Religion and social stability | AQA A-Level Sociology

For Specification 7192

AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes

Estimated study time: 90 minutes

These Religion and social stability A-Level Sociology revision notes examine how religious beliefs, practices and organisations may contribute to social order. You will explore functionalist explanations of social solidarity, the collective conscience, psychological and cognitive functions, and civil religion. You will also evaluate whether apparent stability benefits society as a whole or protects existing inequalities. This lesson develops the contrast introduced in religion and social change [Religion and social change] and applies ideas from ideology [Ideology] to the question of social order. AQA specifically requires the relationship between social stability and religious beliefs, practices and organisations.

Learning Objectives 🎯

By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:

• Define social stability and explain its relationship with religion.

• Explain how religious beliefs and practices may create social solidarity and value consensus.

• Analyse the social, psychological and cognitive functions of religion.

• Explain how civil religion may contribute to social integration.

• Compare functionalist explanations with conflict interpretations of religious stability.

• Evaluate the extent to which religion contributes to social stability in contemporary society.

Revision Notes 📚

What does AQA require you to know?

Within Beliefs in Society, AQA requires students to understand sociological explanations of “the relationship between social change and social stability, and religious beliefs, practices and organisations.” This sits alongside the study of ideology, science and religion, different religious organisations, social groups and religion, secularisation and globalisation.

The central question in this lesson is therefore:

How might religion help maintain social order, and whose interests does that stability serve?

Religion may contribute to stability through:

• shared values and beliefs;

• collective rituals;

• social solidarity;

• social integration;

• psychological support;

• answers to fundamental questions;

• reinforcement of a central value system;

• civil religion;

• support for existing social arrangements.

However, sociologists disagree over whether these effects benefit society as a whole or mainly maintain the position of powerful groups.

AQA's 2025 Beliefs in Society assessment directly contrasted Marxist and feminist arguments about religion serving powerful groups with the alternative view that religion may serve the needs of society as a whole. Relevant concepts in the mark scheme included the collective conscience, psychological and cognitive functions, civil religion, ideological control and false class consciousness.  

What is social stability?

Social stability refers to the continuation of social order, in which social relationships, institutions and shared expectations remain sufficiently organised for society to function.

Stability does not mean that society never changes.

A society can experience change while still maintaining:

• shared norms and values;

• patterns of cooperation;

• institutions;

• social bonds;

• expectations about behaviour.

Religion may help achieve stability when its beliefs and practices connect individuals to wider groups and encourage shared understandings.

The relationship can be represented as:

shared religious beliefs and practices → common values and social bonds → social solidarity → greater social integration → social stability

This is particularly associated with functionalist approaches.

Functionalist explanations of religion

Functionalism is a consensus perspective. It emphasises the contribution that social institutions may make to maintaining society.

In relation to religion, functionalists are interested in the functions religious beliefs, practices and organisations perform.

AQA mark schemes recognise functionalist concepts including:

• social cohesion;

• social integration;

• value consensus;

• the sacred and the profane;

• collective conscience;

• totemism;

• cognitive functions;

• psychological functions;

• civil religion;

• the central value system;

• functional alternatives to religion.

Rather than asking whether particular religious beliefs are true, the functionalist question is:

What does religion do for individuals and society?

Durkheim: religion and social solidarity

Durkheim is one of the sociologists AQA identifies as relevant to functionalist explanations of religion.

His approach emphasises social solidarity, the bonds that hold individuals together as members of a social group.

Religion may contribute to this because people participate in shared beliefs and practices.

The process is:

1. Members of a group share religious beliefs.

2. Religious practices bring people together.

3. Shared participation reinforces their sense of belonging.

4. Common norms and values become stronger.

5. Individuals become more integrated into the group.

6. Greater integration contributes to social stability.

Religion therefore does more than provide private beliefs.

For Durkheim, its sociological significance lies partly in its ability to connect individuals to something collective.

The sacred and the profane

AQA mark schemes explicitly identify the distinction between the sacred and the profane as relevant sociological material.

Sacred things are set apart and treated as having special religious significance.

Profane things belong to ordinary, everyday life.

Religious communities establish shared distinctions between what is sacred and what is ordinary.

Why might this contribute to stability?

Because agreement over sacred beliefs and practices helps produce:

• shared meanings;

• common rules;

• collective identity;

• boundaries around acceptable behaviour.

Religion can therefore strengthen the sense that members belong to the same moral community.

⚠️ The examination point is not simply to define sacred and profane. You need to explain how the distinction can create social solidarity.

