This essay is to assess the contribution of religion as a cause of social change and what it has cause throughout the years, some say that religion acts as a conservative force, other say it is a major contributor of social change and some like to take the middle ground on this topic.
Religion to sociologist can be seen in two types of ways which is either a conservative force (keeping thing the way they are) or a force for change. Those who see it as a conservative are the ones who believe it’s a force of stability and order whereas the force for change sociologist would say religion encourages societies to change. Religion being a conservative force function is to preserve status quo by maintaining traditional beliefs and maintaining patriarchy. Religion has many functions functionalist believe that religion maintains social solidity, social stability and a value consensus and is therefore supports religion being a concretive force. Marxist on the other hand see it as an ideology that prevents social change by legitimating and reproducing inequality and also disguises exploitation. Feminist also believe religion being a conservative force is a negative force because it legitimates patriarchal power and maintains women’s subordination.
Religion can be seen as a conservative force as well as being force for change, the most famous of these being Max Weber study of the protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism. Weber argues that the religious beliefs of the Calvinist helped bring about a major social change, specifically the emergence of modern capitalism in n northern Europe in the 16th and 14th centuries. The Calvinist had several distinctive beliefs which were: predestination which was that God has already predestination which souls will be saved and who’s not and that no individual can change that. Another belief of theirs is the divine transcendence which is that God is immortal and no human can claim to know his will (including