Social change

• What is social change?

  Changing things in society, challenging and promoting and encouraging change
• Maduro


  Liberation theology - free wc from exploitation

  eg Latin America in the 60s - priests campaigned against exploitation
• Billings


  Dual Character - Textile v Miner workers

  Textile - obedience to maintain capitalism

  Miners - Strikes for social change and justice
• Bloch


  Principle of Hope - motivates towards utopian ideal heaven

  1. keep same - rewarded in afterlife

  2. social change - ideal world
• Gramsci


  Counter hegemony

  Hegemony = rc ideas seen as common sense, maintains capitalism

  Religious leaders take role of ‘organic intellectuals‘ - popularise ideas counter to hegemony to help build rebellion and protest

  eg Martin Luther King in Civil Rights movement
• Weber


  Protestant work ethic

  Change in religion = change in economy

  Ascetic (self-discipline) Calvinist protestantism led to rise of western capitalism

  More hard working and avoid temptation = benefits capitalism

  Criticism: Kautsky - capitalism around before Calvinism, Weber overestimates role and ideas of Calvinism and underestimates influence of economic factors
• Fundamentalism - change to more traditional life

  Bruce - civil rights movement - religion well equipped to support social protest

  New christian right - politically and morally conservative - moral majority fought for change