Beliefs - Organisations & Movements - 5.6 Flashcards

Question

General Criticisms of Stark & Bainbridge

Answer 1

> Unclear involvement members need to have > e.g. groups Stark & Bainbridge use don’t fit neatly into categories

Answer 2

> Marginality > Relative deprivation > Anomie & Social Change

Answer 3

> Weber (Marginality) > Stark & Bainbridge (Marginality) > Stark & Bainbridge (Relative deprivation , Spirituality & Compensators) > Barker (Relative Deprivation) > Wilson (Anomie & Social Change) > Bruce (Anomie & Social Change)

Answer 4

> Fall of organised religion leaves a gap in market, sects arise in groups marginal in society. > Give theodicy of deprivilege for lack of status e.g. recruit from marginalised working class > e.g. Black Muslims recruited among oppressed blacks in US, due to inequality

Answer 5

> World rejecting NRMs give access to close-knit groups in the same position > Offer sense of security, clear values & reward in heaven.

Answer 6

> Middle class feel spiritually deprived compared to others in today’s materialistic & consumerist world - lacks emotional warmth > Sects give a sense of community

Answer 7

> Relative Deprivation middle class people form/join sects as a response to feeling spiritually deprived > People join sects for a sense of community >The relatively deprived break away from churches to form sects

Answer 8

> Middle class children feel neglected by career focused parents & suffer relative deprivation, NRM’s give an alternative family

Answer 9

> Rapid social change leads to anomie, undermines traditional values > NRMs give solution through sense of certainty, with clearly defined belief systems

Answer 10

> Increased social change due to secularisation, means people are less attracted to the traditional churches as they are strict & demanding > People join sects and cults with less sacrifices

Answer 11

> Wallis (Reasons for increased World Rejecting NRMs) > Bruce (Reasons for increasing World Rejecting and World Accomodating NRMs) > Wallis (Practical & Pragmatic Reasons) > Heelas (Practical & Pragmatic Reasons) > Wallis (Status Frustration) > Barker (Status Frustration) > Baudrillard (Globalisation & Media) > Giddens (Secularisation) > Lyotard & Baumann (Postmodernity)

Answer 12

> Social change from 60’s gave young freedom, letting idealistic counter culture develop > Increase of radical political movements offered alternative ideas about future > So World Rejecting NRM gave them an idealistic way of life

Answer 13

> Failure of counter-culture to change world, led to discouraged youth turning to religion instead

Answer 14

> Increased due to modernity, brings rationalisation of work, no longer source of identity > Give source of identity & techniques promising success in the world

Answer 15

> Teach techniques inspiring people to achieve emotionally & spiritually > Unlocking spiritual power within.

Answer 16

> Appeal to rich who feel gap in their lives > NRMs fills gaps in spirituality & the rich have the wealth to pay for services

Answer 17

> Marginality leads to status frustration, these movements appeal to the youth as NRMs provide support with identity & status > Separate from school /family, helping overcome status frustration

Answer 18

> Young people lack financial commitments of mortgage/rent & have more time outside work/family > So increased freedom for involvement in NRMS

Answer 19

> Now increased access to new belief systems in the world in a media-saturated society > Leads to people joining NRM’s to increase public profile & visibility and attract more members.

Answer 20

> Traditional religions are watered-down beliefs to fit in with an increasing secular world. > But people use NRM’s to get comfort & community that big religions don’t offer.

Answer 21

> Loss of faith in metanarratives, so created gaps with increased conflicting beliefs ``` > People experience a crisis of meaning as traditional forms of identity (class etc) are fragmented ``` > NRM’s fill gaps for a sense of identity retaining control & normality.

Answer 22

> Niebuhr (Denomination of Death) > Stark & Bainbridge (Sectarian Cycle) > Wilson’s (3 Established Sects) > Heelas (Growth of New Age) (Client Cults) > Heelas (Growth of New Age) (Self Spirituality, De-Traditonalisation) > Heelas (Trends Beyond Common Themes > Heelas (4 Ways New Age & Modernity is linked) > Drane (Postmodernity & New Age) > Bruce (Postmodernity & New Age)

Answer 23

> Sects are world rejecting and exists due to a split from the church > Within a generation they die out or compromise with world > They abandon their extreme ideas & become denomination.

