Table of Contents
Definition of Belief System
(noun) A set of beliefs held by a particular society, culture, or individual.
Examples of Belief System
Belief System Pronunciation
Syllabification: be·lief sys·tem
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /buh-lEEf sIs-tuhm/
- British English – /bi-lEEf sIs-tim/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /bɪˈlif ˈsɪstəm/
- British English – /bɪˈliːf ˈsɪstɪm/
Usage Notes
- Plural: belief systems
- A belief system can refer to political and scientific perspectives, but typically describes the religious views or the values of a group.
Related Quotation
- “Violation of taboos is punishable by the group or even, according to certain belief system, by a supernatural force. The incest taboo which prohibits sexual or marital relations between certain categories of kin, is an example of a nearly universal taboo” (Kendall 2006:56).
Additional Information
- Religion Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “belief” and “system” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Borhek, James T., and Richard F. Curtis. 1975. A Sociology of Belief. New York: Wiley & Sons.
- Hicks, David, ed. 2010. Ritual and Belief Readings in the Anthropology of Religion. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
- Law, John, ed. 1986. Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge? London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Related Terms
- atheism
- belief
- established sect
- megachurch
- monotheism
- mores
- prayer
- priest
- secularization
- value
- worldview
Reference
Kendall, Diana. 2006. Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Works Consulted
Abercrombie, Nicholas, Stephen Hill, and Bryan Turner. 2006. The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. 5th ed. London: Penguin.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Andersen, Margaret L., and Howard Francis Taylor. 2011. Sociology: The Essentials. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Bruce, Steve, and Steven Yearley. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Ferrante, Joan. 2011a. Seeing Sociology: An Introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Ferrante, Joan. 2011b. Sociology: A Global Perspective. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.
Macionis, John, and Kenneth Plummer. 2012. Sociology: A Global Introduction. 4th ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).
Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 1997. New York: Random House.
Schaefer, Richard. 2013. Sociology: A Brief Introduction. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Shepard, Jon M. 2010. Sociology. 11th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Shepard, Jon M., and Robert W. Greene. 2003. Sociology and You. New York: Glencoe.
Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Cite the Definition of Belief System
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “belief system.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 26, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/belief-system/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
belief system. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/belief-system/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “belief system.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 26, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/belief-system/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“belief system.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/belief-system/>.