Functionalism, Conflict, Interactionism and Religion Essay Example for Free

Functionalism, Conflict, Interactionism and morality EssayReligion is the worship of and the belief in a graven image or gods. Every individual in behavior story is often entit take to a righteousness as part of the culture. Devotional and performance of specific rituals remember assent among the mint. Religion throwes moral codes that regulate the affairs of man in the purchase order. The paper shoot the breezeks to determine how the sociological theories impact pietism of an individual (Lizardo, 2009).Functionalism is a sociological supposition that was purposely established to quiz and develop social institutions and more so worship in this case, as a collective re confrontation to oddment individualism in the hostelry, with focus on the conduct in which social institutions impede social take. Functionalism is instituted in a way to create an empathiseing on how social institutions work. Religion for object lesson has got numerous intentions that it p lays in the ball club. It is the basis for the belief in a god in all(a) society (Lizardo, 2009). Functionalism as a opening applies to the sociological institution of faith in a number of ways.Religion has been disintegrated to spirituality and thusly to Christianity. According to the believers of functionalist speculation such as Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton there argon many functions or kinda roles that godliness plays in the society. Staying holy is part of Christianity and thus religious belief. It is believed that holiness protects batch from the dangers of the world. Religious stack often try to lead a religious life, something that those who dont welcome a religiously governed life, dont re bothy admire.Religion thus is seen to change the life and even culture of people, not only because of their give sake, but also for the sake of former(a)s. Religion offers solace to the believers and helps them overcome the challenges of life. Religion th us is instituted in the theory of functionalism to be of pull in to the society. Sometimes it is believed that righteousness offers prefatory need to the believers. This comes up due to the feature that since religion has been translated to groups of beliefs such as Christianity, individuals believe in God according to the teachings.As they believe in God, God grants them the desires of their heart (Lizardo, 2009). On the opposite hand, battle theory applies in the sociological institution of religion in that the theory suggests that the organization of religion was formed purposely to fulfill the basic human needs. This implies that all the needs of man could be granted with a belief in a god, who when praying to, grants the individual his or her needs. base needs fundament be food, shelter, clothing, and all those other things that man needs to lead a life that is not extreme poverty.However, religion has been destroyed in its organization and it has been left with one pur pose, to safeguard the heart of power. From the functionalism theory, religion does not, in its liveence, fulfill the basic needs of an individual, but wholly in a antithetic manner. Religion contributes to the equilibrium of the society finished the provision of a structure within which the society functions in peace (Lizardo, 2009). Finally, the theory of interactionism applies to the sociological institution by viewing religion just like the functionalist theory of Durkheim.The two theories, functionalism and interactionism view religion as functional element that man applies to survive. This implies that in interactionism, the role of religion to the society and to an individual where he lives is regarded as of most importance. However, the interactionism theory has no clear definition or understanding on religion. Nevertheless, there have been several perspectives of the theory of interactionism in which many have been canonical while others still remain with controversies .The main idea here is that interactionism theory is that it in a way supports the functionalism theory that regards religion as an important element that has roles to play in the society (Lizardo, 2009). In all the 3 theories, there are similarities and differences on their applications to the sociological institution of religion. It is evident that in all the three theories, their view operate of religion is that of meaningful. This implies that they tend to view religion as something of importance in the society and to the people involved in it in general.Precisely, the theory of functionalism and that of interactionism give religion a functional role in the society. They bring out religion as something of importance to the society (Lizardo, 2009) The difference in these theories is that in the conflict theory, there are conditions that are attached to the role of religion. For event, one has to pray to God so as to receive the need that he or she is really lacking. This is so unlike in the other two theories as they presume that religion is a functional institution and it should provide all the basic needs to man with or without asking.The conflict theory further draws lines of difference in that it deploys the concept of power. This is an hint that, there are some people in the society who are more powerful than others. It outlines concepts that religion brings close equilibrium by providing a structure whereby the society functions peacefully (Livesey, n. d). Each theory is seen to restore the views of any individual in the society. From the theory of functionalism, one can draw a conclusion that religion is not all about building temples and keeping shrines, but real religion is all about healing broken hearts and uniting people to God.Every Christian believes in a God, and every one prays to that God when in need and the needs are always granted. Staying close to God spiritually instals one have peace and lead a harmonious life. That is a beli ef that religious people have and they exploit the fact. It is crystal clear that believers lead holy lives, distant from evils of every kind. on that pointfore, the functionalism theory affects how every individual views religion by the emphasis that it is a functional concept. The conflict theory on the other hand, affects the views of individuals, as far as the sociological institution of religion is concerned.The conflict theory affects the view point of an individual in that it makes a person think of religion to be functioning in a way to safeguard the powerful and the rich in their positions. This implies that, even if someone in a powerful position commits a crime, with religion it will be taken just as an accusation. Therefore it is practical to conclude that religion protects and preserves those who are powerful to remain in their positions and help them remain there. This has led to creation of conflicts in the society as criminals are being let to go free, something t hat the functionalism theory does not recommend and advise (Livesey, n. ).The interactionism theory affects the views of an individual in that it makes them belief that through religion, they are able to understand things in a better way. This is not approved, but it is a theory. Most interactionists have often argued that religion is a belief