Teaching Responsibility

LJMU Schools involved in Delivery:

LJMU Partner Taught

Learning Methods

Lecture
Off Site
Seminar

Module Offerings

5510BEASOC-SEP-PAR

Aims

1. To examine the systems of beliefs through which people organize, order and give meaning to their lives. 2. To ask what religion is and the part it plays in social and everyday life both in the UK and in global contexts. 3. To examine the major sociological theories of religion and belief. 4. To introduce the relationship between religious dogmas and ideas, beliefs, practices and their impact on social, political, cultural and economic action. 5. To consider the role of sacred texts in accounting for religious beliefs and practices and conflicts between religious movements. 6. To appreciate the range and dynamism of religious organisations and institutions to be found in the world religions.

Learning Outcomes

1.
After completing the module the student should be able to: 1 Analyse the concept of religion and belief from a range of sociological perspectives. 2 Assess the changing role belief systems, religious texts and religious institutions play in contemporary social life. 3 Demonstrate sociological understanding of beliefs and practices from at least one major religious tradition.

Module Content

Outline Syllabus:• The indicative content describes a number of blocks of content from which the content for a particular iteration will be drawn • The study of religion and belief within sociology from classics to contemporary theorists • The rise of Christianity, the Reformation and Counter Reformation • Protestant and Catholic Cultures (images, saints, rituals, beliefs, economics) • Religion, Belief and Ritual • Religion and Identity (Gender, Pagan, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish)-being Christian in India; being Jewish in the UK • Religion and Disability • Religion, Water and Blood • Religion and the Visual • Religion, Belief and Death (Resurrection, Reincarnation, funerals, ghosts, ancestor worship, vampire, zombies) • Religion and Popular Culture • Religion, Belief and Post-colonialism • Ecological Ethics of the World Religions: Environment, Food, Animals • Sects and New Religious Movements • The Ethnography of Reading Sacred Scripture
Additional Information:This module examines the relationship between religion, religious texts, belief and society from a sociological perspective. It looks at the social construction of culture examining various religious and belief systems in a social, global and historical context. We explore a range of topics which reflect the varied ways in which religious beliefs, texts, ideas and practices are influenced by social context and of the way those religious beliefs, ideas and practices impact on the everyday lives of individuals, communities and groups within society; namely: the ways religious texts, dogmas, principles, beliefs and rituals impact on identity, on social and sexual relationships, economic and political behaviour and so on. The rich tradition of sociological thinking about religion, culture and society, will be encountered, and we can engage with sociological ways of thinking about the concepts of myth, religion, magic and belief. Examples will be chosen from a range of societies and faith traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and also contemporary belief systems including paganism and atheism. The ways in which historical ideas and texts continue to influence believers and societies is constantly kept in mind, as are the ways in which religion infuses and interacts with various forms of popular culture. Throughout students are required to develop principles of methodological agnosticism, and operate principles of understanding and empathy when examining beliefs and practices which may, from one point of view, be considered irrational at best, and wrong and dangerous at worst. (Note that a formative assessment of the draft of the essay (1,500), half way through the semester, will be provided, which must be taken into consideration by the student for the final summative version of 3,500).

Assessments

Report