Sociological Theories of Religion: Conflict Analysis

The conflict perspective is an approach to analyzing social behavior which is based on the assumption that social behavior is best explained and understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups. When applied to religion, conflict analysis posits that religion is a source of conflict that divides or stratifies society. Marx argued that religion is a tool which helps maintain the status quo in society by making the lower classes content with promises of great rewards in the life after death. The conflict perspective can explain many conflicts seen around the world not only throughout history, but also today. However, this approach does not adequately explain all the data of the religious experience. In reality, religion is often found to be a liberating force within society; promoting equality rather than inequality.

Keywords Conflict Perspective; Ethnocentrism; Fundamentalism; Ideology; Operational Definition; Religion; Social Change; Spirituality

Sociology of Religion > Sociological Theories of Religion: Conflict Analysis

Overview

It is probably safe to assume that most adherents of religion believe that religion makes a difference in their lives. Most religions have stories of people who have changed their lives as the result of a mystical encounter. However, even more commonplace are the benefits religion offers people: a sense of meaning and peace; a feeling of belonging to a group; and a belief that a higher power is watching over them. Theologically, one may talk about the power of conversion or the intervention of God in people's lives. Sociologists, however, typically try to analyze the power of religion by taking God or other higher powers out of the equation and explaining the phenomenon of religion in purely secular terms. This approach, of course, makes certain assumptions about the validity (or invalidity) of various religious beliefs. Whether or not these assumptions are true is open to debate.

Conflict Perspective

One of the frameworks that can be applied in a sociological study of religion is conflict perspective. This approach is based on the assumption that social behavior is best explained and understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups. Karl Marx in particular looked at religion as a source of conflict—a divisive rather than a cohesive power within society. Marx argued that religion is a tool that helps maintain the status quo in society by making the lower classes content with promises of great rewards in the life after death. Marx is often quoted as saying that "religion is the opium of the people." He advocated that people should reject other-worldly values in order to focus on the here and now and work for rewards in this life. Marx maintained that the happiness and rewards promised by religion are merely illusions. In this view, religion helps maintain social inequality by justifying oppression and is an institution that justifies and perpetuates the ills of society. Specifically, rather than resolving conflict or curing social injustice, the conflict analysis approach views religion as the basis of intergroup conflict. Further, the inequalities and social injustices that exist in society are reflected within the religious institutions themselves (e.g., race, class, or gender stratification). Conflict analysis theorists also posit that religion provides legitimization for oppressive social conditions, thereby supporting and maintaining the status quo. Similarly, religious practices and rituals define group boundaries within society, thereby supporting an us-them mentality.

According to Marx, religion is a matter of ideology not of faith, focusing more on social needs and aspirations than on spirituality. In particular, Marx believed that religion is an ideology of the ruling class and, therefore, supported the status quo. In this approach to explaining religion, subordinate groups come to believe in the legitimacy of the social order that oppress us them by internalizing the ideology of the ruling class. Rather than supporting social change and growth, Marx believed that religion actually impedes them by encouraging lower stratum social groups to focus on the otherworldly things.

Real World Examples

Examples supportive of this theory are the stuff of today's headlines. The conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, clashes between the Jews and the Muslims in the Middle East, ethnic cleansing against Bosnian Muslims, and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the underground at Tavistock Square in London are all examples of religious conflict. In fact, world history is full of such examples including wars, terrorism, and genocide all performed in the name of religion. All too frequently, and particularly in the more fundamentalist sects, the picture of religion is one in conflict itself: piety and contemplation on the one hand and wars and battles on the other. Part of the reason for this conflict is ethnocentrism, or the belief that one's own group is superior to other groups. Even religions that teach tolerance and share many of the same moral and ethical principles such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, can be in conflict with one another despite their commonalities. This is well illustrated by the medieval Crusades and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Since most religions have historically been patriarchal in nature, this us-them mentality also extends to stratification of genders, with males often being allowed positions of power and authority while women are assigned to subservient roles. This approach can also be used to explain the conflict over gay rights and ordination of gays and lesbians within many churches today.

