1 Beliefs in society Introduction A belief is something that a person holds to be true. It may be a conviction that the world is flat or that the world is round. It may be a conviction that human beings were created by a supernatural power or that they evolved from other organisms by a process of natural selection. This chapter looks at sociological explanations for beliefs. It is concerned with beliefs held by large numbers of people - hence the title Beliefs in Society. It starts from a standard sociological approach that many beliefs are shared, they are learned as part of society’s culture, and just as culture varies from society to society, so do beliefs. Religious beliefs form the main focus of the chapter. Beliefs based on science and ideology are also considered. Over two million Muslim pilgrims gather in Mecca to perform In each case, sociologists argue that beliefs are formed in the annual hajj ceremony. Islam is now the world’s second social contexts, that they are socially constructed. largest and fastest growing religion. chaptersummary Unit 1 looks at the social construction of science. New Religious Movements. M M Unit 2 outlines theories of ideology. Unit 6 looks at explanations of the relationship between M Unit 3 examines sociological theories of religion. religious beliefs, religious organisations and social groups. M Unit 7 investigates the secularisation debate – whether Unit 4 assesses the role of religion, both as a M M conservative force which maintains things the way they or not societies are becoming increasingly secular or are and as a radical force which encourages social change. non-religious. Unit 5 discusses different types of religious organisation, M Unit 8 examines contemporary religion from a global M including churches, denominations, sects, cults and perspective. Unit 1 Science and society meaning is legitimate – right, true and correct. Without keyissues this support, a universe of meaning would tend to crumble, 1 How are belief systems constructed? life would become meaningless and the stability of society 2 How are scientific beliefs constructed? would be threatened. Belief systems are socially constructed. They form the 1.1 The social construction of reality basis of universes of meaning. And they feed back and reinforce the society that constructed them. This applies to In an influential work entitled The Social Construction of the whole spectrum of beliefs. In this respect, there is little Reality (1967), Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann argue difference between scientific theories, political beliefs and that human beings construct their beliefs in a social religious doctrines. They are all socially constructed, they context. They manufacture universes of meaning which all help to make sense of the world and they all form a part organise their experiences and make sense of their lives. of and legitimate universes of meaning. Here are some They construct their own social worlds and work to examples. maintain them against the threat of uncertainty and Religious beliefs provide answers to basic questions such disruption. as the meaning of life, the origin of the human species and A universe of meaning requires constant legitimation. It what happens after death. They also provide justification needs repeated reinforcement and justification. Members for the legal system. For example, many laws are based on of society must be told and re-told that their universe of religious beliefs about right and wrong. Religion provides Beliefs in society 5 ultimate support for universes of meaning – it places them yardstick against which reality can be shown to be real, within a supernatural reality which believers do not that beliefs can be shown to be true. One society’s truth question. By comparison, science offers support for may be another society’s falsehood. Common sense in one universes of meaning by grounding them in reason and society may be nonsense in another. Universes of meaning evidence. For example, the origin and evolution of the are insecure and easily shattered. human species is explained in terms of Darwin’s theory of evolution which is based on evidence from the fossil record. Berger and Luckmann argue that the certainty provided key terms by universes of meaning has a precarious foundation. Universe of meaning A socially constructed belief system Universes of meaning are real because people believe they which gives meaning to people’s lives. are real. Life is meaningful because of the meaning people Legitimation To make right, true, correct. give to it. However there is no universal standard or activity1 science and the construction of reality Item A Galileo’s telescope The telescope built in 1609 by Galileo had the magnifying power of a cheap pair of binoculars. Yet it opened up a new world. Galileo could see that Jupiter had four moons and the Sun had spots – which led him to conclude that the Sun was rotating. His telescope provided evidence that the Sun rather than the Earth was the centre of the solar system. As more powerfultelescopes were built, people became aware of a vast universe in which they were inhabitants of an insignificant dot, part of a galaxy of billions of stars, each carrying their own solar systems. Source: Ledermann, 2008 The centre of the Milky Way galaxy taken from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Item B The Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider was completed in 2008 at a cost of $10 billion. It is built in a 17 mile circular tunnel, 100 metres below ground near Geneva, Switzerland. It is a particle collider – it will crash subatomic particles together. The aim of the Large Hadron Collider is to re-create the conditions that existed one trillionth of a second after the Big Bang which many scientists believe created our universe 13.7 billion years ago. Scientists hope that this will reveal the origins of the forces of nature and unlock the secrets of time and space. Source: The Guardian, 11.09.2008 questions 1. How has Galileo’s telescope helped to produce a new universe of meaning? 2. How might the Large Hadron Collider help to produce a Part of the Large Hadron Collider new reality? 6 Chapter 1 1.2 The social construction of science factor in improving health and increasing life expectancy. However, the view of science described above is overly In today’s society, many of our beliefs are based on the simple. And the belief that science brings benefits to observations and theories of science. Modern genetics has humankind has been increasingly questioned. unravelled the human genome and Darwin’s theory of evolution has provided an explanation for the origin and evolution of the human race. In 2008, the Large Hadron Science and falsification Collider, a particle collider, was built near Geneva, 100 metres beneath fields in a 17 mile circular tunnel. It aims How do we know that scientific theories provide accurate to reveal the origins of the universe and the forces of explanations? According to Karl Popper in his influential nature by simulating aspects of the Big Bang. book The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959), theories can be tested through observation and experiment. In this respect, they are superior to ‘everyday’ knowledge and The origins of modern science beliefs. However, Popper argues, we can never know with Researchers have placed the origins of modern science certainty that a theory is true. All we can say is that so far in 18th century Europe during a period known as the the theory has not been shown to be false. For example, Enlightenment. Scholars from a number of countries many scientists accept the Big Bang theory of the origin of contributed to a publication know as the Encyclopédie. It the universe – it is supported by a range of observational was based on two principles. First, the belief that reason data. However, evidence yet to be discovered may could provide an understanding of the world. And second, disprove or falsify this theory. Scientists therefore accept the belief that this understanding could be used to improve theories ‘for the time being’ because there is general the lives of human beings. Knowledge was based on agreement that to date they are supported by observations. reason and observation. This formed the guidelines for the As a result, ‘science does not rest upon a solid bedrock’ scientific method – the procedure for ‘doing science’. (Popper, 1959). These beliefs directly challenged the view of the world According to Popper, science is based on the systematic provided by the Roman Catholic Church. According to the testing of theories in an attempt to disprove them. If Church, knowledge was based on divine revelation – theories withstand this attempt, then they gain eternal truths revealed by the word of God. In contrast, acceptance. However, they can never be finally proven. science claimed that reason and observation formed the In practice, theories are eventually modified or overturned basis for knowledge and the foundation for many beliefs. by new theories. (For further discussion of Popper, see (See pages 000-000 for further discussion of science and pages 000-00.) the Enlightenment.) The fabrication of facts The traditional view of science Popper argued that scientific theories ‘do not rest on a solid The traditional view of science in modern society is fairly bedrock’. Karin Knorr-Centina, in an article entitled The straightforward. Science is based on systematic Fabrication of Facts (2005), makes a similar point about the observation and measurement. Ideas about the behaviour ‘facts’ used to test scientific theories. In her words, ‘facts of matter in the natural world can be tested and shown to are not something we can take for granted or think of as be true or untrue.