Religion as a model for the society Martti Muukkonen 12th ESA Conference, Prague August 25-28th, 2015 RN 29: Social theory

Finnish reality during the last years ”Listen. If the bus doesn’t come soon, I’ll leave the church.”

Sosial theories have usually expected the the religion disappears or at least get marginalised

East of our frontier it was like this

However. Times, they are changing

Today in our eastern neighbour

Times are changing in good…

…and in bad

In peacemakng…

…as well as in promoting war

Religious leaders have became superstars

Playmobil on Luther was outsold in 72 hours

Party leaders are speaking of values

The theory of the death of religion seems to be premature How sosiologist frame the phenomenon?

Durkheim: ”Religious representations are collective representations which express collective realities; the rites are a manner of acting which take rise in the midst of assembled groups and which are destined to excite, maintain, or recreate certain mental states in these groups.” Religion is the (self-) celebration of society.

For Marx ” Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

For Weber ”...very frequently the ‘world images’ that have been created by ‘ideas’ have, like switchmen, determined the tracks along which action has been pushed by the dynamic of interest.” Thus, religious views were secularised into political thinking.

Samuel Huntington spoke of religion based civilisations

Clifford Geertz ”Religion is a model OF the society and a model FOR the society”

According to Geertz religion is ”(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic. ”

Levels of religion Metaphysical level – World view / ontology – Doctrinal issues Personal level – Emotions and experiences – Meaning of life Cultural level – Religion is the value-memory of culture

Religion and welfare Esping-Andersen’s welfare regimes: –Nordic (= Lutheran) ”There should be no poor among you” Luther created munincipal poor-care in northern Germany Pietism aimed to eliminate poverty with education Central role of the state –Central European (=Catholic) Subsidiarity principle Central role of family –Anglosaxon (=Anglican-methodistic) Early leaders of Briits Labour Movement were Methodist Central role of the voluntary associations

A model for study of religion and welfare

Context

Opporunity structures –Idea from social movements theories –No determinants so that when A then B - rather, like rules in chess: what is possible to do in this situation –Actor makes the final decision With opportunity structure analysis one seesks for potentials Comparable to SWOT-analysis Model asks: ”Which potentials context creates for forms of religion?” and ”What is so important that it must be remembered?”

Dimensions of religion

Doctrines Gives explanation of reality Stores the important things prevalent during its birth and crisis situations Legitimates deep values of culture (”Do not kill”, ”Do not steal”, etc.) In forms of myths, legends, sacred hisrories, laws, etc.

Cult Rites are acting the myth Rites re-establish and deepen deep values Official state cult (great tradition) –State religion rites –Civil religion –rites –Elitist Popular religion (great and small tradition) –Social peoples religiosity –Lower class, ethnic Home religion (small tradition) –Family traditions, ancestor cult

Ethics Ethical systems –Deep values of the society –Models for the conflicts of values Individual ethics –How to live with oneself and with others? Social ethics –How to build the society? –What are the roles of individuals and institutions in the society?

Dimensions of welfare

How wealth is created and how it is distributed? Who has the responsibility of producing the aspects of welfare? Who has access and to which services? How the society treats its most weak?