The functions of religion in societies

Résumé du document

This essay is based on Malinowski's work "The role of Magic and Religion? and that of Evans Pritchard "Witchcraft explains unfortunate events?. Both Malinowski's and Evans Pritchard's works take part in the debate on the function of religion in societies and for individuals. Both authors try to answer what we can call a psychological functionalist approach. This implies that they both show that religion is one element of society and like all other elements of society it fulfills a function for individuals. Malinowski suggests that religion and magic (which are strictly different) come from psychological needs of human beings and they have a positive function that we will try to explain.

Extraits

[...] Then, the difficulty as reading those authors is to make the difference between the function of a religion in societies and its origin. If we take Evan's Pritchard's idea that witchcraft accusation protects the individuals from strong striving for success. I take a minor function on purpose to show that this example can explain why the accusation of witchcraft remains essential years after years. But that doesn't mean that the accusation of witchcraft has been decided and organized in order to fulfill that function. [...]

[...] The answer is in the belief in immortality which is a way not to suffer from the death of a relative and to think serenely about their future. Magic is also a force which permits the integration of individuals in a community of believers. That is to say that we must underline the social function of magic and not only the psychological one. For example, it can be described as a mean to fix the existing social order. The fact is that sorcery, political powers and wealth are always controlled by the same persons and those three spheres enforce each others. [...]

[...] That leads us to one criticism that can be made on functionalism. This approach seems too static and pays little attention to the essential changes in societies. By studying the answers given by social institutions to human needs we must not forget that different answers can be given and that the answers can and must know some changes. One of the functions of religion is to create order from chaos but this order is not given once and for all. [...]

[...] To continue we have to underline the difference made by Malinowski between religion and magic. Religion creates values and attains directly'' whereas, ''magic consists of acts which have a practical utilitarian value and are effective only as a means to an end''. We can say that Magic for Malinowski has quite the same role as the witchcraft belief for Evans Pritchard: it gives men the possibility to try to control and to react when they have no rational means to have any impact on their destiny. [...]

[...] Both Malinowski's and Evans Pritchard's works take part in the debate on the function of religion in societies and for individuals. Both authors try to answer following what we can call a psychological functionalist approach. That is to say that they both show that religion is one element of society and so as all elements of society it fulfills a function for individuals. Malinowski suggests that religion and magic (which are strictly different) come from psychological needs for human beings and have a positive function that we will try to explain. [...]