weber- religon as a belief in a superior or supernatural power that is above nature and cannot be explained scientifically.
Positive and negative substantive religon
positive - Exclusive- draw a clear line between religousand non religious belife
negative- western bias- leaves no room for beliefs and pracitces that preform similar functions to religon but dont believe in god
functional religon
Durkheim- Defines religion in terms of the contribiution it makes to social integration rather than any specific belief in god or supernatural
functional religon positive and negative
positive- Inclusive- allowing us to include a wide range of beliefs and pracitces that perform functions such as integration. No bias against western religon
negative- Just because an institution helps integrate individuals into groups this does not make it a religion -use football chants example collective notion
Constructionist religon
aldrige- For its followersscientology is a religion whereas several government have denied its legal status as a religion
constructionist religon positive and negative
positive-shows definitions of religon can be contested and are influenced by who theones power
negative- improssible to generalise about the nature of religon since peoplenmay have different views