The collective conscience

A key functionalist concept is the collective conscience.

The collective conscience refers to the shared beliefs, values and moral understandings that unite members of society or a social group.

Religion may reinforce this collective conscience through shared:

• beliefs;

• symbols;

• rituals;

• moral rules.

The analytical chain is:

shared religious meanings → reinforcement of common values → stronger collective conscience → increased solidarity → greater social stability

AQA's 2025 mark scheme explicitly identifies the collective conscience as relevant when evaluating whether religion serves society as a whole.

This makes it a particularly useful concept in questions about the functions of religion.

Religious rituals and social integration

Religious practices matter as well as beliefs.

Shared religious rituals may bring individuals together and remind them that they are members of a wider group.

The stabilising process is:

collective religious practice → shared experience → strengthened group identity → social integration

This demonstrates why AQA specifies the relationship between stability and religious beliefs, practices and organisations, rather than beliefs alone.

Religious organisations can provide settings in which shared beliefs are repeatedly expressed and reinforced.

You will examine different forms of organisation in churches and denominations [Churches and denominations].

Totemism

Totemism appears among the concepts AQA accepts in relation to the functions of religion.

For revision purposes, its importance lies in the functionalist argument that shared sacred symbols can represent and strengthen the unity of a social group.

The essential sociological relationship is:

shared sacred symbol → expression of collective identity → stronger attachment to the group → social solidarity

Do not allow a question about stability to turn into a long description of religious symbols.

The marks come from explaining the social function of shared belief and practice.

Value consensus

Value consensus means broad agreement about important values.

Religion can potentially contribute to value consensus by:

• transmitting shared moral beliefs;

• reinforcing expectations about behaviour;

• providing common interpretations of right and wrong;

• connecting individuals to a wider moral community.

This relates closely to socialisation.

AQA's 2025 material describes the functionalist argument that socialisation into shared values can produce social stability based on value consensus. Religion is one of the institutions that can participate in the transmission of norms and values.

The relationship can be expressed as:

religious socialisation → internalisation of shared norms and values → greater conformity → value consensus → social stability

However, this raises an important evaluative question:

Is there really one set of values shared by everyone?

Religious diversity and secularisation make this increasingly important.

Religion as social control

The transmission of shared values may also act as a form of social control.

Social control refers to processes that encourage conformity to norms and expectations.

Religious beliefs can provide moral rules and standards of behaviour. If people internalise these standards, their behaviour may become more predictable.

This can contribute to order because individuals know:

• what behaviour is expected;

• which values are important;

• which actions are approved or disapproved.

However, functionalists and conflict theorists interpret this differently.

A functionalist may emphasise the contribution to coordination and stability.

A Marxist or feminist may ask whether the norms being enforced reproduce class or gender inequalities.

This links directly back to ideology [Ideology].

Malinowski: psychological functions of religion

AQA mark schemes identify Malinowski and the psychological functions of religion as relevant material.

Religion may provide support when individuals experience:

• uncertainty;

• major life changes;

• situations that are difficult to control;

• questions concerning suffering or death.

The 2023 AQA material explicitly recognised that religious rituals may help people cope with times of change, including through rites of passage.

This can contribute indirectly to social stability.

The chain is:

uncertainty or crisis → religious belief or ritual provides meaning/support → anxiety becomes easier to manage → individual remains integrated into the social group → stability is supported

Rites of passage

Rites of passage are religious rituals associated with significant transitions in people's lives.

Their sociological significance is not simply ceremonial.

They may:

• give social recognition to a change in status;

• provide support at an uncertain point;

• involve other members of the community;

• reinforce shared beliefs and practices.

AQA's 2023 mark scheme accepted rites of passage as an explanation for religion's influence on people's lives.

From the perspective of stability:

life transition → religious ritual → individual and group recognise the transition → uncertainty is reduced and social bonds reinforced

This connects the psychological function of religion with its wider social function.

Religion and uncertainty

Religion may become particularly important when events cannot easily be controlled or predicted.

AQA's 2023 mark scheme recognises the idea that the uncertainty of a globalised world may increase the need for religion to perform psychological functions.

This creates an interesting relationship:

rapid social change can create uncertainty

but

religion can provide support that helps individuals cope with that uncertainty

Religion may therefore contribute to stability during periods of change.

This is an important reminder that religion and social stability [Religion and social stability] and religion and social change [Religion and social change] are not simple opposites.

Religion may help a society or group remain integrated while wider social conditions change.

