Religion and Social Change
Some Basic Patterns
Keywords:
Religion, Social Change, Secularization, Theological Reductionism, Monistic Sociology, CasteAbstract
Organized religion has often a predilection for the status quo and stands in the way of a healthy transformation of outmoded social structures. On the other hand, réligion provides the most potent motivation for transforming society in accordance with the principles and ideals that define the ultimate concerns of man as a social being. But this religious orientation towards social change has assumed different approaches. Here I shall present a few basic patterns of the relationship of religion to social structures, their preservation, development and transformation.
References
Emile Durkheim, Elementary Forms of Religious Life, (New York: 1965), p. 474.
Peter Berger, "The Pluralistic Situation and the Coming Dialogue between thè World Religions," Buddhist-Christian Studies I (1981), p. 31.
Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy. (Doubleday Anchor Books, 1969), p. 81.
David G. Mandelbaum, Society in India Il: Change and Continuity (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London : Univ. of Cal. Press, 1970), p. 525.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Discovery of India (New York: John Day, 1946), p. 112.
Louis Dumont, Homo Hierarchicus (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1980), pp. 189-91.