system that helps individuals to understand well all the things they come across with in their effortless lives. This is achieved through making sense out of those things. People who are religious experience many things in their daily lives, some makes sense to them while others do not make sense.To those who are not religious, they may never have the condenser to understand anything that happens in nature. Some of these experiences implicate the mental and physical maps individuals make in their minds as they focus the life they have in the social and natural cycle. The three theories are also hold outn to affect the approach to the soci al changes, which take place in religion, in a number of ways. For instance, in the functionalism theory, the social changes in religion as a sociological institution include the changes in the society that are religious.This includes religious marriages, offering of sacrifices to God, innovations from paganism to spirituality and many other changes. The theory of functionalism is known to affect the approach to these social changes. To be precise, religion is believed to transform life and this implies life transformation from bad to good. In every society there is existence of evil. People committing these evils do also exist. There are those bad characters in the society that no one admires, for instance people who rob others of their wealth, murderers, rapists, and many others are so much hated by the community.This is because they bring harm to the society and no benefit at all. Religion is believed to have the capacity to transform the life of an individual from this devastat ing state to something that people can admire. This can only be achieved if the victim believes in God and prays to Him. It is the only way to hold out transformation (Livesey, n. d). The conflict theory affects the approaches to social changes in the religion of individuals in a presumption that religion tends to be more lenient to its believers. The religions do this by supporting some institutions in the society for instance monogamy, family and marriage.Religion further encourages procreation and banning contraception religion in some cases as this can effectively bring reinvigorated members that are born into the ideal world that one must experience and keep on the practice of producing as generations pass. Religion does this simply to have more members in their various(prenominal) religions and keep teaching the new members the rules of the institution and the practices, for instance, children pass through rituals like baptism and confirmations. Religion further ensures th at the new members Sunday school masses, Sabbath schools at the temple and festival gatherings (MacDonald, 2009).Interactionism theory affects the approach to the religious social changes in a similar manner as the functionalism and conflict theories. However, it tends to focus the traditional periods and tries to compare the sociological changes to the present times. Societies in the traditional times had a religious system that was very brief or rather very small. This was due to the fact that the traditional societies involved themselves to one universe of meaning simply because they were systems that were closed.This implies the fact that in those societies in which one religion is constantly highlighted and made sociable to persons, keeping out of all other religions. It is in these societies that the behavior code is written by the powerful actors in the society, simply because they possess positions in the society (Blumer, 1969). Each theory affects the views of the society. It is crystal clear that the society views religion in disparate ways. These sociological theories have been known to affect these views of the society in one way or another.The society for instance views religion as something sacred, that it should be respected simply because it is associated with a supreme being. But in functionalism theory, religion is believed to be the only way through which individuals can come up with an identity as far as the society in concerned. An individuals faith can be measurable through the way his or her religion is tied to the persons heritage, family and culture. Religion of an individual gives individuals the capacity to endure all difficulties in life and all the individual tragedies that every one goes through in life.What remains a fact is that not everyone has faith in his or her religion. And this is as a provide of the way functionalism theory affects the views of the society about religion (Blumer, 1969). The conflict theory also affects the way people view religion in the society. Religion is believed to give provisions of both power and ability to dominance people and also to give support in all means possible to those people. Religion achieves this through its forms and with all its mechanisms of authority and cohesion, comfort and confrontation.Most people in the society have put their self-reliance and confidence on the religion that exists in their culture as it is evident that they have the will to do all that religion requires them to do for they believe it is something right that even their gods will be pleased to see it done. Clearly, this is as a result of the way the conflict theory affects the way individuals or rather the societys view of religion (MacDonald, 2009). On the other hand, interactionism theory affects the views of the society from the concepts of relations amongst the people in the society.Every society is build up of relationships. Everyone is at least having a relationship with someon e else, for instance relationships maybe fatherhood, brotherhood, sisterhood and many others. For all the studies that have been done, it is evident that religion makes people confident of their rate of flow locality. Individuals believe that religion offers optimum security and further still, religion brings a sense of certainty in the uncertain world. Most religious people believe that in this world you can never know what to expect in the near future, everything seems so uncertain.But with the belief in one person, having total faith in a God who exists, everything seems practical, real and true. In all cultures, there in a contract that is common of taking religion as the only true thing. This has been the result of the psychological, anthropological and sociological researches that have been made. From tradition, many people have believed in religion and it is evident that till now, people still regards religion as something that is real and that it gives people protection in all they do (McClelland, 2009) In conclusion, social institutions exist in almost all societies.There are the sociological theories that tend to make people in a society understand the sociological institutions. Every theory applies to each sociological institution, for instance the functionalism, conflict and interactionism theory affect religion as a sociological institution. The three theories affect the institution in distinguishable ways but at some point there is similarity on how they affect the sociological institution. The theories also affect religion in different ways and individuals view it in different ways too. Further still, all these sociological theories affect the views of the society in various ways.