In the first lecture in the Society and Lifestyles module today, the concept of Religion was introduced. Religion is a complex topic which is not easily defined, however there are a number of common characteristics found within different religions – as detailed in Ninian Smart’s phenomenology of religion; a multi-dimensional approach. Having (begrudgingly!) studied sociology previously, I could relate today’s inputs to my previous knowledge of Functionalist theory, and I was able to build upon this by going deeper into the functions of religion within society. Religion, as an agent of social control, provides a number of functions to society, most, if not all, of which could be considered necessary in order for society to operate cohesively, and diversity of religion in modern society brings both opportunities and challenges that I would like to explore in more depth.
I did find some of the concepts discussed today difficult to comprehend at first; I feel that this is due to the speed at which the issues were presented and the lack of time to explore each topic adequately. This made it quite tough to get my head around each concept/piece of information. It is clear that I will need to do a substantial amount of additional reading in order to fully grasp each concept. In particular, I feel it would be useful to explore the theories of Durkheim, Bourdillon and Malinowski in further detail, specifically in terms of their philosophies on religion and its function in society, and how this relates to current issues in society.