The Hindu Caste System

Perhaps one of the best examples of religion encouraging the stratification of society is found in the Hindu caste system. This hierarchical religious system influences the social system, defining not only the manifestations of the religion, but also the jobs to which one can aspire and the resulting socioeconomic status and religious privilege of members of that caste. Within Hinduism, the highest caste is the Brahmins. Individuals in this caste are honored by all, and become priests and philosophers. Under the Brahmins, is the Kshatriya caste, the Hindu upper-middle class. Individuals in this caste are considered lower in status than the Brahmins. The Kshatriays take jobs as professionals and government officials. The next lower caste comprises the Vaisyas, who are merchants and farmers. Below them are the Sudras. The duty of members of this caste is to serve as laborers and servants to members of higher castes. Sudras are not only limited both in society in the types of jobs that they can take but also within the religion as they are barred from participating in many rituals. Dalits are traditionally viewed as polluting or “untouchable” outcastes and relegated to tasks considered too degrading or menial for caste members to perform, such as human waste removal, leatherworking, and cobbling (Rathore, 2013; Ghatak & Udogo,2012).

Applications

Women & Christianity

Social stratification occurs and affects the secular culture in many places around the world. An example in the United States is the treatment of women within the Christian Church, particularly as illustrated by the issue of whether or not women are allowed to be ordained to become priests or ministers. The biblical evidence can be interpreted to either support or prohibit the ordination of women. The New Testament states that "there is neither male nor female" (Galatians 3:28), a statement that would seem to support women's ordination. Elsewhere, however, other biblical passages make such statements as "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent" (1 Timothy 2:12), a statement that would seem to prohibit it. However, there is also evidence in the Christian New Testament that women were the leaders of house churches and were ordained as deacons in the Church. Similarly, archeological evidence supports the fact that women were not only leaders in the early Church, but also were ordained both as priests and as deacons. So, even in the first century when women were typically subservient to men in most areas, the Church ordained women to the priesthood. It can be argued, in fact, that the acceptance of women as clergy was changed to reflect the secular social structure rather than being implemented from the start as a support system to maintain women in subservient positions.

Gradually, the attitude toward women in the church changed and women's ordination was no longer permitted by many denominations. For example, the Roman Catholic Church today still does not permit the ordination of women as either priests or deacons and appears unlikely to do so in the foreseeable future. However; within recent decades, some Protestant religions have permitted the ordination of women to the priesthood. American Baptists, Evangelical Lutherans, United Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians all now ordain women as priests and ministers. Conflict theory would argue that this change came after the women's liberation movement in the 1960s and '70s which brought about more opportunities and greater equality for women in the workplace. In this view, the ordination of women in the church is merely a reflection of the pervading culture. Although a few women had been ordained in modern times before this movement, it was not until the 1970s that women were regularly ordained. However, the position of ordained women in the church reflects that of women outside the church.

The Glass Ceiling

Feminists often speak of the glass ceiling that women encounter in business. This expression is used to refer to the fact that in practice women often find that they cannot attain the highest level of jobs or pay within an organization while men can. This does not mean that all women are stopped at this invisible ceiling. However, many still are. Similarly, in ecclesiastical circles, ordained women talk about the "stained glass ceiling" to describe the same phenomenon in the Church. Depending on the denomination, ordained women may find that they are less able to find attractive churches or postings as compared to their male counterparts and also that they do not receive the same pay as male clergy. Further, in hierarchical denominational structures, it has been observed that it is often more difficult for women to be ordained as bishops than it was for them to be ordained to the priesthood. However, it must also be noted that it is similarly difficult for ordained men to become bishops just due to the small numbers of openings. It should also be noted that a woman has recently been elected to be primate of the Episcopal Church, the American arm of the worldwide Anglican Communion. This is the highest level which any member of the Episcopal clergy can attain and the primate is considered the national leader of the Episcopal Church.

In many ways, the status of women clergy within the Episcopal Church is a good case study to examine the applicability of the conflict perspective. Sullins (2000), for example, performed an analysis of the status of ordained women within the Episcopal Church. Sullins's hypotheses were that:

• "Women have more subordinate or lower status positions than men do and that this inequality is persistent" (p. 248).
• Gender "inequality is greater among the more 'loosely coupled' positions, and these positions are in congregations" (p. 249).
• Gender "inequality is smallest at the beginning of the clergy career" (p. 249).

The results of the study analysis found that within local churches, there remains strong resistance to the ordination and deployment of female priests. However, this inequality does not exist in the attitudes of the church hierarchy. Based on his analysis, Sullins concluded that these disparities are cultural because they can be seen elsewhere in the culture (e.g., the glass ceiling phenomenon). However, Sullins goes on to discuss the fact that these disparities may possibly also be accounted for by the differences in career choices that are often made by men and women. He also notes that sometimes opposition to female clergy is organizational and that it may arise from perceived difficulties with organizational maintenance if women are admitted to the ranks of clergy in large numbers. Sullins concludes that a better analogy for denominations and churches in the way that they view women clergy is "family."

