Religion & Society

Course Code: ANT101

Course Teacher: Farhana Sultana
(Fns)
 Introduction
• All societies have spiritual beliefs and practices
that anthropologists refer to as religion.
• Some religions explicitly deny that supernatural
beings exist, and others do not distinguish them
from what Westerners call ‘the natural’.
• Different societies perceive reality in different
ways; therefore there is no agreed-upon way to
distinguish the natural from the supernatural.
• Despite this, religion exists in all human societies.
It is a cultural universal.
Ilagay dito yung religion vs, science
Religions around the world show enormous
variation.
 Studying Religion
• In studying religion cross-culturally,
anthropologists pay attention to the social
nature and roles of religion.
• Anthropologists also consider acts, events,
settings, practitioners, and organizations, and
verbal manifestations of religious beliefs.
 Defining Religion
• Religion is a system of roles and norms that is
organized around the sacred realm and that binds
people together in social groups.
• Religion is "a system of symbols which acts to
establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting
moods and motivations in men by formulating
conceptions of a general order of existence and
clothing these conceptions with such an aura of
factuality that the moods and motivations seem
uniquely realistic." (Geertz 1966)
 Defining Religion (Cont.)
• Anthropologist Anthony F. C. Wallace defined
religion as “belief and ritual concerned with
supernatural beings, powers, and forces”.
– The supernatural is the extraordinary realm
outside the observable world. It is nonempirical
and inexplicable in ordinary terms.
 Defining Religion (Cont.)
• Emile Durkheim considered religion to be –
– “a projection of the social values of society”
– “a means of making symbolic statements about
society”
– “a symbolic language that makes statements
about the social order”
– In short, “religion is society worshipping itself.”
Symbols of the religions and practices of the World
 Characteristics of Religion
• Religions are composed of sacred stories or narratives
that members believed are important.
• Religions make extensive use of symbols and
symbolism.
• All propose the existence of (supernatural) beings,
powers, states, places and qualities that cannot be
measured by any agreed upon scientific means.
• All include rituals and specific means of addressing the
supernatural.
• All societies include individuals who are particularly
expert in the practice of religion.
 Functions of Religion
Religion has many functions in a society. It can:
• provide meaning and order in people’s lives
• reduce social anxiety
• give people sense of control over their
destinies
• can promote and reinforce the status quo or,
in some situations, can be means of changing
existing conditions.
 Provides Order &
Meaning
• Religion can help explain important aspects of
the physical and social environment and to
give meaning.
• By defining the place of the individual in
society and through the establishment of
moral codes, religion provide us with:
– Sense of personal identity
– Sense of belonging
– Standards of behavior
 Reduces Anxiety and
Increasing Control
• Many religious practices are aimed at ensuring
success in human activities.
• Prayers, sacrifice and magic are done in the
hope that they will aid a particular person or
community. Rituals are performed to call on
supernatural beings and to control forces that
appear to be unpredictable.
 Contributes to the Reinforcing or
Modifying of Social Order
• Religion is closely connected with the survival
of society and generally works to preserve the
social order. Through religion, beliefs about
good and evil are reinforce by supernatural
means of social control.
• Sacred stories and rituals provide a rationale
for the present social order and give social
values religious authority.
 Contributes to the Reinforcing or
Modifying of Social Order (Cont.)
• Religious rituals also intensifies social
solidarity by creating an atmosphere in which
people experience their common identity in
emotionally giving ways.
 Contributes to the Reinforcing or
Modifying of Social Order (Cont.)
• Religion is an important educational
institution for transmitting cultural values and
knowledge.
• Religion can also be a catalyst for social
change.
 Types of Belief Systems

