AQA A-level Sociology (7192): Paper 2 – Beliefs in society – Study Guide

This guide covers Beliefs in Society for AQA A-level Sociology (7192), based on the AQA AS and A-level Sociology (7191, 7192) specification, Version 1.2 (14 October 2021). It teaches every content point in section 4.2.5 (the specification at a glance also lists it as 3.2.5). Beliefs in Society is an A-level option, not an AS topic. It is assessed in Paper 2: Topics in Sociology, Section B.

Use it with the AQA A-level Sociology hub and the AQA A-level Sociology checklist. Then move on to the revision notes and practice questions. For how the three papers fit together, see the A-level Sociology course structure.

Coverage table

Syllabus reference	What you must know or be able to do (from the document)	Where assessed
4.2.5	Ideology, science and religion, including both Christian and non-Christian religious traditions	Paper 2, Section B
4.2.5	The relationship between social change and social stability, and religious beliefs, practices and organisations	Paper 2, Section B
4.2.5	Religious organisations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age movements, and their relationship to religious and spiritual belief and practice	Paper 2, Section B
4.2.5	The relationship between different social groups and religious/spiritual organisations and movements, beliefs and practices	Paper 2, Section B
4.2.5	The significance of religion and religiosity in the contemporary world, including the nature and extent of secularisation in a global context, and globalisation and the spread of religions	Paper 2, Section B
4.2	Topic areas studied in relation to the two core themes, with both the evidence of and the sociological explanations for the content	Paper 2

How Paper 2 works

The specification prints these facts about Paper 2: Topics in Sociology:

• a 2 hour written exam, 80 marks, 33.3% of the A-level
• Section A: one from option 1: 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3 or 4.2.4 (Culture and Identity; Families and Households; Health; Work, Poverty and Welfare)
• Section B: one from option 2: 4.2.5, 4.2.6, 4.2.7 or 4.2.8 (Beliefs in Society; Global Development; The Media; Stratification and Differentiation)
• Section A: extended writing, 40 marks. Section B: extended writing, 40 marks.

The specification does not print how Section B’s 40 marks are split between questions, or a list of command words; your teacher will confirm both. Paper 2 carries approximately 13% AO1, 11% AO2 and 9% AO3 of the whole A-level. Theories, methods and research design are “integral” to every topic, so use them throughout.

1. Ideology, science and religion

Key terms: ideology (ideas that serve a group’s interests, often making inequality seem fair); open belief system (can be changed by evidence); closed belief system (explains away contrary evidence); paradigm (Kuhn: a shared framework of assumptions and methods in a science).

Ideology. Marxists see dominant ideas as ruling-class ideas that disguise exploitation. Gramsci’s hegemony means the ruling class leads by consent, which can be challenged. Mannheim contrasted ideological thought, which justifies the position of privileged groups, with utopian thought, which pushes for change on behalf of the less privileged. Feminists treat patriarchal ideology as the set of ideas that legitimates male power.

Science. Popper argued science is an open belief system. Its theories must be falsifiable, so knowledge grows as false ideas are rejected. Merton (1942) argued that science depends on four norms: communism (sharing findings), universalism (judging claims by evidence, not by who makes them), disinterestedness, and organised scepticism. Horton contrasted open (scientific) and closed (traditional) belief systems.

Polanyi argued that closed systems defend themselves. Evans-Pritchard’s study of the Azande of southern Sudan showed how belief in witchcraft and the poison oracle survived contrary evidence: a failed oracle could be blamed on the wrong kind of poison or a broken taboo. Polanyi argued science can also behave like this. Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) supports him: during “normal science”, scientists work inside a paradigm and tend to set aside anomalies until a scientific revolution replaces it.

Religion. Definitions shape what counts as religion. Substantive definitions (Weber) focus on belief in the supernatural or God. Functional definitions (Durkheim) focus on what religion does, such as building social integration. Social constructionists ask how groups themselves define religion. Use both Christian and non-Christian traditions, as the specification requires (for example, Hinduism and karma).

Worked paragraph. Polanyi argues both religion and science can be closed belief systems. The Azande explained away failed oracles, and Kuhn showed scientists in normal science also set aside anomalies. However, paradigms do eventually collapse under anomalies, while religious traditions can last centuries, so science is more open in the long run.

2. Religion, social change and social stability

Key terms: collective conscience (shared norms and values); sacred and profane; civil religion; theodicy of disprivilege; liberation theology; millenarian movement.

Religion as a conservative force.

