Comparing and Contrasting Functionalist and Marxist Explanation of the Role of Religion in Society
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Religion has always had a place in society. Over the years however it has taken more of a secluded role as fewer people are going to church. People still consider themselves to be religious despite not going to church; they see themselves as religious as they believe in god. So what do the major sociological perspectives see as religions role in society.
Marxism looks at religion as another agent of ideology which performs a simliar role to the education system and the mass media, and so they stress its control factors. However marxists dont see religion as a sole controller, but one of an institution of social control. This institution works together in a structured form to control society. For example the working classes are controlled by all social institutions, religion being a smaller, but significant part of a larger system of discipline. Karl Marx was best known for his views on religion through 'toward the critique of hegel's philosophy of right (1984) first published in Germany in 1844. In this he wrote how he saw ideological control in the form of self-dilusion...