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EARLY SOCIOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Marx, Durkheim, Weber
Training Handout
The sociology of religion has been around as long as sociology
Marx
wrote that social organisation was a function of modes of production, that
the change in technology from agrarian to industrial caused a class transformation
from aristocrats and peasants to factory owners and workers. For him,
religion was the "opiate of the masses" that took their minds off
being oppressed
Max Weber,
who was contradicting the materialist approach of Karl Marx.
Weber, in
contrast, suggested that the new values preached by the protestants, from Martin
Luther to John Calvin, included a rejection of the decadence and corruption
of the Christian Church (now called Catholic) and the promotion of asceticism,
frugality and independent thinking, which contributed to a culture of saving
and investment, necessary for the creation and development of capitalism.He
wrote this in, The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of
Capitalism.
Another classic work is by Emile
Durkheim,
The
Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. While examining the religious
characteristics of the simplest societies,
Durkheim
reached the conclusion that religion in some ways is the essence of society,
codifying norms and values, and holding communities together.
Karl Marx saw religion as a kind of social sedative. It
calmed the frustrations of the proletariat, obfuscating their awareness of
the causes of their oppression with a false consciousness, and thus hindered
revolution and rebellion. Religion served the purposes of the power
elite.
If, following the ideas of Max Weber in getting
inside peoples’ thoughts, we want to understand more about various religions,
we could look at some of the variations of belief systems of different
religions. This module does so. The intention here is not to
preach the beliefs, but recall them in understanding their relations to
social organisation.
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