Parsons: religion and meaning

AQA identifies Parsons and cognitive functions as relevant material in the study of religion.

A cognitive function concerns religion's ability to provide frameworks through which people understand the world and their experiences.

Religion can provide answers to questions that may be difficult to resolve through ordinary experience.

AQA's 2023 assessment refers to religion providing answers to life's ultimate questions.

These may concern fundamental questions of:

• meaning;

• suffering;

• existence;

• major life experiences.

The stabilising relationship can be:

difficult experience or ultimate question → religious explanation provides meaning → experience becomes more understandable → uncertainty or disruption is reduced

Religion therefore potentially supports social order not simply by controlling behaviour, but by helping people make sense of their experiences.

Religion and the central value system

AQA's specimen mark scheme identifies the central value system as relevant to functionalist discussions of religion.

This refers to the broader set of values around which members of a society may organise their behaviour and expectations.

Religion may support this by:

• providing moral principles;

• reinforcing established values;

• linking those values to a wider belief system.

If enough people recognise the same underlying values, social relationships may become more predictable and coordinated.

The process is:

religious values → reinforcement of wider shared values → consensus → integration → stability

However, the assumption of a shared central value system becomes harder to maintain if societies contain many different religious and non-religious worldviews.

This is one important route into evaluation.

Religion as a conservative force

A conservative force helps preserve existing social arrangements, beliefs or institutions.

Religion may contribute to stability when religious beliefs provide justification for the existing social structure.

AQA's specimen material gives examples of religious doctrines, including Christian teachings concerning the family and Hindu beliefs concerning reincarnation, being used in arguments that religion provides religious justification for existing social arrangements.

From one perspective, this may contribute to social order.

The process is:

religious justification → existing arrangements appear legitimate → greater acceptance → reduced challenge → social stability

However, describing religion as a conservative force immediately raises a question:

Is maintaining the status quo necessarily beneficial?

This divides functionalist and conflict approaches.

Stability versus the status quo

Social stability and the status quo are closely related, but the words can carry different sociological implications.

Functionalists may emphasise:

• integration;

• solidarity;

• shared values;

• social needs.

Conflict sociologists may emphasise:

• maintenance of inequality;

• protection of powerful groups;

• ideological control;

• reduced challenge to oppression.

This means the same process can be interpreted differently.

For example:

shared beliefs encourage acceptance of society

could be interpreted as:

Functionalist: religion creates consensus and integration.

or:

Marxist: religion prevents subordinate groups from challenging inequality.

This is excellent material for evaluation because it concerns the meaning of stability itself.

Marxist evaluation: whose stability?

Marxist sociology challenges the assumption that stable social arrangements necessarily benefit society as a whole.

AQA's 2025 material identifies concepts including:

• capitalism;

• bourgeoisie and proletariat;

• exploitation;

• ideological control;

• false class consciousness;

• the opiate of the masses;

• the status quo.

From a Marxist perspective, religion may help produce stability by encouraging acceptance of existing class relations.

The chain becomes:

religious ideology → existing class inequality is accepted or legitimised → less challenge from subordinate groups → capitalist relationships continue → apparent social stability

The disagreement with functionalism is therefore not necessarily over whether religion can create order.

It is over whose interests that order serves.

The opiate of the masses

The concept of religion as an opiate of the masses appears in AQA's Beliefs in Society mark schemes.

The idea is that religion may make suffering or inequality easier to endure, reducing pressure to challenge its structural causes.

This contrasts sharply with Malinowski's explanation of psychological support.

Compare the interpretations:

Psychological support	Opiate of the masses
Support helps individuals cope with uncertainty	Support may help people tolerate inequality
Seen as a useful social or psychological function	Seen as potentially protecting an unequal system
May promote integration	May reduce challenges to powerful groups
Associated with functionalist interpretation	Associated with Marxist interpretation

This comparison shows why a high-quality essay does not simply ask whether religion provides comfort.

It asks:

What are the social consequences of that comfort?

False class consciousness

False class consciousness refers to a Marxist argument that people may accept beliefs that prevent them from recognising or challenging their class interests.

Applied to religion:

religious ideology → class inequality appears acceptable or unavoidable → working-class opposition is weakened → ruling-class power continues

The resulting stability is therefore not genuine value consensus from a Marxist perspective.

Instead, it involves ideological domination.

This is a direct challenge to the functionalist claim that shared beliefs show that religion serves society as a whole.

Feminist evaluation: religion and patriarchy

Feminist approaches raise a similar challenge, but focus on gender inequality.

