Religion: Crash Course Sociology #39
Today we're turning our sociological eye to another major social institution: religion. We'll use symbolic interactionism to help us understand the dichotomy of the ...
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Religion might not seem like something a sociologist can study. After all, religion is about personal beliefs, right? So, sociology won’t give you any answers about the existence of God, or how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. But sociology can help you think about religion as a social institution. In the same way that we might study the family or the government, we can ask questions about religion’s role in society. Like, how do different religions influence social norms in a society? What’s the function of religion in a society? Does it improve social cohesiveness or entrench inequalities? Before we try to answer those big questions, let’s start with a simpler one: What is religion? [Theme Music] To understand how sociologists think about religion, we need to ...
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Religion might not seem like something a sociologist can study. After all, religion is about personal beliefs, right? So, sociology won’t give you any answers about the existence of God, or how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. But sociology can help you think about religion as a social institution. In the same way that we might study the family or the government, we can ask questions about religion’s role in society. Like, how do different religions influence social norms in a society? What’s the function of religion in a society? Does it improve social cohesiveness or entrench inequalities? Before we try to answer those big questions, let’s start with a simpler one: What is religion? [Theme Music] To understand how sociologists think about religion, we need to ...
