Religion“That institution in society that helps people adjust to those things that are both undesirable and inescapable.”

Definitions & Key Elements

•Emile Durkheim ▫Religion is:

“a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things ...

which unites into one single moral community called a church all those who adhere to them“

▫Symbols Signs to which we attach generalized

meaning A vehicle for the conception of meanings

Definitions & Key Elements▫Binary Opposition

Normal/Deviant Good/Evil

▫Sacred and Profane Sacred

Things set apart, forbidden Awe & Reverence

Profane All that is not sacred The mundane, every day aspects of life

Definitions & Key Elements▫Ritual

Required Practices Forbidden Acts

▫Shared Beliefs Purpose & Meaning of Existence Commonly-held moral code

Sociological Conceptions of Religion

•Emile Durkheim▫Solidarity

Social Integration Moral Regulation

▫The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912) Totemic Society & Religion When a society worships its god, it is

worshipping itself

Sociological Conceptions of Religion

•Karl Marx▫Mode of Production Relations of

Production ▫Superstructure

Family, Religion, the State, Education, Culture

Reproduce Legitimate

▫“Religion is the Opiate of the Masses”

Sociological Conceptions of Religion

•Max Weber▫The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of

Capitalism Life as a “calling” in service to God Asceticism Calvinism & Predestination

Search for signs of election▫Culture/Religion Capitalism

Habits of thought & action Formal rationality; hard work, self-denial

Accumulation of wealth

Formal Rationality & Bureaucracy

•Organizations as “Cultural Carriers”▫Formal Rationality as key cultural

development of modern age Calculability Efficiency Predictability Maximum Control

▫Rise of Bureaucracy

“Ideal-Typical” Bureaucracy

•Break down all tasks into a series of specialized tasks (aka “offices”)▫Power resides in the office, not the person

•Hierarchy of command▫Power flows downward

•Officials pursue a career in the organization▫Are full-time employees▫Universalistic v. Particularistic Criteria

“Ideal-Typical” Bureaucracy

•Work is organized by documents, stored in files

•Impersonal conduct of work•Exhaustive rules

Advantages of Bureaucracy

•Efficient, predictable organization of tasks•Effective means to an end•Clear delineation of authority &

responsibility•Equality of opportunity•All “ideally”

Disadvantages of Bureaucracy

•Impersonality ▫Can trump humanity

•Can protect incompetence•Goal displacement•Misplaced authority

▫Challenger▫BART

Scientific Management

•Frederick W. Taylor▫Attempt to apply principles of formal

rationality to all industrial production▫Time & Motion Studies▫Piece-Rate Payment System▫Managers/Supervisors to

Coordinate & monitor production▫Worker criticisms

Human Relations Management

•Testing Taylorism (scientific management)▫The Human Factor▫The Hawthorne studies

Elton Mayo, Frederick Roethlisberger, William Dixon

The lighting experiment The bank-wiring experiment

▫Humans control the production process