AQA's 2025 assessment specifically identifies feminist arguments that religious beliefs and practices may exclude women and reinforce powerful groups. Its mark scheme includes patriarchy, oppression and religious feminism as relevant concepts.  

A feminist may argue:

religious beliefs legitimise gender roles → male dominance is reinforced → patriarchal arrangements continue → social order is maintained

Once again, the sociological question is:

Does stability represent consensus, or does it represent the successful reproduction of unequal power?

This distinction is central to strong evaluation.

Functionalism and conflict theories compared

Functionalist interpretation	Conflict interpretation
Religion may serve society as a whole	Religion may serve particular powerful groups
Shared beliefs create solidarity	Shared beliefs may reflect dominant ideology
Value consensus supports order	Apparent consensus may involve unequal power
Psychological support helps people cope	Comfort may discourage challenges to inequality
Religion reinforces common values	Religion may reinforce class or gender inequality
Stability is an important social function	Stability may preserve the status quo

Neither perspective should simply be listed.

The stronger examination skill is to ask which interpretation provides the better explanation of the same religious process.

Bellah and civil religion

AQA mark schemes identify Bellah and civil religion as relevant material when explaining religion's social functions.

Civil religion refers to shared beliefs, symbols and rituals connected to the wider society rather than simply membership of one traditional religious organisation.

Its sociological significance is that shared symbolic beliefs may create integration even where people do not all belong to the same religion.

AQA's 2023 mark scheme specifically identifies the possibility that globalisation may contribute to the growth of civil religions that aid stability.

The process is:

shared societal symbols and rituals → common identity → solidarity across groups → greater social integration

Civil religion is therefore potentially important for evaluating the claim that traditional religion must be strong for religion-like beliefs to produce social stability.

Why civil religion matters in a diverse society

Traditional functionalist explanations face a difficulty in a society containing:

• multiple religions;

• different interpretations of religion;

• non-religious worldviews.

If people no longer share one religious faith, can religion still unite society?

Civil religion provides one possible response.

Shared symbols or rituals may provide collective identity even where religious belief is diverse.

This does not prove that everyone shares exactly the same values, but it allows the functionalist argument to move beyond the assumption that social integration requires membership of one traditional religion.

Religious diversity and social solidarity

AQA's 2023 mark scheme also recognises the opposite argument, that a multi-faith society may weaken religion's ability to create social solidarity because people have access to a wider variety of beliefs and views.

There are therefore two possibilities.

Religion may strengthen solidarity within groups

Shared religious beliefs can produce:

• community;

• identity;

• cultural defence;

• mutual support.

This is particularly relevant to social groups and religion [Social groups and religion].

Religious diversity may weaken society-wide consensus

If different groups hold different beliefs, religion may be less able to provide one shared collective conscience for society as a whole.

The distinction is:

strong group solidarity ≠ automatic society-wide solidarity

This is a very useful evaluation of Durkheim.

Cultural defence and social stability

AQA recognises cultural defence as a process through which religion can provide identity and support for minority ethnic groups, particularly in a changing or hostile social environment.

This may contribute to stability within the group by providing:

• common beliefs;

• community networks;

• shared identity;

• continuity during change.

However, this does not necessarily demonstrate a single value consensus across the wider society.

A strong essay can therefore distinguish different levels of stability:

• individual stability;

• group stability;

• society-wide stability.

This makes the analysis more precise.

Religion and socialisation

Religion may contribute to stability through socialisation.

Individuals may learn:

• norms;

• values;

• moral rules;

• beliefs;

• expectations.

AQA's 2025 assessment acknowledges religion as an institution involved in socialisation and connects functionalist socialisation with value consensus and social stability.

The mechanism is:

religious institution → transmission of norms and values → internalisation → conformity → social order

However, the process should not automatically be assumed to be one-way or completely successful.

Individuals may:

• interpret beliefs differently;

• reject religious values;

• leave religious traditions;

• combine different identities;

• adopt secular worldviews.

This becomes increasingly important in religion and religiosity in the contemporary world [Religion and religiosity in the contemporary world].

Secularisation and the stabilising role of religion

A major challenge to traditional functionalist explanations is secularisation.

If fewer people accept traditional religious authority or participate in organised religion, religion's ability to provide a shared value system may weaken.

AQA's recent mark schemes recognise changes including:

• declining religious adherence;

• secular worldviews;

• religious diversity;

• privatisation of religion;

• weakening practising religious communities.

