Sociology Of Religion: The Role And Impact Of Religion In Society Essay.

Concept of Sociology of Religion

This sociology of religion is a concept under which he values and believes related to the different religions present in the world our study through different practises and methods. There are various sociological views present in the world that contributed to explaining the concept of religion and its role among the people (Wach 2019). This discussion will understand the concepts introduced by some founding thinkers such as Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Karl Marx. These founding thinkers were the first to recognize the importance of religion in the world and its impact on only people. According to Emile Durkheim, the concept of religion in the world is not imaginary, and he considered it a real concept. It is the study about the religion in the world that is more inclined towards understanding the problems faced by the people being together collectively (Cipriani 2021). He tried to understand the basic religion of all the societies present in the world and the rituals that the people of these societies follow. He focused on the concept of universalism that ensured that some religious aspects applied to all the sections of the society. He believed that religion unites every section of the society in the world and creates harmony among people. According to him, religion played an important role in defining a clear distinction among people and every section of society. Another major thinker that provided a clear understanding of the role of religion in the world and among the people is Max Weber. Max Weber believed that the practice of rituals in the religion among the people developed the expansion of modern capitalism in the world. Modern capitalism is highly focused on increasing the wealth of the individuals in the world and developing the lifestyle of the daily wage earners in society (Hjelm 2021). He believed that religion among the people is positively used in shaping the image of the individual in society. He explained that religion helped to introduce new dimensions among the people in the world that improved the life of human beings and helped in human development. He introduced The Sociology of Religion theory that mentioned the power of religion in influencing the economic behaviour of the followers of the religion in the world. He focused more on building a healthy relationship between the religion followed by the people in society and the behaviour of the people in a country's economy (Moberg 2022). According to Weber, a peaceful system is developed in the society among the people through the practices conducted under the religion. He differentiated between religion and the political circumstances that influence a large section of society.

Moreover, he believes that the concept of ethics also plays a significant role in the activities conducted under the religion among the people. The ethics in the religion is responsible for influencing the rituals and behaviour of the individuals while practising various activities. One more influencer and thinker who provided his opinion and views on religion worldwide is Karl Marx. He believed that religion is useful in identifying and analyzing the truth among the people in society (Wojtowicz 2022). He mentioned that the term religion is artificial, and it is raised due to the harsh conditions among the people in the world. According to him, religion can fulfil the social purpose in the society of the people through conducting activities and rituals among the population. He also mentions that religion also determines the material and economic realities in the world that promotes the feeling of hatred among the people in the society. He explained some problems or issues that arise due to religion among the people and contributed to the conflicts among them (Borowik 2022). Sometimes religion results in the exploitation of the poor and unrecognized people in the society through which it is called the opium of the masses. He thinks that religion is dependent on the country's economy and that religious practices and theories are irrelevant in society. He believed that the religious activities that the people practise take them away from the reality in the country's economy. The mentioned views and opinions of the thinkers demonstrate the role and impact of religion in society among the people and the theories that influence the practise of religion in the world. The role of religion in the society is responsible for influencing various major decisions of the economy that helps in the growth and development of  the people.

Founding Thinkers - Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Karl Marx

