There are numerous ideas about whether religion acts as a conservative force or as a cause for social change. Some believe that it is a conservative force as it is seen as being traditional and defending moral values and it stabilizes society and preserves things as they are. However there is a paradox here as religions such as the Roman Catholic Church, who are very conservative, would welcome change in the form of a backwards step to a more traditional society. Others would argue that religion is a force for social change for example with liberation theology in Latin America, a movement wanting change for the poor. .
Functionalists believe that religion maintains social stability and that through the act of collective worship it helps unite individuals because it acts as a "social glue" that promotes value consensus and social solidarity. Durkheim argued that in order to see religion as a conservative force you need to look at three aspects. It maintains social solidarity, protects traditional values and may even change society but only in order to restore traditional values that are at risk of disappearing or already may have. He saw rituals and ceremonies as essential to unite members of society and pointed out that these ceremonies took people away from the profane pat of life and into the sacred, where they can feel in touch with higher forces. This creates unity within the social group and generates a collective conscience which maintains the status quo of society. He studied research of the religious beliefs and practices of .
Australian aborigines and studied the practice of totemism and argues that the totem acts as a symbol for the religion and it stands for the values within the religion, therefore worship of the totem is worship of the social group itself and so this maintains society. However because this is based on small scale secondary research its validity is questionable.