2 of 26

Write now Article Tools

Religion is probably one of the best examples that I can give of social control. Throughout the history of the world, no other method has been more successful than the use of religion in maintaining the control over people within a society. Religion has obviously become almost worthless as a means of controlling the majority of America, but there are still many countries around the world, where religion still is very much in charge of how they run their day to day lives. This is especially true in the Middle East.

The Middle East is probably one of the most obvious examples of how people are controlled by their religion. Think back to the war for a minute and the hundreds of people that have died by suicide when they bombed markets of opposing religions, they bombed American soldiers, they bombed holy centers. These people are acting out on the belief that what they are doing is right in the eyes of their savior. This if course isn't the norm in this region, but many people are led to believe that by doing these acts, they are able to prosper by some means in the holy world. These are the extremists that are giving American soldiers the most difficulty in the Middle East and are essentially the ones that are so anti-American in the first place.

Other examples of religion ruling over people can go back throughout time. Consider for example the Crusades. This was essentially a holy war that made an attempt to spread Christianity the world over, while at the same time bringing back incredible wealth to Europe and ultimately the churches. The reality was that the churches wanted more money for their coffers, so they created a plan to send out soldiers to obtain artifacts and gold for that purpose. Of course, I don't think they ever expected it to be as massive as it was.

You must also think of all the different kings and queens that would legitimize their authority by the divine right of god. Essentially in claiming this, they were stating that god had chosen them to rule over the people. The people would of course accept this claim and would allow their rulers to treat them horribly, because they feared what would happen if they rose up against someone that was controlled by god. They couldn't possible overthrow someone that had the support of the most powerful being known to man.

Religion has also played a major role in the United States early in its' history by blocking the use of birth control. Birth control wasn't acceptable because it was considered lewd,

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Means of social control?
We want to hear your view. Write now!