Answer 24

> Problems maintaining commitment > Loss of Leader > Changing Circumstances > Postmodernism

Answer 25

> Barker (Problems Maintaining Commitment) | > Niebuhr (Problems Maintaining Commitment)

Answer 26

People can’t cope with strict discipline & rules extreme commitments needed, so puts people off

Answer 27

> Enthusiasm dies after 1st generation which leads to death of the sect > Or they adapt to be less of protest movement/tolerant of mainstream society. > e.g. cool down & become like denomination.

Answer 28

> Charismatic leader, attracted people to join in the first place, so group collapses without central figure > e.g. death/imprisonment.

Answer 29

> Can be increasingly eager e.g. if leader’s imprisoned. > The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church) continued after the arrest arrest of Warren Jeffs

Answer 30

> Personal reasons people joined slowly disappear and they may wish for a normal life > The second generation didn’t feel the initial reasons for joining so it is likely that they will leave > Sects will either die/ become denomination

Answer 31

> Fragmentation of belief means increased choice. > People try different sects with no commitment e.g. spiritual shopping. > Increased tolerance of beliefs don’t last due to changing consumer tastes.

Answer 32

1. Schism 2. Initial Fervour 3. Denominationalism 4. Establishment 5. Further Schism

Answer 33

Tensions develop between the needs of the deprived and privileged members of church, the deprived leave to found a world-rejecting sect

Answer 34

e.g. Charismatic leadership & tension between the sect's beliefs & wider society

Answer 35

‘Protestant ethic’ effect & cooling down of the second generation so initial fervour disappears

Answer 36

Sect becomes world-accepting - no tension with wider society

Answer 37

Zealous & less privileged members break away & found new sect true to original message

Answer 38

Patterns not the same for all sects, depends on the answer to the question ‘’what shall we do to be saved?"

Answer 39

> Conversionist > Established > Advent

Answer 40

e.g. evangelicals aim to convert lots of people and become increased larger formal denominations

Answer 41

> e.g. Jehovah’s Witnesses awaiting second coming of christ > To be saved, must be separate from corrupt world > Does not compromise with the world and therefore does not become a denomination.

Answer 42

Survive for many generations, but don’t become denomination | e.g. Amish and Mormons

Answer 43

> Estimated to cover 2000 activities & 140 000 practitioners in the UK > Very loosely organised > Very diverse - beliefs include UFOs, astrology, meditation etc.

Answer 44

𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 > Move away from traditional established churches to find spirituality inside selves 𝗗𝗲-𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 > Rejects spiritual authority of traditional sources > e.g. priests, value personal experience & can find truth in ourselves

Answer 45

> Most New Age offer both World Affirming aspects helping people succeed > Rejects external traditional sources allowing individuals to discover enlightenment in their inner world

Answer 46

> Loss of faiths in scientists who promise progress but instead have given us global warming > Disappointed with churches’ failure to meet spiritual needs

Answer 47

> Individualism in late modernity 'expressive professions’ focused on human potential > e.g. artists/social workers, who the New Age most appeals to > Less demanding version of traditional eastern religions e.g. Buddhism. > New Age Self Spirituality reflecting increasing consumerism

Answer 48

> Source of Identity > Consumer Culture > Rapid Social Change > Decline of Organised Religion

Answer 49

> People with different roles e.g. work, home, friends with no overlap lead to a fragmented identity. > New Age beliefs offer an authentic identity.

Answer 50

> Creates dissatisfaction due to not delivering perfection promised e.g. advertising > New Age offers alternative way to achieve perfection.

Answer 51

Disrupts established norms & values, leading to anomie, New Age gives sense of certainty & truth.

Answer 52

> Modernity means secularisation and the decline of organised religion - New Age beliefs offer an alternative > e.g. New Age strongest with low church-attendance e.g. California