Shortcomings of Conflict Theory

As illustrated by this study, conflict theory does not adequately account for all the evidence.

• First, if conflict theory is correct and religion serves to stratify rather than liberate, no denomination would permit the ordination of women.
• Second, even today in the early twenty-first century with its emphasis on equality for all, more conservative or fundamentalist denominations and sects—including the Roman Catholics—do not ordain women. According to social conflict analysis, keeping women in a subservient position is evidence of religion supporting and reinforcing the values of the status quo. However, this approach does not necessarily explain why an increasing number of denominations today are allowing the ordination of women. Conflict analysis cannot sufficiently account for the differences between denominations on the matter of women's ordination.
• Third, conflict analysis does not explain why in the early days of Christianity women were not only ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood, but also to the bishopric.
• Fourth, even within some broad denominational categories, there is disagreement over the ordination of women. For example, whereas American Baptists do ordain women as ministers, Southern Baptists (as a whole) currently do not. Further, for some time, Southern Baptists did ordain women. However, in the 1990s they changed this policy and forbad the ordination of women (and have actually requested that the women who are already ordained be rescinded). Although conflict theory could account for some of this body of evidence, it cannot account for it all or explain well why there is so much variation in this matter.

Conclusion

The conflict perspective is an approach to analyzing social behavior that is based on the assumption that social behavior is best explained and understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups. When applied to religion, this theory states that religion is a tool that helps maintain the status quo in society by making the lower classes content with promises of great rewards in the life after death. However, the conflict perspective cannot account well for all the evidence of the interaction of religion and society. In fact, religion has been known to be an instrument of social change. Contrary to the predictions of conflict analysis, religions and their concomitant belief systems have been shown to positively affect social change in many situations and countries around the world.

Many religions today teach about human rights, social justice, and social responsibility. In those religions, individuals are more likely to go out into the world and put their faith into practice, thereby righting social injustices rather than reinforcing them. For example, African American churches had a prominent role in leadership during the civil rights movement in the United States; churches gave rise to leaders of the civil rights movement and also served as headquarters for protesters, clearing houses for information, and meeting places to develop strategies and tactics. Further, the association of the Church with the activities of the civil rights movement went at the moral authority and helped reinforce the rightness of the movement based on religious values. This is in direct contradiction to the conflict perspective. Even at the time of the Civil War, the Church did not uniformly support the status quo. In fact, the Southern Baptist Convention actually resulted as a break from the mainline Baptist group at the time due to disagreement over slavery. Although an argument could be made that the southern branch of the Church was supporting the status quo in the South, the majority of the Church did not. Similarly, Islam has made positive changes in the lives of many Black Muslims. Islam includes strict dietary regulation and prohibits many socially undesirable behaviors such as drinking, gambling, and drug use. Based on the tenets of their religion, Black Muslims emphasize self-control, self-reliance, and traditional African identity rather than an identity with their past of slavery. As a result, Black Muslims are often critical of white power structures, thereby giving them a radical political dimension rather than supporting the status quo.

Researchers and theorists working in the area of the sociology of religion have a difficult obstacle to overcome: the operational definition of terms such as spirituality, faith, and belief as in reference to intangible things. Some theorists such as Karl Marx and his conflict perspective choose to ignore such concepts and consider them to be irrelevant manifestations of a nonexistent construct. However, this approach is bad science and forces the assumptions of one worldview onto another worldview. Ignoring the assumptions or experience of another group does not make those assumptions or experiences irrelevant; it only means that any resulting theory cannot account for all the data because it has not considered all of it.

Certainly, it is very difficult to operationally define many of the concepts that religious individuals purport to experience regarding their spiritual or mystical experiences. However, this does not mean that the concepts can be ignored or that they are irrelevant. Defining religiosity, for example, in terms of church attendance or membership does not begin to touch on the religious experience. Similarly, describing the societal role of religion without attempting to account for the true meaning of the religious experience is also doomed to fail. A theorist such as Marx who a priori does not believe in God or the religious experience is unlikely to develop a theory that will adequately explain this experience. As far as the conflict perspective of religion is concerned, in the end it must be remembered that Marxism failed in practice. The official ban on religion in Communist states, for example, did not eradicate it but forced it to go underground. After the fall of communism, there was a resurgence of religion in the states that had previously banned it in keeping with Marxist principles. During the Communist era, the number of churches in Russia decreased to only a tenth of what they had been before the Russian Revolution. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, between 50 and 75 percent of Russians once again admitted to believing in God and nearly 25 percent of the Russians who once called themselves atheists professed a belief in God. The conflict perspective cannot explain this phenomenon.

