3.9 Applying the Sociological Literacy Framework to Government and Religion
Sociological Eye
Definition
Focusing on how group membership shapes human behavior and attitudes.
Selected Examples
- Groups and networks
Social Structure
Definition
The relationships and patterned interaction connecting different individuals, groups, and organizations that endure and shape behavior and attitudes.
Selected Examples
- Relationship between religion and sexual behavior among adolescents
- Macro, meso, and micro approaches to studying several social institutions
- Bureaucracies
- Types of power and authority
Socialization
Definition
The process by which people learn about their culture.
Selected Examples
- How parents socialize children into the family’s religion
- How nonreligious parents provide religious education to their children
- Religious socialization in cross-cultural settings
- Political socialization of children
Stratification
Definition
The systematic and unequal distribution of power, status, and resources.
Selected Examples
- Functions and dysfunctions of religion
- The Protestant Reformation and the development of capitalism
- Religion as an opiate of the masses
- In-groups and out-groups
Social Change and Social Reproduction
Definition
The process by which people transform and maintain social arrangements and social structure.
Selected Examples
- White Christian Nationalism
- The distribution of power, including the power elite and nepotism
- U.S. religious trends
- Expected global religious trends