Animism

Theism

Ethicalism
 Animism
• Belief that spirits actively
influence human life
• Spirits are contained
throughout mother nature
• Spirits are not worshiped as
gods, but are instead seen as
supernatural forces that may
issue assistance
• Example: Shamanism and
Totemism
 Theism
• A belief in a god or gods
• Monotheism
– A belief in one god, who is usually the creator and
moral authority
– Examples: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
• Polytheism
– A belief in a number of gods.
– Usually centers on one powerful god with lesser gods
– Examples: Hinduism or Greek/Roman Gods
 Ethicalism
• Based on the idea that
moral principles have a
sacred quality
• A set of principles such
as truth, honor, and
tolerance serve as a
guide to living
• Examples: Buddhism,
Confucianism, and Shinto
 When did Religion Begin?
• Any statement about when, where, why, and
how religion arose, or any description of
religion’s original nature, can be only
speculative.
• Although such speculations are inconclusive,
however, many have revealed important
functions and effects of religious behaviour.
 Expressions of Religion
• Spiritual Beings
• Power & Forces
• Magic
• Uncertainty, Anxiety & Solace
• Rituals
• Rites of Passage
 Spiritual Beings
• Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, the founder of the
anthropology of religion, said “Religion was born,
as people tried to understand conditions and
events they could not explain by reference to
daily experience.”
• Tylor concluded that attempts to explain dreams
and trances led early humans to believe that two
entities inhabit the body, one active during the
day and the other—a double or soul— active
during sleep and trance states.
Anima
(Latin) “ANIMISM”
-the earliest form of
religion, was a belief
in spiritual beings.
means
“Soul”
 Powers and Forces
• Some view the supernatural as a domain of
impersonal power, or force, which people can
control under certain conditions.
• Such a conception of the supernatural is
particularly prominent in Melanesia, the area
of the South Pacific that includes Papua New
Guinea and adjacent islands.
 Case Study: Mana
• Melanesians believed in mana, a sacred
impersonal force existing in the universe.
Mana can reside in people, animals, plants,
and objects.
• Melanesians attributed success to mana,
which people could acquire or manipulate in
different ways, such as through magic. Objects
with mana could change someone’s luck.
Mana prevails in Melanesia
 Case Study: Mana (Cont.)
• So charged with mana were the highest chiefs
that contact with them was dangerous to the
commoners. The mana of chiefs flowed out of
their bodies wherever they went. It could
infect the ground, making it dangerous for
others to walk in the chief’s footsteps.
• Because high chiefs had so much mana, their
bodies and possessions were taboo (set apart
as sacred and off-limits to ordinary people).
 Magic
• Magic refers to supernatural techniques
intended to accomplish specific aims. These
techniques may include spells, formulas, and
incantations used with deities or with
impersonal forces.
• Magical techniques can dispel doubts that
arise when outcomes are beyond human
control.
 Magic (Cont.)
Types of Magic:
• Imitative Magic:
Magicians use imitative
magic to produce a
desired effect by imitating
it.
– If magicians wish to injure
or kill someone, they may
imitate that effect on an
image of the victim.
Sticking pins in “voodoo
dolls” is an example.
 Magic (Cont.)
• Contagious Magic: With contagious magic,
whatever is done to an object is believed to
affect a person who once had contact with it.
– Sometimes practitioners of contagious magic use
body products from prospective victims—their
nails or hair, for example.
– The spell performed on the body product is
believed to reach the person eventually and work
the desired result.
 Uncertainty, Anxiety & Solace
• Religion doesn’t just explain things. They serve
emotional needs as well as cognitive (e.g.
psychological) ones.
• Supernatural beliefs and practices can help
reduce anxiety. Religion helps people face
death and endure life crises.
 Rituals
• Rituals are formal—stylized, repetitive, and
stereotyped.
• People perform them in special (sacred) places and at
set times.
• Rituals include liturgical orders—sequences of words
and actions invented prior to the current performance
of the ritual in which they occur.
• Rituals convey information about the participants and
their traditions.
• Repeated year after year, generation after generation,
rituals translate enduring messages, values, and
sentiments into action.
 Rites of Passage
• Rites of Passage: Ceremonies that mark
important transitional periods in a person’s
life.
• Rites of passage usually involve ritual activities
and techniques designed to strip individuals of
their original roles and prepare them for new
roles.
 Rites of Passage (Cont.)
• The rites of passage of contemporary societies
include confirmations, baptisms, bar and bat
mitzvahs, etc.
• Passage rites involve changes in social status, such
as from boyhood to manhood and from
non-member to sorority sister.
• More generally, a rite of passage may mark any
change in place, condition, social position, or age.
• This may also include birth, puberty, marriage and
death etc.