This is developed fully in secularisation [Secularisation].

For this lesson, the key evaluative point is:

A theory may correctly identify functions that religion can perform without establishing that religion still performs those functions to the same extent in every contemporary society.

Functional alternatives to religion

AQA's specimen and subsequent mark schemes recognise functional alternatives as relevant when discussing the functions of religion.

A functional alternative is something other than traditional religion that may perform a similar social function.

This creates an important criticism of the claim that religion is necessary for stability.

Even if society requires:

• solidarity;

• meaning;

• shared values;

• psychological support;

it does not automatically follow that religion must provide them.

This evaluation separates two claims:

1. society may need certain functions to be performed;

2. religion is the only institution capable of performing those functions.

Functionalist explanations may establish the first more successfully than the second.

Globalisation and the functions of religion

Globalisation complicates the relationship between religion and stability.

AQA's 2023 assessment directly asked how globalisation may affect the functions of religion.

The mark scheme recognised several possibilities:

• new media may introduce beliefs that challenge social solidarity;

• religious diversity may weaken harmony;

• civil religion may support stability;

• uncertainty may increase religion's psychological functions;

• cultural defence and cultural transition may become more important.

This gives a balanced picture.

Globalisation may weaken religion's stabilising role	Globalisation may strengthen or reshape it
Exposure to different beliefs may weaken one shared worldview	Civil religion may provide new forms of solidarity
Multi-faith societies may have less religious value consensus	Cultural defence may strengthen group identity
New media can challenge religious authority	Religious communities may provide support during uncertainty
Religious status quos may be questioned	Cultural transition may help migrants adapt

This relationship will be developed in globalisation and the spread of religions [Globalisation and the spread of religions].

Does religion produce consensus or merely conformity?

This is a powerful evaluative distinction.

Consensus means people genuinely share values.

Conformity means people behave according to norms, which does not necessarily establish that they freely share the underlying values.

Functionalists may interpret common religious behaviour as evidence of shared values and social integration.

Conflict theorists may instead argue that:

• ideological control;

• unequal power;

• traditional authority

help produce conformity.

Therefore:

visible social order does not automatically prove genuine value consensus.

This is especially useful in essays asking whether religion serves society as a whole.

Does religion always stabilise society?

No.

AQA specifically requires students to understand both social stability and social change.

Religion may contribute to:

• solidarity;

• value consensus;

• social integration;

but it may also contribute to:

• protest;

• counter-hegemony;

• fundamentalist challenges;

• conflicts over beliefs;

• social transformation.

The previous lesson, religion and social change [Religion and social change], therefore provides essential evaluation.

A religion can even perform both roles in different circumstances.

For example:

religion may stabilise one group internally while placing that group in conflict with wider society.

This is why broad statements such as “religion creates stability” need qualification.

Is stability always desirable?

Another important evaluation is that stability is not automatically the same as justice or equality.

A stable society could still contain:

• class exploitation;

• patriarchy;

• inequality;

• exclusion;

• marginalisation.

Marxist and feminist perspectives therefore challenge the functionalist assumption that maintaining social arrangements necessarily benefits society as a whole.

The question becomes:

Stability for whom?

This is one of the strongest questions you can use to evaluate functionalist explanations.

Comparing sociological explanations of religion and stability

Explanation	How religion may produce stability	Main evaluation
Durkheim	Shared sacred beliefs and practices reinforce the collective conscience and social solidarity	Religious diversity may make society-wide consensus harder to establish
Malinowski	Religion provides psychological support in uncertain situations and periods of change	Support may help individuals cope but does not necessarily create society-wide consensus
Parsons	Religion provides meaning, cognitive functions and support for a central value system	Other belief systems or institutions may perform similar functions
Bellah	Civil religion creates shared identity through common symbols and rituals	May explain integration in diverse societies better than a single traditional religion
Marxism	Religion may create stability by legitimising capitalist inequality	Stability serves powerful groups rather than society as a whole
Feminism	Religious beliefs may reinforce traditional gender arrangements	Apparent order may reproduce patriarchal inequality
Social change approaches	Religion may challenge rather than maintain existing arrangements	Demonstrates that religion does not have one inevitable function

A balanced judgement on religion and social stability

The strongest conclusion is not that religion either does or does not create social stability.

The provided AQA material supports a more conditional judgement.

Religion can contribute to stability by providing:

• shared beliefs;

• common values;

• collective rituals;

• social solidarity;

• psychological support;

• cognitive explanations;

• collective identities.

