instead of traditions, heart, and feeling of modernity le...
In discussing the similarities between Marx, Weber and Durkheim, it is important to understand what social order and social change are. Social order is the systems of social structures (relations, values and practice etc.) that maintain and enforce certain patterns of behaviour. Whereas, social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society, examples of such alterations can be changes in nature, social institutions, behaviours and/or social relations. (Bratton and Denham 2014) Throughout time, religion has always been a hot topic of controversy, whether it is based on being a part of the same religion, to having different religious views on life and how to live life. This is due in large to the ever changing views on religion and the way it can be practised. Religion can be viewed in both aspects of social order and social change because it is part of a system, however, alterations are frequently made. The three sociologists Marx, Weber and Durkheim have all expressed their views on religion with respect to society. Webers’ views show the effects
The wealth that was accumulated through this lifestyle was reinvested into the work process in order to create more wealth. This continual reinvestment of wealth provided the necessary capital and conditions that allowed for the development of modern capitalism. Weber starts out his essay with a few questions that he proposes to try and answer. He notes that European business leaders are overwhelmingly Protestant instead of Catholic. He also notices that the most developed areas of Europe in his time were those that had embraced Protestantism (Weber, 4).
Religion is an organized collection of beliefs and cultural systems that entail the worship of a supernatural and metaphysical being. “Religion just like other belief systems, when held onto so much, can stop one from making significant progress in life”. Together with religion come traditions that provide the people with ways to tackle life’s complexities. A subscription to the school of thought of great scholars
Marx views religion as a drug that gives the people temporary relief from their unhappiness, which inhibits them from conducting social change. To better understand Marx’ view of religion one must question, why is it so important that human beings stop looking to a metaphysical world for happiness? What is real happiness? And why does social change depend upon abandoning religion?
Once capitalism came about, it was like a machine that you were being pulled into without an alternative option. Currently, whether we agree or disagree, for example if you want to survive you need to have a job and you need to make money. Weber believed that social actions were becoming based on efficiency instead of the old types of social actions, which were based on lineage or kinship. Behavior had become dominated by goal-oriented rationality and less by tradition and values. According to Web...
Karl Marx, in the Capital, developed his critique of capitalism by analyzing its characteristics and its development throughout history. The critique contains Marx’s most developed economic analysis and philosophical insight. Although it was written in 1850s, its values still serve an important purpose in the globalized world and maintains extremely relevant in the twenty-first century.
According to Max Weber religion is an institution that is based on cultural needs of man and has added capacity to human development and human life. In his book “Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism” Weber argues that the values of the protestant institution and its ethics played an important role in the economy of Western countries. His study focused on how a religious sect can influence the economic behavior of its attendants. The main concern of Weber was to know until what extension the religious conceptions of the world of existence have an impact on the economic behavior of Western societies. The strongest influences according to Weber on the development of capitalism was the Calvinist sect of Protestant religion. Weber examines
...h all of their different ideas and concepts, it is somewhat difficult to say the one thing that they all believed held society together. I do believe that the importance of religion did make it one of the better choices. Each theorist studied religion and each had their own thoughts on the subject. With their studies, they each one show something that religion is doing to hold society together. This is why I say that Max Weber, Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx all see religion as the ‘glue’ that holds together society.
Marx saw religion as an evil that existed in society and that it brought down all the people that believed in that religion. Marx said that, ?It [religion] is the opium of the people,?[1] and in saying this, Marx meant that religion was contagious on society. Once the society had a taste for the religion, they became totally engulfed it in, and then they do not want to get out of that way of live because they see it as a good way to live. Then even if people wanted to get out of the religion it was hard to get out because the whole society had already been infected by the ?opium.?
His most influential theory was he believed that it was the protestant faith which was linked with capitalism not exploitation which Karl Marx believed. Weber thought the protestant beliefs and ethics were the catalyst to the capitalism system. Weber believed it was not the Protestant ethic that caused capitalism but it provided the necessary moral in which capitalism could happen. It was both the Industrial revolution and capitalism in which massively impacted changes to happen. It was this in which Weber used to make a link between religious ideas and social change. Calvinism (16th and 17th century) is a branch of Protestantism that believed few were chosen by god to go to heaven. Accumulation of wealth was the sign of those chosen. This attitude and ethic caused people to try accumulate more capital and invest more in order to gain more. “The fulfilment of duty in worldly affairs is the highest form of moral activity” (Sztompka). This he interpreted as an encouragement within the protestant faith to work hard and save money which then resulted in the division in labour and social class. The people of this faith Were driven to work hard and save their money instead of spending it. They invested it into their businesses. As a result of this it meant that when the industrial revolution needed a large investment of capital, there were this particular group of people within society with good work ethics and money to