Marx Weber And Durkheim On Religion

A religion can be seen as a unified system of beliefs and practices which are relative to sacred things and beliefs (Giddens 1972, p.224). It can shape ones thoughts and feelings and gives people a sense of hope and something to believe in. All three main sociologist writers Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim offer different perspectives on religion and how important it is to society. Some of the theorists chose to have a positive view whilst others argue the unimportance of religion. This essay attempts to discover which theorist has the most accurate perspective of religion in modern times. This is done by firstly explaining the basic ideas regarding to religion put forward by Marx, Weber and Durkheim. Then both Marx's and Durkheim's thought will be compared and contrasted in order to determine the differences and similarities between their ideas. Finally, it will be explained which one of the theorists views and ideas are the most relevant to contemporary times and why.

Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber all offer a wide array of thoughts and ideas regarding to religion. Firstly, Emile Durkheim's views of religion will be explained. Durkheim chose to adopt the idea that if religion gave birth to everything essential in society it is because society is the soul of religion (Cosman, 1973, p. 191). Thus, Durkheim chose to view religion as a function which can strengthen social bonds whilst also integrating individuals into society. Durkheim also believed that religion is divided up into two separate sections - the sacred and the profane. The sacred consisted of rites, behavior or objects of reverence that religious belief deemed special, whilst the profane was deemed as everything and anything else in the world which did not have any religious meaning or function (Giddens 1972, p.243). Both of these categories depend on each other for survival; the sacred cannot survive without the profane to support it and vice versa. Karl Marx chose to adopt a different perspective and did not find any conceptual utility in religion; however, this did not mean that he was uninterested in it (Nisbet 1993, p.225) He instead chose to examine the essence of religion from a scientific and objective perspective. According to Marx, religion can be seen as the opiate of the people (Engels, Marx 1955, p.41). Here, Marx is suggesting that just like opium, religion is trying to relieve people of the pain and suffering in their lives. Marx also puts forward the idea that religion is used by its oppressors in order to make people feel better about their lives. Thus, it can be seen that Marx chooses to adopt a negative view of religion. Max Weber can be seen as the only sociologist to place so much scope and emphasis on the subject of religion (Nisbet, p.250). Biographical and textual evidence suggests that biblical religion played a part in shaping and influencing Weber's life and the context of his sociology. Weber's main concern was to attempt to demonstrate that religious ideologies were not mechanically connected to the economic structure of society, however it does shape individuals behavior and actions in everyday life (Swingewood 1984, p.152). Weber also came to several conclusions regarding the remarkable relationship between capitalism and Protestant. According to Weber, the more capitalism had a free hand to alter social distribution, the larger the relationship between capitalism and protestant (1930, p.4). Overall, it can be seen that the three main sociology theorists differ greatly when it comes to ideas regarding to religion.

One must attempt to compare and contrast the ideas and thoughts of the theorists in order to determine which religious theory is most accurate and relevant to contemporary times. The ideas of both Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx will be compared and contrasted in this section. Both theorists choose to have different ideas regarding religion - Durkheim can be seen to view religion as an entity which strengthens social bonds whilst Marx chose to view religion as somewhat of a drug or opiate for the people. Marx's ideas on religion was that it served capitalist intentions by making the people lesser off in life forget about their problems but not actually solving any of these problems - much like opium (Engels, Marx 1955, p.41). Therefore, Marx suggests that religion does not really give anything to society, however, Durkheim thinks quite differently about religion and its connection with society and how it has helped man grow knowledge and understanding of the world. According to Nisbet (1993, p.243), men owe religion not only a major part of their knowledge, but also the way in which this knowledge has been formulated. Marx's views of religion also differ to Durkheim's in subject of viewing religion as an illusion. Marx's observation of religion came to the conclusion that it is merely an illusion, somewhat of a fantasy that might allow man to see the real forces of history