However, this does not demonstrate that religion necessarily produces a society-wide value consensus.

Its stabilising effects may operate primarily:

• within particular religious groups;

• during periods of uncertainty;

• through particular organisations;

• where religious beliefs remain influential.

Conflict perspectives also show that the same apparent stability can be interpreted as the maintenance of unequal class or gender relations.

A stronger overall conclusion is therefore:

Religion can contribute to social stability, but the sociological significance of that stability depends on the level at which it operates and on whose interests the existing social order serves.

Applying religion and social stability in an examination

A strong paragraph needs to explain a mechanism.

Do not write:

“Durkheim says religion creates solidarity.”

Develop it.

1. Identify the religious process

For example, shared ritual.

2. Apply a sociological concept

For example, collective conscience.

3. Explain the connection

Shared participation reinforces common values and group membership.

4. Link to stability

Greater solidarity integrates individuals into the group and supports social order.

5. Evaluate

Ask whether:

• everyone shares the beliefs;

• solidarity is group-based or society-wide;

• other institutions could perform the same function;

• the stability protects inequality;

• religion may instead promote change.

The full analytical chain becomes:

shared ritual → collective conscience → solidarity → integration → stability → evaluation of the extent or interests served

That is much stronger than a memorised description of a theorist.

Key Words 🔑

Key word	Student-friendly definition	How it may be used in an exam
Social stability	The maintenance of sufficient social order, integration and continuity for society or a group to function.	Use as the outcome that sociological explanations of religion need to explain.
Social solidarity	The social bonds that unite individuals as members of a group.	Central to functionalist explanations of religion and stability.
Collective conscience	Shared beliefs, values and moral understandings that bind members of a group together.	Explain Durkheim's view of how religion creates integration.
Value consensus	Broad agreement about important norms and values.	Explain how religious socialisation may contribute to order.
Sacred	Things given special religious significance and set apart from ordinary life.	Use when explaining shared religious meanings and solidarity.
Psychological function	The support religion may provide when individuals experience uncertainty or major changes.	Apply to Malinowski and religious rituals.
Cognitive function	The role religion may play in giving people frameworks for understanding difficult experiences and ultimate questions.	Apply to Parsons when explaining meaning and order.
Civil religion	Shared beliefs, symbols and rituals connected to a wider society and collective identity.	Use to explain how solidarity may exist in religiously diverse societies.
Conservative force	A force that helps preserve existing beliefs, relationships or social structures.	Explain how religion may maintain the status quo.
Functional alternative	Something other than traditional religion that may perform a similar social function.	Evaluate the claim that religion is necessary for social stability.

Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡

Recent examiner reports provide useful guidance because AQA has tested both the functions of religion and the contrast between religion serving powerful groups and religion serving society as a whole.

Examiner hint: Keep the function in the question visible throughout your answer. In 2023, many students could describe ways globalisation affected religion, but weaker answers did not clearly connect those changes to the functions of religion.

For this lesson, do not stop at:

“Religion involves shared rituals.”

Complete the sociological connection:

“Shared rituals may strengthen collective identity and social solidarity, helping religion perform an integrative function and therefore contributing to social stability.”

Examiner hint: Be precise about the relationship the question asks you to explain. The 2023 report shows that relevant knowledge is not enough if the required connection is unclear.

A useful check after every paragraph is:

Have I actually explained how this produces, weakens or changes social stability?

Examiner hint: In the 2025 question about powerful groups, stronger answers successfully contrasted Marxism and feminism with functionalism while remaining focused on the issue in the question. Less successful evaluation drifted into simply listing functions of religion.

This is especially important here. Do not write:

“Durkheim says this. Malinowski says this. Parsons says this. Marx says this.”

Instead, make the theories debate each other:

Functionalists interpret religious support as beneficial integration, whereas Marxists may argue that the same support discourages challenges to an unequal social order.

Examiner hint: Apply studies and concepts to the exact argument. The 2025 report states that better responses used a range of studies and avoided losing focus when evaluating.

Specialist terminology such as collective conscience, civil religion, psychological functions or false class consciousness earns its place only when it helps answer the question.

Examiner hint: For a 20-mark essay, successful evaluation weighs explanations rather than merely placing competing perspectives next to each other. AQA's level descriptors reward explicit, relevant analysis and evaluation and an appropriate conclusion.

A strong conclusion should therefore answer both:

1. To what extent does religion create stability?

2. Whose interests does that stability serve?

Common Mistakes ⚠️

Mistake: Writing that religion creates stability without explaining how

Why this is incorrect: This identifies an argument but does not analyse the mechanism connecting religion to social order.

