Beliefs in Society:
Organisation, Movements, and Members:
Typologising Religious Organisations and Movements:
• The first attempt to categorise different types of religious organisation was Ernst
Troeltsch.
Church: Denomination: Sect: Cult:
-Largest -Medium -Smallest -Medium
-Middle class -Working class/ -Working class/ -Middle classes
-Low commitment ethnic minorities ethnic minorities -Low commitment
-Inclusive -Higher -High commitment -Inclusive
membership commitment -Very exclusive membership
-Monopoly of truth -More exclusive -Monopoly of truth -No monopoly of
-Formal, paid clergy, -No monopoly of -Hierarchical truth
hierarchical, truth -Organised around -Loose knit
bureaucratic - Formal, paid charismatic leader networks, client
-Allied with state clergy, hierarchical, -Sometimes in customer relations
-Accepts bureaucratic conflict with state -Generally apolitical
mainstream values -Separate from state -Rejects mainstream -Accepts
-e.g. CofE -Accepts values mainstream values
mainstream values -e.g. Moonies -e.g. scientology
-e.g. Methodism
• Churches attempt to be universal and accept all members of society
• Churches tend to be ideologically conservative, supporting values and beliefs of
those in a position of power
• Often carry out social functions in relation to politics and schools
• Churches traditionally try to protect and preserve a monopoly of the religious truth,
claiming they are the only genuine religion within society
• Robertson argues that there has been an increase in Church-state tensions
• Unlike Churches, denominations are not connected to the state
• Wilson suggests that sects have the following main features:
o Exist in tension with wider society and reject societal norms and values
o Impose merits and tests on members
o Stern discipline, regulation of beliefs and lifestyles of members
o Demand ongoing commitment from members overriding other interests
o Lead by a charismatic leader
• Weber distinguishes between two belief systems that typify churches and sects:
o Rationalised system = people follow pre-determined rules and have specific
expectations of how the system acts – authority is derived from the system
itself (Churches)
o Charismatic system = follow an individual person because they believe that
this person has a special status which transcends normal experiences (Sects)
• Stark and Bainbridge distinguish between sects and cults:
o Sect = schism from Church, other-worldly beliefs, conflict with wider society
, o Cult = new religion, this-worldly, work alongside wider society
• Evaluation:
o Bruce argues that both churches and sects have drifted towards
characteristics of denominations
o Alridge argues groups such as Mormons have an ambiguous position
• Since the 1960s, there has been an explosion in the number of new religions and
organisations
• This has led to new attempts to classify them, such as from Roy Wallis
• Wallis’ typifications of New Religious Movements:
o World Rejecting = in direct opposition with the external world and rejects
mainstream norms and values (e.g. The Family International)
o World Accommodating = tend to live fairly normal lives but live in parallel of
societal norms, neither rejecting nor accepting them (e.g. Methodism)
o World Affirming = accept the world as it is and promise followers success in
mainstream goals (e.g. Scientology_
• Stark and Bainbridge Typologies of New Religious Movements:
o Audience cults = little face-to-face interaction
o Client cults = offer a particular service to their followers
o Cultic movements = organised and demand higher levels of commitment
• Evaluation of typologies:
o Is Wallis classifying based on the movement’s teachings or the individual
member’s beliefs?
o Wallis recognises that NRMs rarely fit neatly into his typologies
o Stark and Bainbridge argue it is more useful to categorise based on tension
with wider society
Explaining the Growth of Religious Movements:
• Since the 1960s, there has been a rapid growth in the number of sects and cults, and
in the number of people belonging to them.
