SOCA02H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Symbolic Interactionism, Deeper Understanding, Redistribution Of Income And Wealth
Document Summary
Religion defined a set of organized beliefs about the supernatural or spiritual worlds that guides behavior and joins people into communities of believers: key concept of religion is faith. Faith: belief system based on conviction that does not require objective evidence to substantiate its claims. By looking at religion as important social institution we can continue to look at the individual relationship to the social. Tylor was earliest anthropologist to study religious diversity around the world: like culture evolving from simple to complex state so does religion, there are several stages the religion evolves through: animism, polytheism and monotheism. Animism: belief that all things possess a spirit whether it be living or nonliving things. Leads to the whole idea of soul. Polytheism: belief in many gods; can be diffuse with all gods considered equal or hierarchal with gods ranked in importance or power. Monotheism: belief in a single, all-powerful, all-knowing god.