How to improve: Build a full chain:

shared belief or ritual → common values → solidarity → integration → stability

Mistake: Treating social solidarity and value consensus as identical

Why this is incorrect: They are closely related but describe different things. Solidarity concerns social bonds, while value consensus concerns agreement over values.

How to improve: Use the terms precisely and explain their relationship rather than using them interchangeably.

Mistake: Describing the sacred and profane without linking them to society

Why this is incorrect: Definitions alone do not explain the social function of religion.

How to improve: Explain how shared understandings of the sacred can reinforce collective identity and solidarity.

Mistake: Assuming psychological support proves religion benefits everyone

Why this is incorrect: Functionalists may interpret support positively, but Marxists may argue that comfort makes unequal conditions easier to tolerate.

How to improve: Evaluate the consequence of the support rather than merely identifying that it exists.

Mistake: Treating stability as automatically positive

Why this is incorrect: A stable social order may still contain class inequality, patriarchy or other forms of unequal power.

How to improve: Ask:

Stability for whom?

Use Marxist or feminist interpretations to assess whether the status quo serves particular groups.

Mistake: Assuming Durkheim's argument applies equally to a religiously diverse society

Why this is incorrect: AQA material recognises that a multi-faith society may weaken religion's ability to create a single shared solidarity.

How to improve: Distinguish solidarity within religious communities from consensus across society as a whole.

Mistake: Listing functions instead of evaluating an argument

Why this is incorrect: The 2025 examiner report specifically warns against evaluation drifting into lists of religious functions.

How to improve: Compare interpretations of the same function. For example, ask whether shared values demonstrate genuine consensus or ideological control.

Mistake: Assuming religion is necessary for stability

Why this is incorrect: AQA mark schemes recognise functional alternatives to religion.

How to improve: Distinguish between arguing that society benefits from particular functions and arguing that only religion can perform them.

Mistake: Forgetting that religion may cause social change

Why this is incorrect: The specification requires the relationship between religion, stability and change.

How to improve: Use religion and social change [Religion and social change] as direct evaluation of any claim that religion necessarily preserves the existing order.

Exam-Style Questions ✍️

Questions

1. Define the term social solidarity.[2 marks]

2. Explain one way in which religious rituals may contribute to social stability.[4 marks]

3. Explain one way in which the collective conscience may contribute to social order.[4 marks]

4. Outline and explain two ways in which religion may contribute to social stability.[10 marks]

5. Read Item A and answer the question that follows.

Item A

Members of a religious community regularly participate in shared ceremonies and express common moral beliefs. These practices give members a strong sense of belonging and remind them of values they share with others.

Religion may contribute to social integration.

Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which religion may contribute to social integration.[10 marks]

6. Read Item B and answer the question that follows.

Item B

Periods of rapid change can make people's lives feel uncertain. Religious beliefs may provide explanations for difficult experiences, while religious rituals can provide support at important points in people's lives.

Religion may help maintain stability during periods of change.

Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways in which religion may help maintain stability during periods of social change.[10 marks]

7. Read Item C and answer the question that follows.

Item C

Some sociologists argue that religion creates shared values, strengthens social solidarity and helps individuals cope with uncertainty. Other sociologists argue that religious stability may simply preserve unequal class and gender relationships.

Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate the view that religion contributes to social stability because it serves the needs of society as a whole.[20 marks]

8. Read Item D and answer the question that follows.

Item D

Societies may contain many different religious and non-religious beliefs. Religion may still create strong bonds within particular communities, while shared symbols and rituals may provide wider forms of collective identity.

However, religious diversity may make it difficult for religion to provide a single set of values for society.

Applying material from Item D and your knowledge, evaluate the view that religious diversity has reduced religion's ability to create social stability.[20 marks]

Answers and mark scheme

Question 1

Social solidarity refers to the social bonds that connect individuals and create a sense of unity or belonging within a group.

Award credit for a definition that clearly refers to social cohesion or connection between members of a group.

Question 2

A possible answer:

Religious rituals may contribute to stability by bringing people together in shared practices. Participating together can reinforce a collective identity and common values, increasing social solidarity. Greater integration may make members feel connected to the wider group and therefore contribute to social order.

Credit should be given for the developed chain:

ritual → shared experience → solidarity → integration/stability

Question 3

A possible answer:

The collective conscience consists of shared beliefs, values and moral understandings. If religion reinforces these shared values, individuals have common expectations about acceptable behaviour. This can increase value consensus and make social relationships more predictable, helping to maintain social order.

