Functionalism emphasises on the interrelations between the various elements of a social system. Society is seen as a self-regulating system in which religion, economic organisation, and kinship form parts of an organic whole. The realm of the sacred is defined by the attitude people have towards it – rituals are sacred if they are performed with reverence and awe. Numerous functional aspects of religion include providing explanation or comfort; sanctions on social, economic and political norms and institutions; and aiding ecological adaptation and unifying the social group.
Anthropologists like Malinowski, Evans-Pritchard, Radcliffe-Brown, Durkheim , M.N Srinivas etc., who approached religion from functionalist perspective provide explanation that satisfies human needs and solidarity of the group.
Malinowski, for instance, in his work on the Trobriand Islanders emphasises on the close relationship between myth and ritual. He puts forward the idea of psychological functionalism, religious acts fulfilling the psychological need and satisfaction. A mortuary ritual, for instance, is intended to release the soul and prevent it from returning to haunt the living. Like Frazer, he distinguishes magic from religion which aims at something beyond itself. Its object is not performance of the rite. In magic the end is the efficacious magic itself. After a careful analysis of the data, he argues that religion and magic have arisen to reduce anxiety in crisis situations. Malinowski said that religion arose when humans adopted a familiar way of getting through the crisis of life and facing death. On the other hand, magic arose as a mechanism for purging human mind from fear and other emotional states caused by events beyond human control. Both religion and magic function to reduce anxiety but magic is a means to an end while religion is an end in itself.
Evans-Pritchard observes that while emotions, desires, and impulses undoubtedly play a part in religion, the performance of a religious or magical act need not automatically produce the psychological effects, as Malinowski supposes. He argues in Azande religion that witchcraft has to be understood in social context. In this sense, he agrees with Durkheim but disagrees with the notion that religion is illusion.
Radcliffe-Brown (1922) provides an account of Andamanese religious beliefs and ceremonies. He asserts that the Andaman Islanders’ main supernatural beings are spirits of the dead, associated with the sky, forest, and sea, and nature spirits, which are thought of as personifications of natural phenomena. Applying Durkheimian analysis he presents an organic picture of society; religion integrates society and rituals bring in solidarity of the group. According to him, religion exists to reduce anxiety, Andaman Islanders customarily prohibit expectant parents from eating certain foods, They taboo the use by others of the personal names of the expectant father and mother. The individual may be anxious about carrying out culturally required ritual activities in a culturally appropriate way. The individual and the group believe that if they perform these ritual activities, the individual can have safe delivery. These ritual activities are familiar ways of doing this. They assure the individual and the group safety and security; they free them from anxiety.
In India M.N. Srinivas’ (1952) study of society and religion among the Coorgs is an outstanding contribution to the study of religion in functionalist perspective. He very innovatively integrates social structure with religion which he finds it operating at different levels – local, regional, peninsular and all India. Drawing the difference between Indological and sociological approach, he adopts the latter for a meaningful treatment of religion in relation with the social structure of the Coorg. He demonstrates that various rituals organised at family, patrilineal joint family (okka), village and nad level bring in solidarity and unity among different social segments.
Emile Durkheim in his book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, explored so-called primitive ritual and religion and dealt with such topics as the sacred, totem, taboo, sacrifice, ordeals, myth, and symbolism– all set among the aboriginal tribe of Australia i.e Arunta tribe. Much of the work of Émile Durkheim stressed the functions that religion serves for society regardless of how it is practiced or of what specific religious beliefs a society favors. Durkheim’s insights continue to influence sociological thinking today on the functions of religion.
- First, religion gives meaning and purpose to life. Many things in life are difficult to understand. That was certainly true, as we have seen, in prehistoric times, but even in today’s highly scientific age, much of life and death remains a mystery, and religious faith and belief help many people make sense of the things science cannot tell us.
- Second, religion reinforces social unity and stability. This was one of Durkheim’s most important insights. Religion strengthens social stability in at least two ways. First, it gives people a common set of beliefs and thus is an important agent of socialization. Second, the communal practice of religion, as in houses of worship, brings people together physically, facilitates their communication and other social interaction, and thus strengthens their social bonds.
- A third function religion is an agent of social control and thus strengthens social order. Religion teaches people moral behavior and thus helps them learn how to be good members of society. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the Ten Commandments are perhaps the most famous set of rules for moral behavior. In Hindhuism , purusharthas are so strong to control individual behavior.
- A fourth function of religion is greater psychological and physical well-being. Religious faith and practice can enhance psychological well-being by being a source of comfort to people in times of distress and by enhancing their social interaction with others in places of worship. Many studies find that people of all ages, not just the elderly, are happier and more satisfied with their lives if they are religious. Religiosity also apparently promotes better physical health, and some studies even find that religious people tend to live longer than those who are not religious (Moberg, 2008).
- A final function of religion is that it may motivate people to work for positive social change. Religion played a central role in the development of the Southern civil rights movement a few decades ago. Religious beliefs motivated Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists to risk their lives to desegregate the South. Black churches in the South also served as settings in which the civil rights movement held meetings, recruited new members, and raised money (Morris, 1984).
Clifford Geertz study on the religion of java shown that “religion not only play an integrative, socially harmonising role in society but also a divisive one, thus reflecting the balance between integrative and disintegrative forces which exist in any social system”
Victor Turner opinion about religion of Ndembu society , it appears more as an integrative force bringing back social harmony as the social structural principles, practical and idiosyncratic behaviour often create social conflicts and tensions.