Identify and briefly explain three reasons why the New Christian Right might have failed to achieve its aims (9marks) The New Christian Right is a politically and morally conservative, protestant fundamentalist movement. The aims are extremely ambitious as they wish to make abortion, homosexuality and divorce illegal. They want to turn back to a time before liberalisation of American culture and society began. The New Christian Right may have failed to achieve its aims because the group lacked wide spread support. They also had a strong opposition from groups who stand for freedom of choice, e.g. Planned Parenthood and People for the American Way. Another reason why the New Christian Right might have failed is that its campaigners found it difficult to cooperate with people from other religious groups, even if they were campaigning on the same issue such as abortion. Another reason is that the group was, at most, 15% of the population, meaning it was never a majority and never really had many members.
Using material from Item A and elsewhere assess the contribution of religion to social change. Sociologists look to explain the contribution of religion in social change movements such as the black civil rights movement which is said to have come about with the assistance of the church. However it is also argued that there was little contribution or none from religion that actually made a difference towards social change, therefore religion is also argued to be a conservative force. From item A I can see that sociologists have found many examples which show that religion can play an important part in bringing about social change. One example is Webers study of Calvinism. Religion has been viewed to be a powerful force for change and plays an important part. Weber used his study of Calvinism to explain how religious ideas can be a powerful motivation for change. Weber argues that the religious beliefs of Calvinism helped to bring about social change to northern Europe by introducing a modern capitalism which came about through Calvinism.
The Essay on Changing Your Social Class
Changing your Social Class The process by which individuals and groups are ranked in a more or less enduring hierarchy of status is known as stratification. According to Raymond Murray social stratification is a horizontal division of society in to higher and lower social units. Every society is divided into more or less distinct groups. Even the most primitive societies had some form of social ...
This is because Calvinists seek to work as it was a religious duty, like a vocation, and shunned luxury in the process. As a result Calvinists gained more wealth and they took this as a sign of God’s favour and reinvested this money into their businesses which grew and prospered. Weber sees this as the very spirit of modern capitalism and therefore Calvinism brought capitalism as we know it now into the world, therefore bringing social change. However, Tawney argues that technological change, not religious ideas, caused the beginning of capitalism. He argues that it was only after capitalism was established that the bourgeoisie adopted Calvinist beliefs to legitimate their pursuit of economic gain. Another example of how religion has become a powerful force for change would be how religion was a powerful influence towards the American civil rights movement. Bruce describes the black clergy as the backbone of the movement, as the clergy gave support and moral legitimacy to civil rights activists.
The churches provided meeting places and sanctuary from the threat of white violence. Furthermore religion was used as an ideological resource, in that the black clergy were able to shame whites into changing the law by appealing to shared Christian values. Bruce sees the civil rights movement as an example of how religion brings about a social change. However it can be argued that religion such as Christianity does not want to bring about social change but bring change back to the way things were such as the new Christian right. The church forbids divorce, abortion, contraception and many other issues and groups like the new Christian right wish to take things back to the way things were, when those issues were illegal. So it can be argued that the church does not create a force for social change.
The Essay on Religion Physics And A Social
The key to humanities freedom lies in its religious and sexual paradigms. Religion, as a social control mechanism, has sought to limit mans sexual freedom. The stigma associated with sexual promiscuity permeates every level of our society. I believe that in time people will demand freedom in the sexual and spiritual aspects of their lives. In order for this to occur a paradigm must be established ...