Terms & Concepts

Conflict Perspective: An approach to analyzing social behavior that is based on the assumption that social behavior is best explained and understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups.

Denomination: A large group of congregations united under a common statement of faith and organized under a single legal and administrative hierarchy. Many individual congregations include the name of their denomination in the title of their church (e.g., First Baptist Church, St. Luke's Lutheran Church).

Ethnocentrism: The belief that one's own group is superior to other groups.

Fundamentalism: A theological movement within many religions (e.g., Christianity, Islam) that attempts to reject the tenets and influences of contemporary secular culture and return to the basics (i.e., fundamentals) of the faith, typically through the literal interpretation of scripture.

Ideology: A body of ideas and belief system that reflects the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture.

Operational Definition: A definition that is stated in terms that can be observed and measured.

Religion: A personal or institutional system grounded in the belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers considered to have created and to govern the universe.

Religiosity: The quality of being religious; the intensity and consistency of one's practice of a religion. Religiosity is measured by asking about religious beliefs, measuring membership in religious organizations, and measuring attendance at religious services. The term religiosity can also be used to refer to an excessive devotion to religion.

Sect: A distinct subgroup united by common beliefs or interests within a larger group. In religion, sects typically have separated from the larger denomination.

Secularization: The process of transforming a religion to a philosophy and worldview based primarily on reason and science rather than on faith and supernatural concepts. Through the process of secularization, religious groups and activities lose their religious significance.

Social Change: The significant alteration of a society or culture over time. Social change involves social behavior patterns, interactions, institutions, and stratification systems as well as elements of culture including norms and values.

Social Justice: A striving to achieve justice in every aspect of society not merely through the application of the law. Social justice is based on the principle of universal human rights and works to ensure that all individuals receive fair treatment and equally share the benefits of society.

Socioeconomic Status (SES): The position of an individual or group on the two vectors of social and economic status and their combination. Factors contributing to socioeconomic status include (but are not limited to) income, type and prestige of occupation, place of residence, and educational attainment.

Spirituality: The quality or state of being in which one is concerned with intangible things of the spirit as opposed to tangible or material things.

Bibliography

Andersen, M. L. & Taylor, H. F. (2002). Sociology: Understanding a diverse society. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Ghatak, S., & Udogu, E. (2012). Human rights issues of minorities in contemporary India: A concise analysis. Journal Of Third World Studies, 29, 203-230. Retrieved November 1, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=79790243

Rathore, Dinesh Singh. Dalit & Human Rights. New Delhi: Black Prints, 2013.

Schaefer, R. T. (2002). Sociology: A brief introduction (4th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Stockard, J. (2000). Sociology: Discovering society (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Sullins, P. (2000). The stained glass ceiling: Career attainment for women clergy. Sociology of Religion, 61, 243-266. Retrieved October 21, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=3742301&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading

Andronovien, L. (2013). Leadership as a virtuous practice: Reflections on women and stained-glass ceilings. Baptistic Theologies, 5, 119-132. Retrieved November 1, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=88906564

Davis, N. J. & Robinson, R. V. (2006). The egalitarian face of Islamic orthodoxy: Support for Islamic law and economic justice in seven Muslim-majority nations. American Sociological Review, 71, 167-190. Retrieved October 21, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=20778990&site=ehost-live

Farris, J. (2013). Demonizing the Other: An analysis of moral conflict, violence, and spirituality. Journal Of Spirituality In Mental Health, 15, 277-292. Retrieved November 1, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=90503463

Hinojosa, V. J. & Park, J. Z. (2004). Religion and the paradox of racial inequality attitudes. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 43, 229-238.

Jelks, R. M. (2004). Religious dimensions of the American civil rights movement. Church History, 73, 822-833. Retrieved October 21, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=15279682&site=ehost-live

Kijima, Y. (2006). Caste and tribe inequality: Evidence from India, 1983-1999. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 54, 269-404. Retrieved October 21, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=19451991&site=ehost-live

Rawat, Ramnarayan S. (2011).Reconsidering untouchability: Chamars and Dalit history in North India. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Smith, C. & Faris, R. (2005). Socioeconomic inequality in the American religious system: An update and assessment. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 44, 95-104. Retrieved October 21, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=16018663&site=ehost-live