Les Motivations Des Conduites Religieuses Et Le Passage D'Une Civilisation Pré-Technique à uNe Civilisation Technique
Authors: Pin Emile 
Published: March 2007

After an introductory section in which are considered the diversity of religious phenomena from the point of view of motivation, the diversity which exists within the same religion, the discrepancy between motivations which are officially approved and effective motivations — and the causes of this discrepancy — the author discusses religious motivation and makes a distinction between primary and secondary motivation.

The primary motivations which are first encountered in the history of religions seem to be of the cosmological and biological order. They are based on man's lack of scientific and technical knowledge and the transition to a technical civilisation destroys them at the roots. In spite of technical control over the universe, however, man is still faced with the mystery of death and this in turn gives rise to the desire to prolong his temporal life in the time hereafter. Religions which preach salvation answer this desire. The motivation based on the desire for eternal salvation is much more resistant to socio-cultural changes than the other primary motivations mentioned, but it can, at the same time, lead to a break between normal contemporary activities and religious rites. A third primary motivation, and one which is equally capable of resisting socio- cultural changes, is the purely spiritual desire to do the will of God. The sociologist could question the possibility of observing such a motivation, but it is possible at least to observe the desire to acquire it.

Secondary motivations are those which lead people to become members of groups; the individual wishes to submit to the norms of the group. The latter may be a 'civil' group or it may be specifically religious. The first secondary motivation is that of cultural spontanaeity. It is encountered in personalities which are 'tradition-directed'. It does not require a conscious and deliberate attachment to prevailing customs. If the custom changes then the behaviour of the individual changes also. In the case of movement to a technical civilisation where the prevailing culture is pluralist and religiously neutral, the migrant, true to his habit

of confirming to the prevailing custom, will cling as faithfully to the new custom as he did to the old. The second motivation examined in the article is the socio-cultural motivation. This is encountered in personalities which are 'inner-directed' which see religion as a cultural institution and which look upon religious organisation as an agency of social control necessary for maintaining order and culture. When socio-cultural change occurs, this motivation does not lead to the abandonment of religious activities but rather to a concentration upon those activities which are kept alive in 'in-groups' where it is possible to nourish memories of the past.

The socio-religiorss motivation — that is, the motivation which comes from belonging to a religious society which is clearly distinguished from civil society — requires a sense of belonging to a religious group as such. A number of intermediary stages can come before the birth of this motivation towards the pure state: family, school, local group, ethnic minority, etc. This motivation can resist socio-cultural changes and, in particular, can be proof against the change to an industrial technical society.

In conclusion: the transition from a pre-industrial to an industrial society on the part of a particular social class, region or nation will be accom panied by the retention or even the renewal of religious activity, or, on the contrary, by its disappearance, largely as a result of the type of motivations which the religious society has produced in its members before the epoch of change. That which worked efficiently yesterday can be a cause of the failures and losses of tomorrow.