Topic 6: Organisations, Movements and Members

Question 1

1. What are the three main explanations sociologists offer for the growth of religious movements since the 1960s?

Answer 1

Marginality, relative deprivation, and social change.

Question 2

2. How does the concept of “marginality” explain the growth of sects according to Max Weber?

Answer 2

Sects arise in groups marginalized from society who feel disprivileged or lacking just economic rewards and social status.
Sects offer a theodicy of disprivilege, a religious explanation and justification for suffering, and promise future rewards for faith.

Question 3

3. How has the recruitment pattern of sect-like world-rejecting NRMs changed since the 1960s?

Answer 3

While historically sects recruited from the marginalized poor, world-rejecting NRMs have recruited mainly from affluent, educated young people who were marginalized by their countercultural lifestyles.

Question 4

4. Explain the concept of “relative deprivation” and its role in the growth of sects.

Answer 4

Relative deprivation refers to feeling deprived or disadvantaged compared to others, even if materially privileged.
Middle-class individuals may feel spiritually deprived in a materialistic world and turn to sects for community.

Question 5

How do Stark and Bainbridge explain the role of relative deprivation in the formation of sects?

Answer 5

Relatively deprived members break away from churches to form sects that safeguard the original message and emphasize teachings that reflect their experiences.

Question 6

What distinguishes world-rejecting sects in offering compensators to the deprived?

Answer 6

World-rejecting sects provide compensators, like rewards in the afterlife, for the deprived who lack rewards in this world.
Privileged individuals are attracted to world-accepting churches that express their status and worldly success.

Question 7

How does social change contribute to the growth of religious movements?

Answer 7

Rapid social change disrupts established norms and values, leading to anomie or normlessness.
Those affected by disruption may turn to sects as a solution to uncertainty and insecurity.

Question 8

Provide an example of a religious movement that emerged in response to social change.

Answer 8

The industrial revolution in Britain led to the birth of Methodism, offering a sense of community, clear norms, values, and the promise of salvation to the new industrial working class.

Question 9

How does Steve Bruce explain the growth of sects and cults in the context of modernization and secularization?

Answer 9

As society becomes more secularized, traditional churches and strict sects become less attractive due to their demanding nature.
People prefer cults because they require less commitment and fewer sacrifices.

Question 10

What are the factors that contributed to the growth of world-rejecting NRMs according to Wallis?

Answer 10

Social changes in the 1960s, increased time spent in education, freedom from adult responsibilities, development of a counter-culture, growth of radical political movements.

Question 11

According to Bruce, what led disillusioned youth to turn to religion instead of the counter-culture?

Answer 11

The failure of the counter-culture to bring about significant change in the world.

Question 12

How does Bruce explain the growth of world-affirming NRMs?

Answer 12

As a response to modernity, particularly the rationalization of work, where work no longer provides meaning or identity, and NRMs offer a sense of identity and techniques for success.

Question 13

Why have some ‘movements of the middle ground’ like the Jesus Freaks grown since the mid-1970s?

Answer 13

They have attracted disillusioned former members of world-rejecting NRMs, providing a transition to a more conventional lifestyle.

Question 14

What is Niebuhr’s perspective on the lifespan of sects?

Answer 14

Niebuhr argues that sects are short-lived and within a generation, they either die out or compromise with the world and become denominations.

Question 15

What are the reasons for the decline of sects according to Niebuhr?

Answer 15

Second-generation members lack the commitment of their parents.
Sects that practice asceticism become prosperous and upwardly mobile, leading to compromise with the world.
The death of a charismatic leader can lead to collapse or transformation into a denomination.

Question 16

What is the ‘Protestant ethic’ effect mentioned by Niebuhr?

Answer 16

Sects practicing asceticism tend to become prosperous and upwardly mobile, which may lead to compromise with the world and abandonment of world-rejecting beliefs.

Question 17

How do sects and NRMs differ in terms of their duration compared to established churches like the Catholic Church?

Answer 17

Sects are often short-lived, lasting only a single generation or less, while established churches have a longer history spanning many centuries.

Question 18

What is the significance of charismatic leadership in the development of sects?

Answer 18

Charismatic leaders play a crucial role in sects, and their death can lead to either collapse or transformation into a more formal bureaucratic leadership structure, potentially resulting in the sect becoming a denomination.

Question 19

How does the concept of ‘movements of the middle ground’ connect to the dynamics of sect development?

Answer 19

These movements provide a transitional space for disillusioned former members of world-rejecting NRMs to move towards a more conventional lifestyle.

Question 20

What is the “sectarian cycle” according to Stark and Bainbridge?

Answer 20

It describes a cycle that religious organizations go through: schism, initial fervor, denominationalism, establishment, and further schism.

