Does religion support or challenge social order, why do religious organisations and movements form, who is religious, and is society becoming secular?
Religion (Component 1, Section C option): the role and functions of religion (conservative force versus force for change); types of religious organisation (church, sect, denomination, cult, new religious and new age movements); religiosity by social group (class, gender, ethnicity, age); the secularisation debate; and perspectives on religion.
The WJEC A-Level Sociology Component 1 option on religion: the role and functions of religion as a conservative force or a force for social change, types of religious organisation (church, sect, denomination, cult and new religious movements), patterns of religiosity by class, gender, ethnicity and age, the secularisation debate, and functionalist, Marxist, feminist and other perspectives.
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What this dot point is asking
Religion is one of the three options in Component 1, Section C. You need to assess the role and functions of religion (conservative force versus force for change), classify religious organisations, explain patterns of religiosity by social group, engage with the secularisation debate, and apply the perspectives.
The answer
The role and functions of religion
Types of religious organisation
Sociologists classify organisations by size, relationship to society and demands on members.
- Church - large, formal, well established, accepting of wider society (a state or mainstream church).
- Denomination - smaller than a church, accepting of society but without a monopoly on truth.
- Sect - small, exclusive, often in tension with wider society and demanding of members.
- Cult - loose, individualistic, tolerant, often focused on personal experience.
- New religious movements and new age movements - newer forms, including world-affirming and world-rejecting movements and the spiritual marketplace.
Religiosity by social group
The secularisation debate
Perspectives on religion
- Functionalism - religion integrates society, promotes consensus and meets emotional needs.
- Marxism - religion is ideology that legitimates inequality and dulls discontent.
- Feminism - religion reflects and reinforces patriarchy, though women are often more religious.
- The change thesis - religious belief can be a source of social transformation, not only conservatism.
Examples in context
Conservative force and force for change at once. Marxism and functionalism both, in different ways, cast religion as conserving the social order: functionalists through value consensus, Marxists through ideology that legitimates inequality. Yet history shows religion can also drive change, lending moral authority and organisation to reform and protest movements. The examiner rewards an answer that resolves this not by choosing one side outright but by arguing that religion's role is contextual: in some settings it sanctifies the status quo, in others it mobilises challenge to it. Naming both functions and judging when each applies is the analytical move that lifts the essay.
Try this
Q1. Distinguish between a church and a sect. [4 marks]
- Cue. A church is large, formal and accepting of society; a sect is small, exclusive, demanding and often in tension with wider society.
Q2. Explain two reasons why women tend to be more religious than men. [6 marks]
- What the marker wants. Reasons such as gender-role socialisation, women's greater involvement in caring and the life course, and patterns of participation, each explained.
Q3. Evaluate the Marxist view of the role of religion. [16 marks]
- What the marker wants. Religion as ideology legitimating inequality weighed against functionalism (consensus) and the force-for-change argument, with a supported judgement.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC specimen (30)Evaluate the view that religion is a conservative force rather than a force for social change. [30 marks]Show worked answer →
A high-tariff essay, so build both sides and judge whether religion mainly maintains the status quo or can drive change.
For religion as conservative, use functionalism (religion promotes value consensus and social order) and Marxism (religion is the opium of the people and an ideology that legitimates inequality). Feminists add that religion reinforces patriarchy.
For religion as a force for change, draw on the argument that religious beliefs can motivate social transformation and on examples of religion supporting protest and reform movements, showing belief can challenge as well as conserve.
Conclude with a judgement: religion can act as both, depending on context; it has often legitimated the existing order, but it can also inspire change, so a one-sided answer is weaker than a contextual verdict.
WJEC specimen16 marksEvaluate the view that society is becoming increasingly secular.Show worked answer →
Set out the secularisation thesis and the evidence for and against, then judge.
For secularisation, cite falling church attendance and membership, declining religious authority, and the argument that science and rationalisation have eroded belief (disenchantment).
Against, note that decline is uneven, that some religions and new religious movements are growing, that belief may persist without belonging, and that religion remains important to particular groups and globally, so the thesis may overstate a uniform decline.
Conclude with a judgement: there is clear evidence of declining traditional religious practice in Britain, but secularisation is uneven and contested rather than a complete or universal process.
Related dot points
- The main sociological perspectives applied across all components: functionalism (consensus, value consensus), Marxism (class conflict, ideology), feminism (patriarchy, its strands), interactionism (meanings, labelling), postmodernism (diversity, choice) and the New Right; structure versus action and consensus versus conflict.
The core sociological perspectives required across every component of WJEC A-Level Sociology: functionalism and value consensus, Marxism and class conflict, feminism and its strands (liberal, Marxist, radical), interactionism and labelling, postmodernism and the New Right, plus the underlying structure versus action and consensus versus conflict debates.
- Key concepts and processes of cultural transmission (Component 1, Section A): culture, norms, values, roles and status; the nature versus nurture debate; primary and secondary socialisation; agencies of socialisation and social control; and the acquisition of identity by class, gender, ethnicity, age and nationality.
The compulsory Section A content of WJEC A-Level Sociology Component 1: culture, norms, values, roles and status; the nature versus nurture debate; primary and secondary socialisation; the agencies of socialisation and social control (family, education, peers, media, religion, work); and how identity is acquired by class, gender, ethnicity, age and nationality.
- Education (Component 1, Section C option): the role and functions of education; differential educational achievement by social class, gender and ethnicity (home and school factors); processes within schools (labelling, the hidden curriculum, subcultures); educational policy; and perspectives on education (functionalist, Marxist, feminist, interactionist, New Right).
The WJEC A-Level Sociology Component 1 option on education: the role and functions of education, differential achievement by social class, gender and ethnicity through home and school factors, in-school processes such as labelling, the hidden curriculum and pupil subcultures, education policy, and functionalist, Marxist, feminist, interactionist and New Right perspectives.
- Mass media (Component 1, Section C option): ownership and control of the media; the selection and presentation of news (agenda setting, gatekeeping, moral panics); representations of class, gender, ethnicity and age; media effects and models of the audience; new media and the digital age; and perspectives on the media.
The WJEC A-Level Sociology Component 1 option on the mass media: ownership and control, the social construction of the news through agenda setting, gatekeeping and moral panics, representations of class, gender, ethnicity and age, models of media effects and the audience, the rise of new and digital media, and pluralist, Marxist, feminist and postmodernist perspectives.
- Social differentiation and stratification (Component 3, Section A): systems of stratification; dimensions of inequality (social class, gender, ethnicity and age); theories of stratification (functionalist, Marxist, Weberian and feminist); social mobility and life chances; and the changing class structure.
The compulsory Section A content of WJEC A-Level Sociology Component 3: systems of stratification, inequality by social class, gender, ethnicity and age, functionalist, Marxist, Weberian and feminist theories of stratification, social mobility and life chances, and debates about the changing class structure.
- World sociology (Component 3, Section B option): defining development and global inequality; theories of development (modernisation, dependency, world-systems, neoliberal); the role of aid, trade, transnational corporations and global institutions; globalisation and its consequences; and gender, the environment and development.
The WJEC A-Level Sociology Component 3 option on world sociology: defining development and global inequality, modernisation, dependency, world-systems and neoliberal theories of development, the role of aid, trade, transnational corporations and global institutions, the causes and consequences of globalisation, and the place of gender and the environment in development.
Sources & how we know this
- WJEC GCE AS and A Level in Sociology specification — WJEC (2015)