Religion as a Social Control Essay - 1100 Words

Religion as a Social Control (Essay Sample) Content: Religion Is a Social Control ToolNameInstitutionReligion Is a Social Control ToolThroughout history, religion has proved to be the main source of social stability in different communities and cultural groups. Everything that is part of a societal system, including law, is influenced by the religious beliefs and practices of that society. This being said, most religions are based on the theory that there is a single more powerful entity, that has control over aspects of which humans do not. For the longest time in history, sociologists have argues that peer group, political movements, schools and most importantly, the family to be agents of socialization. Because of this reason, they have ignored the role played by religion in the perpetuation of cultural as well as social values (Vaughan Rodriguez, 2013). The aim of this paper is to present religion as the absolute platform for not only socialization, but also social control. This study will establish that religious exercises have a persuasive on all the available institutions of socialization. For this reason they moderate the mentioned socialization agents.ReligionWard (2011) defined religion as the collective of worldviews, cultural systems as well as the belief systems that is use to establish symbols which relate to spirituality, humanity and moral values. Talal Asad, a critique of Geertz's model categorized religion in the anthropological category. Most religions across the world are characterized by traditions, symbols, narratives as well as sacred stories that are commonly aimed at giving human life a meaning as well as provide an explanation to the origin of life and universe (Healey, 2014). Religion tends to derive preferred lifestyles, ethics and morality from the ideas of human nature. Scholars have studied religions and categorized them into three main categories. These categories include the indigenous religions, transcultural as well as the international faiths.To understand the religion as a social control tool, it is necessary to understand the term socialization. Many sociologists have placed more focus on defining the term socialization. Ward (2011) defined the term socialization as the process through which an individual acquire the ways of a social group or a society so as he or she can fit in it. In his invitation to sociology, Koenig (2013) defined the terms socialization as the process through which acquires knowledge of how to become a member of the society. It is only through socializing that an individual is able to learn normative values, skills, beliefs, languages as well as other essential arrangements of action as well as thoughts significant for any given social life.Socialization and ReligionIt is only through socialization were any individual is integrated to the meaning of societal structure. As argued by Berger (2011), there is need for a life to have a meaning. As an initiation process in to the society, religion is an absolute hinge o f socialization. For this instance religion or parental faith is transferred to from parents to their children. As argued by Erick Erickson, parents provide guidance to their children through rules and as a result, they are able to lead them into religion.Erikson (2012) made an observation that, at the later days, children do not become narcotic because of frustration, but because of the luck of societal meanings in their frustrations. The social meanings through which children grow in are derived from both historical as well as present societal structure. For the existence of a society to be realized, the conformity to the shared values is important. For this reason the societal meanings are sustained socially. As argued by Erickson, the social meaning is given to people by the society and that the shared orientations are institutionalized by later generations to be social facts. In line with this argument, while man is defined by the society, the society defines a man and the soc ial world is viewed as an unquestioned and external reality (Wallace, 2013).The role of parents is the fundamental task of socialization because they bear the responsibility to educate the young on social conventions. At a tender age, people are taught the craft, language and skills of the society. As far as religion is concerned, children do not have a choice but to adopt their parentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s religion. Erick Erickson explains that parental faith that supports trusts in the emerging newborns across history warrants its institutional safeguard within an organized religion (Erikson, et al., 2014). In line with Ericksonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s view, religions have a similar notion of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"surrender the ultimate being that provides spiritual health as well as earthly treasuresà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬. In addition to this view, Eriksson describes the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"philosophical and communal side of religion that in many communities, the young are frequently initiated to the wide range of rites of passage as well as the process of atonement. In line with this view, an observation is that young people in many societies are bound with atonement make up for unclear deeds which are against the material matrix so as to retain the goodness and kindness of the universe under a supreme being (Mooney, 2011).Religion and Social ControlBeing an interactive social force, religion is used to shape what is known as the shared belief into shared identity. Religious rituals such as birth and burial celebrations, child dedications, weddings are effective religious tools that are used to promote not only group cohesion, but also solidarity (Koenig, et al., 2012). The ability of an individual to be identified with a particular religious group provides individuals a sense of belonging. This identification also promotes the feeling of inclusion with the members of the religion.Individuals who live in an area with little or no religion are usually characterized by a feeling of alienation and est rangement. The Belief system is another significant socialization content that is characterized by variegated logic, arguments as well as reasoning that that the society applies in the determination of the truth. Social principle for truth are not constantly monolithic, but rather a product of complicated hybridization, in that the truth can be garne...