The concept of secularization refers to bringing change in the society and transforming the people by establishing non-religious and secular institutions for the people in the society. Under the concept of secularization, more focus and importance is provided to the modernization and the advancement of technology to improve the growth and development of the people in the world (Idler 2022). During secularization, various issues occur in society and are responsible for influencing the behaviour of a large number of people in the world. One of the major issues that occur in secularization is the reduction in the places of worship in the world responsible for the reduction in the people who follow the rituals of worshipping the god. Moreover, the activities of religious beliefs are less influential in the people's decisions in society as the importance of these rituals decreases (Brown 2022). There are some sociological explanations available in the concept of secularization responsible for the change in the religious beliefs in the society among the people. The core and the central thesis of the theory of secularization conducts the process of modernization in the society that creates the differences in the conventional beliefs of a religion in the world. Under this theory of secularization, the people's focus is shifted towards the development and growth of the economy from the religious beliefs in the society. The concept of secularization through this theory is termed as the process of privatization of religion under which the change influences the beliefs of the people in the practices of religion in society. According to Tschannen, secularization consists of three major domains or steps: differentiation, rationalization, and world-illness (Sorotzkin 2022). The domain of differentiation includes creating a difference in the religion among the people and changing the values and beliefs involved in the practices of religion. Rationalization refers to the total replacement of the activities practised in the religion among the people by the new and advanced means of practising the religion that is more inclined towards the country's economical development of the country. The term worldliness refers to the experiences gained by individuals by studying the practices of religion all over the world with different perspectives (Luke 2022). The knowledge about the other religion in the world creates diversification in the individuals' behaviour that makes it easy to make changes in the religion in the world. It also creates awareness among the individuals about religion and the need to make changes in it to develop the economy with the help of the advanced means of resources available. The changes in religious beliefs in the world also create dissatisfaction among the people as it takes an adequate amount of time to accept the changes in the practices of religion. The process of modernization promotes the idea of secularization in the society and provides substitutes to the practices or beliefs that are undertaken in the particular religion (Griffioen 2022). The rise in secularism makes a huge impact on the economy and the behaviour of the individuals in society. As the participation of the people in religious activities is declining, the theory of secularization is on the rise. Religion is also associated with the socio-economic conditions in the world that can influence people's decisions. When the socio-economic conditions are changed in the society, it creates a major impact on the values and beliefs of the people related to religion. The impact involves the changes in the actions of the individuals and lastly in the activities conducted for practising the religion. The theory of Functionalism in the sociology mentions about the several functions that are beneficial for the society such as emotional comfort, promoting social interaction among the people and creating social control. From the above discussion, it is concluded that the society in the world is becoming more secular day by day as the changes in the behaviour of the individuals are observed (Beghetto 2022). It is seen that the theory of secularization provides evidence that the individuals in today's modern world are adopting no religion and also can influence the people of other areas in the world. The rise of secularism is observed among the people in the modern world, and the major reason behind this change is the modernization of the economies of the respective countries. The religious beliefs in the society among the people are changing and are being replaced with new and modern practices.                

References

Beghetto, R., 2022. Monstrous Liminality: Or, The Uncanny Strangers of Secularized Modernity.

https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/52945 

Borowik, I., 2022. The concept of public religion in the context of the development of the sociology of religion: the perspective of Central and Eastern Europe 1. In Metamorphoses of Religion and Spirituality in Central and Eastern Europe (p. 33-45). Routledge.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003271994-4/concept-public-religion-context-development-sociology-religion-perspective-central-eastern-europe-1-irena-borowik 

Brown, C.G., 2022. The agency of women in secularization. Religion, Brain & Behavior, p.1-6.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2153599X.2021.2023616 

Cipriani, R., 2021. The new sociology of religion. Encyclopedia, vol. 1 no. 3, p.822-830. https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8392/1/3/63 

Griffioen, S., 2022. Historiography: The Secularization Debate as ‘Ideenpolitik’. In Contesting Modernity in the German Secularization Debate (p. 197-248). Brill. https://brill.com/view/book/9789004504523/BP000012.xml 

Hjelm, T., 2021. Sociology of Religion. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion, p.135-151.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119092797.ch7 

Idler, E., 2022. Is secularization an age-related process?. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, vol. 94 no. 1, p.8-22.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00914150211027547 

Luke, M., 2022. Church, State and Human in the Process of Secularization. Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe, vol. 42 no. 1, p.3. https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol42/iss1/3/ 

Moberg, M., 2022. Religion, Discourse, and Society: Towards a Discursive Sociology of Religion. Routledge.

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Sorotzkin, D., 2022. The Formation of ?aredism—Perspectives on Religion, Social Disciplining and Secularization in Modern Judaism. Religions, vol. 13 no. 2, p.175. https://www.mdpi.com/1502978 

Wach, J., 2019. Sociology of religion. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780429023170/sociology-religion-joachim-wach 

Wójtowicz, A., 2022. Cultural sociology of religion in the perspective of comparative religion. In Metamorphoses of Religion and Spirituality in Central and Eastern Europe (p. 17-32). Routledge.

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