Question 21

How do “world-rejecting NRMs” differ from “world-accommodating NRMs”?

Answer 21

World-rejecting NRMs are critical of the outside world, seek radical change, and require a sharp break with the former life. World-accommodating NRMs neither accept nor reject the world, focusing on religious matters and leading more conventional lives.

Question 22

What are the two common themes that characterize the New Age, according to Heelas?

Answer 22

Self-spirituality: Individuals seek spirituality within themselves rather than from traditional external religions.
Detraditionalization: The New Age rejects the spiritual authority of external traditional sources, valuing personal experience and inner truth.

Question 23

How does John Drane explain the popularity of the New Age in relation to postmodern society?

Answer 23

In postmodern society, people have lost faith in meta-narratives and traditional sources of truth, turning to the New Age idea that individuals can find truth within themselves.

Question 24

How does Bruce (1995; 2011) view the relationship between the New Age and modernity?

Answer 24

• He sees the growth of the New Age as a feature of modern society, not postmodernity.
• New Age beliefs align with the individualism valued in modern society, especially among those in expressive professions.
• New Age activities often water down traditional Eastern religions to appeal to Westerners, reflecting the consumerist ethos of capitalist society.

Question 25

According to Heelas (1996), how are the New Age and modernity linked in four ways?

Answer 25

1. Source of identity: New Age beliefs offer an authentic identity in a fragmented society with diverse roles. 2. Consumer culture dissatisfaction: The New Age provides an alternative path to achieve perfection amidst dissatisfaction with consumer promises. 3. Certainty and truth in social change: The New Age offers certainty and truth like sects during times of rapid social change. 4. Decline of organized religion: Modernity's secularization weakens traditional alternatives to New Age beliefs.

Question 26

What are the gender differences in religiosity in the UK according to Davie (2013)?

Answer 26

Gender differences exist in religious practice, belief, self-identification, private prayer, and other aspects of religiosity.

Question 27

Describe the gender differences in church attendance and self-identification. Stats

Answer 27

Most churchgoers are female and attend regularly. More women (54%) than men (41%) have a religion. More women (38%) than men (26%) say religion is important to them. More women (40%) than men (28%) describe themselves as 'spiritual'.

Question 28

How do women differ from men in terms of atheism and agnosticism? stats

Answer 28

Many fewer women (34%) than men (54%) are atheists or agnostics.

Question 29

Explain the three main reasons for women's higher levels of religiosity, according to Miller and Hoffman.

Answer 29

Gender differences in risk-taking: Men are less risk-averse, making them more likely to be non-religious. Socialization to be passive, obedient, and caring, qualities valued by religions. More scope for organizing time due to part-time work and caregiving roles.

Question 30

How does Pentecostalism relate to the 'Pentecostal gender paradox'?

Answer 30

Pentecostalism is patriarchal, but it provides women opportunities for self-improvement and empowerment. Pentecostalism demands an ascetic lifestyle and traditional gender roles, which can help women combat machismo culture.

Question 31

What factors contribute to the decline in women's participation in religious activities in the UK?

Answer 31

Movement of women into paid work and rejection of traditional gender roles.

Question 32

What is the concept of "cultural defence" in the context of ethnicity and religiosity?

Answer 32

Religion offers support, cultural identity, and community solidarity to minorities in an uncertain or hostile environment.

Question 33

How does religion facilitate "cultural transition" for minority groups?

Answer 33

Religion eases the transition into a new culture by providing support and community in the new environment.

Question 34

What are the three possible explanations for age differences in religiosity according to Voas and Crockett (2005)?

Answer 34

- The ageing effect: This is the view that people turn to religion as they get older. For example, using evidence from the Kendal Project, Heelas (2005) argues that people become more interested in spirituality as they age. As we approach death, we 'naturally' become more concerned about spiritual matters and the afterlife, repentance of past misdeeds and so on. As a result, we are more likely to go to church. - The period or cohort effect: People born during a particular period may be more or less likely to be religious because of the particular events they lived through, such as war or rapid social changes. - Secularisation: As religion declines in importance, each generation becomes less religious than the one before it.

Question 35

What is the main reason for age differences in religiosity, as suggested by Voas and Crockett?

Answer 35

- Secularization, where each generation becomes less religious than the one before.

Question 36

How has the decline of religious socialization impacted the generational transmission of religion?

Answer 36

Traditional methods of religious socialization, like Sunday schools, have declined, leading to fewer young people being raised religious.

Question 37

What is the likely consequence of the current trends in religious participation for future generations of churchgoers?

Answer 37

A steadily ageing population of churchgoers with a small and old minority of the UK population being practicing Christians.