• Durkheim: in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) he studied the totemism of Arunta clans in Australia. Worshipping the totem was really worshipping society, so religion reinforces the collective conscience. Evaluation: this may fit small societies better than diverse, multi-faith ones.
• Malinowski: among the Trobriand Islanders, rituals were used for dangerous ocean fishing but not for safe lagoon fishing. Religion helps people cope at times of stress and life crises such as death.
• Parsons: religion legitimates core values and helps people make sense of suffering.
• Bellah (1967): civil religion in the USA, such as the flag and the pledge of allegiance, integrates a society with many faiths.
• Marxism: Marx called religion the “opium of the people”. It softens the pain of exploitation and promises rewards in an afterlife. The divine right of kings and the link between karma and caste in Hinduism legitimate inequality.
• Feminism: religious organisations are often male-dominated. The Catholic Church does not ordain women; the Church of England ordained its first women priests in 1994 and first woman bishop in 2015. Woodhead argues against seeing religion as only patriarchal, because women can use it to gain status and respect.

Religion as a force for change.

• Weber: in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), Calvinist belief in predestination caused anxiety about salvation. Hard work in a calling and ascetic saving were signs of being chosen, which helped produce the spirit of capitalism. Weber compared Hinduism and Confucianism, arguing they lacked this combination of this-worldly work and self-denial. Evaluation: Marxists such as Kautsky argued capitalism came before Calvinism, and some Calvinist societies did not develop capitalism quickly.
• Bruce: religion was a resource in the American civil rights movement. Black churches gave meeting places, leaders such as Martin Luther King, and the moral high ground. By contrast, Bruce sees the New Christian Right as largely unsuccessful.
• Neo-Marxism: Maduro argued religion can be relatively autonomous from the ruling class. Liberation theology in Latin America led Catholic priests to side with the poor; Archbishop Óscar Romero was killed in 1980. Bloch argued religion has a “dual character”: it can inspire protest as well as acceptance.
• Millenarian movements: Worsley studied cargo cults in Melanesia as early, religious forms of anti-colonial protest.

Worked paragraph. Religion can support change when it offers a moral justification and an organisation (Bruce). In the civil rights movement, Black churches supplied meeting places, leaders and values that white Christians also claimed, so religion challenged segregation. However, the New Christian Right shows religious campaigns often fail, so religion helps change mainly when its goals fit values society already holds.

3. Religious organisations and New Age movements

Classic types (Troeltsch and Niebuhr).

• Church: large, bureaucratic, claims a monopoly of truth, often linked to the state, recruits from all classes.
• Denomination: Niebuhr’s middle type, such as Methodism; no monopoly of truth, mainly accepts society, lighter demands.
• Sect: small, exclusive, claims a monopoly of truth, often hostile to wider society, demands high commitment, often has a charismatic leader and recruits from poorer groups.
• Cult: loose, individualistic, tolerant of other beliefs; members act more like customers.

Wallis. He classified organisations by how they see themselves (uniquely legitimate or one of many legitimate routes) and how society sees them (respectable or deviant). A church is respectable and uniquely legitimate; a denomination respectable and pluralistic; a sect deviant and uniquely legitimate; a cult deviant and pluralistic. In 1984 he also divided new religious movements (NRMs):

• World-rejecting: sect-like, demanding, critical of the world (for example, the Unification Church).
• World-accommodating: often breakaways from mainstream churches, aiming to restore spiritual purity (for example, neo-Pentecostalism).
• World-affirming: cult-like, offering access to spiritual powers that help people succeed in ordinary life (for example, Scientology, or Transcendental Meditation, which has Hindu roots).

Explaining growth. Weber’s theodicy of disprivilege says sects explain and promise to reward the suffering of marginal groups. Stark and Bainbridge stress relative deprivation and the compensators religion offers. Wilson links growth to rapid social change, which creates anomie (normlessness); sects offer certainty and community.

Dynamics. Niebuhr argued sects die out or become denominations, partly because of the second generation. Wilson replied that some become “established sects”. Stark and Bainbridge describe a sectarian cycle: schism, compromise with the world, then a new schism.

New Age movements. Heelas describes self-spirituality (looking inward) and detraditionalisation (rejecting external authority). Heelas and Woodhead (2005) compared the congregational domain with the holistic milieu in Kendal, Cumbria. The holistic milieu was growing but was still much smaller, so they said a “spiritual revolution” had not yet happened. Bruce sees the New Age as evidence of secularisation, because commitment is weak and individual. Drane links it to a postmodern loss of trust in experts and metanarratives.

Worked paragraph. Wallis’s world-affirming NRMs promise success and well-being without asking members to leave their jobs or families. This explains their appeal in a competitive, individualistic culture. However, Bruce argues low-commitment, pick-and-choose spirituality shows religion’s weakness, not its revival.

