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THE
SOCIOLOGY of RELIGION
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Social
Organization; Beliefs and Rituals
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Introduction
to the Module (Hub)
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Documents
Included in the
Module
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Sociology
as a science does not ask if there is a supernatural, but does ask how
beliefs in the supernatural affect social organization and patterns of
behaviour.
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There are two documents in this module.
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is about variations in beliefs and practices. Like other important
aspects of culture and society, religions are affected by if not a product
of, the variations in technology underwent by human populations. |
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The
other is about the traditional or historical religions of the Akan people
of West Africa, overlaid as it now is by the efforts and effects of European
missionaries. |
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The sociological study of religions
is valuable both to beginning sociology students and to community mobilisers.
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observers gain much insight into the nature and workings of any society
by looking at beliefs, the social organizations revolving around those
beliefs, and the various practices, rituals and relationships that come
along with that social organization. |
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Community
mobilisers, meanwhile, can choose more effective strategies for empowering
communities, for assisting them to make their own choices and to become
self reliant, if the mobilisers know and understand the religious variables
in each community. |
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