• Between 1995 and 2005, scientology grew from 121,8000 to 165,000 members
• Moonies more than trebled to 1.2 million
• Social Change: Wilson states that sects tend to arise when there is rapid social
change and a disruption in social norms and values
• People may find comfort in the rigidness of a sect
• For example, the dislocation created by the industrial revolution in Britain in the late
18th Century and early 19th Century led to the birth of Methodism – which offered a
sense of community, warmth, and fellowship
• Bruce sees the growth of sects and cults today as a response to the social changes
involved in modernisation and secularisation
• People prefer the less demanding nature of cults
• Marginality: Troeltsch noted that sects tend to draw members from the poor and
oppressed
• Weber argues that sects tend to arise in groups who are marginal in society
• Such groups may feel they are disprivilege – they are not receiving their just
economic rewards or social status
, • Weber’s Theodicy of Disprivilege = a religious explanation and justification for their
suffering and disadvantage
• This may explain their misfortune as a test of faith, for example, while holding out
the promise of rewards in the future for keeping the faith
• Sects and millenarian movements have historically recruited from the young and the
poor such as the Nation of Islam
• However, many sects such as the Moonies recruit from the educated middle class
• Relative deprivation: the subjective sense of the deprived and not necessarily the
materially deprived
• Feeling spiritually deprived and seeing the world as materialistic, lonely, and
impersonal
• Wallis argues this explains the middle class turning towards sects and cults
• Wallis also explains the growth of World Rejecting NRMs compared to World
Affirming NRMS:
o World rejecting are a response to increased time in education and the
emergence of a counter-culture and radical movements – Bruce argues it is
the failure of counter-cultures to change the world that leads to disillusioned
youth turning to religion instead
o Bruce argues the growth in world affirming NRMs are response to modernity
and rationality – provides a sense of identity and techniques for success
The Dynamics of Sects and NRMs:
• While Churches such as the Catholic Church and the Church of England have a long
and established history, Sects and Cults are often short-live organisations, frequently
lasting a generation or less.
• Niebuhr argues that sects are world-rejecting organisations that come into existence
because of schism – splitting from an established church because of a disagreement
over religious doctrine
• Niebuhr argues that sect are short-lived, or they become a denomination for several
reasons:
o The second generation = born into the sect and lack the commitment and
fervour of their parents
o The ‘Protestant Ethic’ effect = sects that practice asceticism tend to become
prosperous and upwardly mobile (e.g. Methodists) and become tempted to
compromise with the world
o Death of a leader = when the charismatic leader dies, the sect collapse or a
bureaucratic leadership takes over
• Stark and Bainbridge see sects going through the sectarian cycle:
o In the first stage, schism, there is tension between the needs of deprived and
privileged members of a church
o Deprived members break away to found a world-rejecting sect
o The second stage is initial fervour with a charismatic leader and tension
between the sect and wider society
o The third stage is denominationalism, the fervour disappears
o The four stage is establishment, the sect becomes world-accepting
o The final stage is further schism when a more zealous group breaks away
, • However, Wilson argues that not all sects follow the sectarian cycle depending on
which category they fall into:
o Conversionist = these sects aim to convert large numbers of people and are
likely to grow rapidly into formal denominations
o Adventist = these believe they must hold themselves separate from the
corrupt world to save themselves – this separatism prevents them from
compromising and becoming a denomination
• Wilson argues globalisation will make it harder for sects to remain separate
• The term ‘New Age’ covers a range of beliefs and activities that have been
widespread since the 1980s – Heelas estimates there are 2000 such activities and
146,000 practitioners in the UK
• Heelas argues there are two common themes that characterise the New Age:
o Self-spirituality = New Agers seeking the spiritual have turned away from
traditional ‘external’ religions such as the churches and instead look inside
themselves to find it
o Detraditionalism = The New Age rejects the spiritual authority of external
traditional sources such as priests or sacred texts. Instead it values personal
experience and believes that we can discover the truth for ourselves and
within ourselves
• Postmodernity and the New Age: John Drone argues the appeal of the New Age is
part of the shift towards postmodern society with a loss of faith in meta-narratives
and loss of faith in experts
• The New Age and Modernity: Bruce argues the New Age is part of modern society
which values individualism. Bruce notes that New Age beliefs are often softer
versions of much more demanding and self-discipline Eastern religions such as
Buddhism.
• Bruce sees the New Age eclecticism as typical of religion in late modern society,
reflecting the consumerist ethos of capitalist society.
• Similarly, Heelas sees the New Age and Modernity as linked:
o Source of identity – authentic identity against our fractured roles
o Consumer culture – alternative way to achieve perfection
o Rapid social change – provides a sense of certainty and truth
o Decline of organised religion – modernity leads to secularisation
Religious Membership:
• 81% of African Caribbeans see religion as very important in their lives
• 62% of Muslims attend weekly service
• 11% of white Anglicans see religion as very important and 9% attend weekly worship
• Norris and Inglehart – Existential Security Theory: people who do not feel secure are
more likely to turn to religion
• The West can have a higher standard of living, welfare state, political stability
• Those who have migrate here may feel less secure than the white British population
• Marxism: ‘opiate of the people’ ‘sigh of the oppressed’
• Ethnic minorities may feel very oppressed and downtrodden in the UK so rely on
religion as an opiate
• Religion can be a sigh and letting go of oppression for ethnic minorities