Credit should be given for linking the collective conscience explicitly to stability.

Question 4

Possible ways include:

Social solidarity: Shared religious beliefs and practices may strengthen bonds between individuals and integrate them into a community.

Value consensus: Religious socialisation may reinforce common norms and values, encouraging conformity and predictable behaviour.

Psychological functions: Religion may help people cope with uncertainty, reducing the disruptive effects of difficult experiences.

Cognitive functions: Religion may provide meaning and explanations for ultimate questions, helping people make sense of experiences.

Civil religion: Shared societal beliefs, symbols and rituals may provide collective identity even where traditional religious affiliation differs.

Two ways should be clearly identified and developed.

Evaluation is not required for an outline and explain question.

Question 5

Two developed applications are required.

First way: shared ceremonies

Use the item's reference to common ceremonies. A Durkheimian explanation could argue that collective religious practices strengthen members' sense of belonging and therefore produce social solidarity.

A developed chain might be:

shared ceremony → collective identity → stronger social bonds → integration

Second way: shared moral beliefs

Use the item's reference to common moral beliefs. Religion may strengthen the collective conscience or value consensus by reinforcing shared expectations concerning behaviour.

The process is:

shared religious values → common moral expectations → greater consensus → social order

Stronger answers will make both item hooks explicit and analyse how each results in integration.

Question 6

First way: cognitive function

Use the reference to explanations for difficult experiences. Religious beliefs may provide a framework through which people understand uncertainty or suffering. This may make disruptive experiences more meaningful and help individuals remain integrated into their community.

Second way: psychological function

Use the reference to rituals during important points in life. Religious practices or rites of passage may provide emotional support and social recognition during periods of uncertainty.

The chain might be:

life change → religious ritual/support → uncertainty becomes easier to manage → social relationships remain more stable

Strong answers should stay focused on stability during change, rather than simply describing religious beliefs.

Question 7

Indicative content may include:

Arguments supporting the view:

• Durkheim;

• sacred and profane;

• collective conscience;

• social solidarity;

• social integration;

• value consensus;

• religious rituals;

• Malinowski and psychological functions;

• rites of passage;

• Parsons and cognitive functions;

• ultimate questions;

• central value system;

• Bellah and civil religion;

• religion meeting social or psychological needs.

Arguments challenging the view:

• Marxism;

• ideological control;

• false class consciousness;

• opiate of the masses;

• class inequality;

• capitalism;

• religion maintaining the status quo;

• feminist interpretations;

• patriarchy;

• the possibility that shared values reflect powerful groups rather than society as a whole;

• religion as a force for social change;

• religious diversity;

• secularisation;

• functional alternatives.

A strong response should not simply list functionalist functions and then list Marxist criticisms.

Instead, directly evaluate each function.

For example:

Malinowski's argument that religion provides psychological support may explain why religious rituals help people cope with uncertainty. However, Marxists can reinterpret this same comfort as a mechanism that makes unequal circumstances easier to tolerate, meaning the resulting stability may serve existing power relations rather than society equally.

A reasoned conclusion might argue that religion can perform genuine integrative and supportive functions, particularly within religious communities and during periods of uncertainty. However, the existence of social order does not prove that its values are universally shared or equally beneficial. Functionalist explanations are therefore strongest at explaining how religion can produce stability, but weaker if they assume that the resulting stability automatically serves everyone.

Question 8

Indicative content may include:

Arguments that diversity reduces religion's stabilising role:

• absence of one shared religious worldview;

• weaker society-wide value consensus;

• different beliefs may challenge a common collective conscience;

• globalisation provides access to alternative beliefs;

• multi-faith society may make shared religious harmony more difficult;

• secular and religious worldviews may coexist.

Arguments against the view:

• religious communities may still create strong internal solidarity;

• cultural defence may strengthen group cohesion;

• psychological and cognitive functions can remain important;

• civil religion may provide wider forms of collective identity;

• religion may adapt rather than simply disappear;

• social stability does not necessarily require everyone to share an identical religion.

Evaluation should distinguish between:

stability within individual religious groups

and

stability across the whole society.

A strong judgement would be that religious diversity may weaken the traditional functionalist claim that one religion produces a society-wide collective conscience. However, it does not establish that religion has lost all stabilising functions. Religion may continue to create solidarity within communities, while civil religion or other shared beliefs may perform integrative functions across a more diverse society.