4. Social groups and religion

Gender. Women are generally more likely than men to hold religious beliefs and to take part. Miller and Hoffmann (1995) link this to socialisation and to greater risk-aversion. Davie suggests closer involvement with birth and death. In Kendal, about 80% of holistic-milieu participants were women (Heelas and Woodhead); Bruce links this to the New Age’s stress on nurturing and healing. Brown argues women’s move away from church since the 1960s, as their roles changed, drove recent secularisation.

Ethnicity. Many minority ethnic groups in the UK show higher religiosity than the White British majority. Bruce explains this through cultural defence (religion unites a community under threat) and cultural transition (religion helps migrants adjust, then declines as they integrate; Herberg found this among US immigrants). Pryce (1979), studying African-Caribbeans in Bristol, found Pentecostalism valued hard work, thrift and community, which helped members cope with and adapt to life in Britain. O’Beirne (2004) found religion was a central part of identity for many minority groups.

Age. Older people are generally more likely to attend and believe. Voas and Crockett (2005) argue each generation is less religious than its parents, so decline is generational, not just ageing. Others note young people’s interest in spirituality outside churches.

Social class. Weber and Stark and Bainbridge link sects to deprived groups. By contrast, the New Age draws more on the middle class (Bruce).

Evaluation. These patterns vary between faiths and over time, and attendance, belief and identity can differ.

Worked paragraph. Cultural transition explains high religiosity in some migrant communities. A mosque, gurdwara or Pentecostal church gives newcomers support and contacts, so religion helps groups settle. Modood et al. (1997) found later generations were generally less religious, which fits this view. However, O’Beirne (2004) found religion was central to many minority groups’ identity, so its role may shift towards identity rather than simply fading.

5. Religion in the contemporary world: secularisation and globalisation

Secularisation. Wilson (1966) defined it as religion losing social significance. Evidence for decline in the UK includes falling church attendance and the census. In England and Wales, people describing themselves as Christian fell from 59.3% in 2011 to 46.2% in 2021, while “no religion” rose from 25.2% to 37.2%.

Explanations:

• Weber: rationalisation and disenchantment.
• Parsons: structural differentiation, so religion loses functions such as education.
• Berger: religious diversity undermines the “sacred canopy” and makes beliefs less plausible (he later argued the world is desecularising).
• Bruce: the technological worldview, and social and cultural diversity.

Arguments against:

• Davie: “believing without belonging” and vicarious religion. Voas and Crockett reply that belief is falling too.
• Lyon, Jesus in Disneyland (2000): religion is relocated into consumption and the media.
• Hervieu-Léger: “spiritual shoppers”, pilgrims and converts.
• Stark and Bainbridge: religious market theory, so competition in the USA keeps religion strong. Hadaway et al. (1993) found real attendance was well below what Americans reported.
• Norris and Inglehart, Sacred and Secular (2004): existential security. Insecure, poorer societies stay religious and have higher birth rates, so religious populations grow globally.

Globalisation and the spread of religions. Migration has made Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism part of UK religious life. Pentecostalism has spread fast in Latin America and Africa. Lehmann argues it adapts to local cultures; Berger compares it to a modern Protestant ethic. Nanda studies Hinduism among India’s growing middle class. Redding links post-Confucian values to East Asian economic growth. Casanova (1994) describes religion returning to public life.

Fundamentalism. Giddens sees it as a defensive response to globalisation. Huntington (1996) argued conflict would increasingly follow “civilisations”, often defined by religion. Casanova says it ignores divisions within each civilisation; Armstrong traces hostility to the West to Western foreign policy, not to Islam itself.

Worked paragraph. Existential security theory (Norris and Inglehart) explains why secularisation is uneven. Britain has a welfare state and high living standards, so people need religion less. Poorer, riskier societies stay religious and have higher birth rates, so the world may grow more religious overall even as Britain becomes more secular. This weakens claims of a universal trend, though critics say the theory ignores how people actually experience faith.

Common errors

• Saying Weber argued Calvinism caused capitalism on its own. He called it one cause among others.
• Claiming Durkheim studied religion in modern Britain. His evidence came from anthropological reports on Australian Aboriginal clans.
• Treating all NRMs as sects. Use Wallis’s three types.
• Using church attendance as the only measure of secularisation. Discuss belief, belonging and identity.
• Presenting Huntington’s thesis as fact. It is a contested view.

Next, read the revision notes and try the practice questions. Compare the perspectives in the Crime and Deviance study guide; for research design, see Methods in Context. Globalisation links to Global development.

Official syllabus

This guide is based on the AQA AS and A-level Sociology (7191, 7192) specification, Version 1.2 (14 October 2021), section 4.2.5 Beliefs in Society and the Paper 2 assessment details. Check the latest version on the AQA website. Your teacher will confirm any detail the specification does not print, such as the question breakdown within Section B.