AQA A-Level Sociology: Beliefs in Society

Read Item A below and answer the question that follows.

Item A — written for this exercise

Sociologists disagree sharply about whether religion holds society in place or helps to change it. One tradition treats religious belief as fundamentally conservative: it binds people to shared values, sanctifies the existing order and discourages challenges to those in power. Writing for this exercise, one commentator notes that "from the blessing of monarchs to the teaching that suffering will be rewarded in the next life, organised religion has repeatedly lent its authority to the way things already are." A small invented survey of clergy reported that 68 per cent agreed that their faith's main social role was to "preserve traditional moral values," while only 19 per cent said it was to "campaign for social change."

Others insist this understates religion's record as a spur to upheaval. They point to the part played by religious ideas and religiously inspired movements in challenging slavery, colonial rule and racial segregation, and argue that the same belief system can stabilise society in one setting and help to overturn it in another.

Question: Applying material from Item A and your knowledge, evaluate the view that religion acts mainly as a conservative force in society. [20 marks]

Read Item B below and answer the question that follows.

Item B — written for this exercise

Religious fundamentalism, the insistence on a literal reading of sacred texts and a return to what believers see as the basic truths of their faith, has grown in many parts of the world. Sociologists have offered competing accounts of why. Writing for this exercise, one commentator observes that "for some believers, a fast-moving and uncertain world strips away the old certainties, and a fundamentalist faith offers a firm set of unchanging answers to cling to." The same writer notes that fundamentalism is often strongest "where a community feels its way of life is under threat, whether from outside domination or from the unsettling experience of moving into a strange new society."

Question: Applying material from Item B, analyse two reasons for the growth of religious fundamentalism. [10 marks]

Outline and explain two reasons why women may be more religious than men. [10 marks]

Outline three features that distinguish sects from churches. [6 marks]

Outline two reasons for the secularisation of society in the UK. [4 marks]

Outline two functions of religion, according to functionalists. [4 marks]