CSS PMS Sociology Short Notes/ Solved Past Papers ; Durkheim's functional aspect of religion

Despite Durkheim’s functional aspect of religion, we see religious extremism in

Pakistani society. Shed light on this phenomenon.

Outline

1.     Introduction

2.     A bird’s eye view of the services of Durkheim.

3.     Durkheim functional aspect of religion

4. Durkheim's limitation to explain extremism in Pakistan’s society

5.     Causes of extremism in Pakistan

6.     Critical analysis

7.     Conclusion

Introduction:

             According to Emile Durkheim, religion is one of the forces of solidarity in a society. However, his perspective falls short of explaining the manifestations of religious extremism in Pakistan due to violent ethnocentrism, the negation of sub-cultures, and his persistence with religion as a singular entity rather than inherent differences within the religion as well.

A bird’s eye view of services of Emile Durkheim

          Origin: Western School of sociology

          Era: Preclassical era of sociology

          Perspective: Structural functionalism

          Area of focus: Social stability, social order, social control, social integration

          Key theories and perspectives: Theory of social change, theory of suicide,

                                                                                        Theory of solidarity, theory of religion

Durkheim’s functional aspect of religion:

                                    Is a

Religion                                Social Fact

                                                         Which  

                                                         Contains

 

                                                      Social Forces of Solidarity

                                                                    

                                                                    It is a

 

                                                      Functional Aspect of religion

                                Fig 1 

Fig 1: An infographic analysis of Durkheim's functional aspect of religion

Durkheim’s Limitations to explain religion extremism in Pakistan’s society:

1.     Functional aspect only caters to the forces of social stability:

                                                          It is a prevalent criticism against structural-functionalism that it caters to only forces of stability and ignores the sources of conflicts. Hence, Durkheim only viewed religion from a monolithic view.  

2.     Durkheim’s analysis was on simple and non-sectarian society:

                                                          Unlike the dominance of the Catholic Church in Durkheim’s era, Pakistan’s society is complex as well as sectarian in nature.

 

 

     Illustration:

 

 

 

Sectarianism                           Industrial society                        Ideological divergence

                                                                                                 between religion and

                                                                                                 modernity

3.     Ignorance of subcultures by Durkheim:

                                                          In Durkheim’s era, social change was not as fast to develop religious subcultures. Hence, in Pakistan’s society, the development of sub-cultures and associated reverence then led to religious extremism.

    Illustration:

Ø Subcultures of the procession and emotional reverence towards religious identities.

Ø Subcultures of dying in the name of religion.

4.     Violent ethnocentrism: A deviation from Durkheim’s perspective of ethnocentrism:

                                                          The seeds of Durkheim’s concept of ethnocentrism lie in his theory of fatalistic suicide and a high degree of social integration. However, in Pakistan’s society, ethnocentrism has taken a violent turn and led to religious extremism.

    Illustration:

Ø Suicide bombing in the name of religion.

Ø Killings in the name of blaspheming.

Ø Non-state actors and Jihad in the modern age.

Sources of Religious Extremism in Pakistan: A symbolic interactionist and conflict perspective:

1.     Symbolic Interactionist perspective:

                  Roots of Pakistan’s ideology and national narrative

                                                          It is a national consensus that the ideology of Pakistan is Islam. Hence, the ideology of Pakistan is a social static for Pakistan. Any sort of deviation from perceived ideology unleashes a social lambaste.  

2.     Conflict perspective:

a.     Nexus of religion and capitalism breeds extremism:

                                                     According to Karl Mark, capitalism has created a social class conflict. In its religious sense, there exists a religious elite that has vested interests. Hence, to protect these interests, they unravel a series of social conflicts.

 Illustration:

Ø Madiha Afzal in her book Pakistan under Siege writes that the monopoly of the religious elite over religion to protect its vested interests comes from its urge to dominate the capitalistic gains espousing from the grants and ensuing political power.

b.     Struggle for political supremacy:

                                                     The religious and moderate forces are at odds since the inception of Pakistan and there exists still a lack of consensus on whether state would be a theocracy or liberal democracy. This perpetual struggle between the religious edifice and the moderates has led to a struggle for political supremacy.

 

 

c.      Notion of Islamic superiority: A way to marginalize minorities:

                                                     The socialization patterns in Pakistan engender the notion of Islamic superiority which marginalize minorities to an extent. The concept of religious supremacy and Muslim exceptionalism paves way for extremism.

Illustration:

Ø Reservation of janitor jobs for Non- Muslims.

Ø Confinement of Non- Muslims to slums in sub-urbs.

Ø Forced conversation cases from Hinduism to Sindh.

Critical Analysis

The discords of religion in Pakistan emanate from a multitude of reasons not described by Durkheim’s functional theory. It traces its roots in the nature of society, ideology, the superstructure of the economy, and sectarian tendencies.

Conclusion

To sum up, it is evident that the roots of extremism in Pakistan lie in the social patterns of conflicts. Hence, Durkheim’s theory falls short of explaining this phenomenon and its needs to be analyzed in the intra-disciplinary approach.