Summary
Besides nature
(biology and genetics), Culture greatly influences the formation of a human
being. Culture can be included in beliefs, languages, and values that belong to
certain groups. Groups that have cultural differences do not make us have to
choose which culture is good and right. Ethnocentrism is a perspective when we
see the world from one cultural perspective. This perspective does not seem to
fit the human world which is very diverse and therefore must be removed
immediately. In extreme cases, Ethnocentrism will give rise to the belief that
the culture of certain groups is the most important. One very popular example
is Nazi Germany. Hitler and his followers felt that besides their people, other
people were inferior (especially Jews). This attitude resulted in the murder of
innocent victims due to their cultural differences.
The second
topic in this week reading is religion. Many people have tried to define
religion, but until now religion still does not have a definition approved by
all people. The most popular definition is religion as a “collective belief and
ritual of a group relating to supernature”
What was interesting/what did you learn
In addition,
many sociologists are also interested in explaining how religion works and its
function for humans. One that I find interesting is The Structural-Functional
approach proposed by Emile Durkheim. He saw religion as having three main
functions, namely, social cohesion, social control and providing meaning and
purpose. This explanation shows that religion is very important in human social
activities. Without religion, conflict will easily occur in society and humans
will live irregularly because they have no purpose in life.
Discussion
Point
In the reading
text, we can see social factors (such as gender, race, class, education, etc.)
have a close relationship with the religion held by someone. So, do these data
mean that religion is not a person's religious choice but only something that
is held by someone because of a social factor that they cannot control?
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