Explaining the Growth of Religious Movements

Question 1

Describe marginality as an explanation for the growth of RM

Answer 1

• Weber argues WR sects appeal those who are marginalised in society (may feel deprivileged and are pushed out of society)
• Sects offer a theodicy of disprivilege (a religious explanations for their suffering) and they offer integration, support and statis which is denied in wider society
• e.g. high membership of Black Americans in NRMs since WW2

Question 2

Describe relative deprivation as an explanation for the growth of RM

Answer 2

• Relative deprivations refers to the subjective sense of being deprived.
• Stark and Bainbridge argues the marginalisation argument ignores that NRMs attract MC. While they may not be materially deprived, they feel ‘spiritually deprived’. This may be due to the ‘spiritual vacuum’, the more material wealth, the more spiritual deprivation and individual feels)
• This also explains the growth in world-accommodating Churches which allows members to balance between the materials and spiritual world

Question 3

Describe pragmatic motives as an explanation for the growth of RM

Answer 3

• Heelas suggests that many NRMs appeal to the wealthy and highly educated who whose religious organisation as ‘Escapes from the pressure of work and family e.g. MC women are attracted to spirituality as they deal with children, work etc.
• The NRMs give the followers a ‘break’ from reality which allows them to continue to function and be successful

Question 4

Describe social change as an explanation for the growth of RM

Answer 4

• Wilson argues rapid change undermines established norms, producing anomie (normlessness). In response to uncertainty that this creates, those who are most affected by the disruption may turn to sects as a solution e.g. growth of Methodism during the Industrial Revolution
• Bruce also argues that society is now secularised so people are less attracted to the traditional churches and strict sects as these demand too much commitment. So people prefer cults as they’re less demanding.

Question 5

Why have world-rejecting NRMs grown?

Answer 5

• Wallis points to social changes from the 1960s impacting on young people (increased time spent in education). This gave them freedom from adult responsibilities and enabled a counter-culture to develop
• Also, the growth of radical political movements offered alternative ideas about the future. WR NRMs were attractive in this context because they offered young people a more idealistic way of life. Bruce argues it was the failure of the counter-culture to change the world that led to youth turning to religion instead.

Question 6

Why have world -affirming NRMs?

Answer 6

• Bruce argues their growth is a response to modernity, especially to the rationalisation of work. Work no longer provides meaning or a source of identity (unlike the past, such as the Protestant ethic).
• World-affirming NRMs provide both a sense of identity and techniques that promise success in this world

Question 7

Describer Niebuhr’s argument that sects either die or become denominations

Answer 7

Niebuhr argues that sects are short-lived and that within a generation, they die out or compromise with the world and become a denomination. This is because:
- The second generation (born into the sect) lack the commitment of their parents, who had consciously rejected the world and joined voluntarily
- The ‘Protestant ethic’ effect: Sects that practise asceticism (hard work and saving) tend to become prosperous. Such members will be tempted to compromise with the world, so they’ll either leave or it will abandon its world-rejecting beliefs
- Death of the leader: Sects with a charismatic leader either collapse on their death or a more formal leadership takes over, transforming it into a denomination

Question 8

Describe the sectarian cycle

Answer 8

• Stark and Bainbridge see religious organisation moving through a cycle
• In the 1st stage, schism, there’s tension between the needs to deprived and privileged members of a church. Deprived members break away to found a WR sect
• The 2nd stage is initial fervour, with a charismatic leadership and great tension between the sect’s beliefs and those of wider society
• In the 3rd stage, denominationalism, the ‘Protestant ethic’ effect and the coolness of the 2nd generation mean the fervour disappears
• the 4th stage, establishment, sees the sect become more world-accepting and tension with wider society reduces
• In the final stage, further schisms results when less privileged members break way to a new sect true to the original message

Question 9

Describe how sects may become established

Answer 9

• Wilson argues that some sects survive without becoming a denomination, this depends on whether they’re conversionist (they’re more likely to become a denomination as their aim to convert as many people as possible) or Adventist (they’re more likely to survive as a cult as it’s important to them to be separate from society)
• He argues that many sects have maintained their status as sects e.g. Amish, so they’ve become established sects

Question 10

Describe the effect of globalisation on sects?

Answer 10

• Wilson argues that globalisation will make it harder in future for sects to keep secs to keep themselves separate from the outside world
• But globalisation makes it easer to recruit in developing countries, where there are large numbers of deprived people for whom the message of sects is attractive e.g. Pentecostalists

Question 11

What is the ‘New Age’?

Answer 11

• The ‘New Age’ covers a range of beliefs and Heeleas estimates that there are about 2,000 client cults in the UK
• They are diverse and include beliefs in aliens, astrology, crystals, yoga and meditation etc.

Question 12

What are the characteristics of the New Age?

Answer 12

• Self spirituality: New Agers seeking the spiritual have turned away from traditional ‘external religions’ like churches, and instead look insider themselves to find it
• Detraditionalisation: The New Age rejects the spiritual authority of external traditional sources such as priests of scared texts. Instead it values personal experiences and believes that we can discover the truth for ourselves and withing ourselves
• New Age beliefs vary, e.g. they include world-affirming aspects that help people succeed in the everyday outer world and world-rejecting elements that allow people to achieve enlightenment in their inner world.

Question 13

Why is New Age religion popular in post modern society?

Answer 13

• Drane argues that its appeal is part of the shirt to postmodernity.
• A feature of postmodern society is a loss of faith in meta-narratives. Science promised to bring progress to a better world but has given us war and environmental destruction.
• As a result, people have lost faith in experts like scientists, and they’re disillusioned with the churches’ failure to meet their spiritual needs. So they’re turning to the New Age idea that each of is can find the truth for ourselves by looking within

Question 14

Why is New Age religion popular in modern society?

Answer 14

• Bruce argues modern society values individualism which is also a key principle of New Age beliefs. It’s also an important value for those in the ‘expressive professions’ concerned with human potential such as community workers, the group to whom the New Age appeals most.
• Bruce notes that New Age beliefs are often softer versions of more demanding traditional Eastern religions (Buddhism) that have been ‘watered down’ to make them palatable to Westerners. This explains why New Age activities are often audience and client cults and the ‘pick and mix spiritual shopping’

Question 15

What are 4 ways that the New Age and modernity as linked, identified by Heelas?

Answer 15

• A source of identity: In modern society, the individual has many different roles (work/family) but there’s little overlap between them, resulting in a fragmented identity. New Age beliefs offer a source of ‘authentic’ identity
• Consumer culture: creates dissatisfaction as it delivers the perfection that it promises (e.g. in advertising) The New Age offers an alternative way to achieve perfection
• Rapid social change: in modern society disrupts established norms, resulting in anomie. The New Age provides a sense of certainty and truth.
• Decline of organised religion: Modernity leads to secularisation, thereby removing the traditional alternatives to New Age beliefs