Beliefs- Topic 6(Paper2) Flashcards
According to Troeltsch, what is a church?
Large organisation, often with millions of members such as the Catholic Church run by a bureaucratic hierarchy of professional preists.
According to Troeltsch, what is a sect?
Small. exclusive groups.
What is a cult
It’s a less conerent religious organisation, focus of cults tend to be an individual experience, brining like-minded individuals together.
How are churches and sects similar in the way they see themselves?
Claim the monopoly of truth.
How are denominations and cults similar in the way they see themselves?
Accept that there can be many valid interpretations.
How does wider society see churches and denominations?
They are seen as respectable and legitimate.
How does wider society see sects and cults?
Seen as deviant.
What is world-rejecting?
Sects tend to fit this category. Organised religions which focus on the God and higher powers. Highly critical of the world and seek radical change followers reject their normal lives.
What is world-affirming?
Newer cult activity fits this category. They lack organisation and tend to offer spiritual or super ‘services’ to followers or customers. They accept the world as it is and are optimistic of their follower’s ability to achieve success.
3 Criticisms of Wallis’ classification (world affirming/rejecting).
-It’s unclear whether he categorises the movements based on the teachings of the movement or the actions of the followers.
-Wallis himself acknowledges that some organisations don’t fit neatly into one category.
-Stark and Bainbridge believe that we need to focus more on the nature of the relationship between organisation and wider society.
According to Stark and bainbridge what are scets and cults?
Sects- smaller organisations which spoilt from mainstream religions due to disagreements about religious teachings.
Cults- New religions which are created from scratch or spiritual movements which have been imported from elsewhere.
According to Stark and bainbridge what benefits do sects and cults offer their followers.
Sects- sects ate ‘other worldly’- promise benefits such as salvation in afterlife for those who are economically or ethnically deprived.
Cults- Cults are this worldly- focuses on real techniques to improve life for those who are suffering from psychic or organismic deprivation.
Audience cults.
Are least organised and involve little interaction between followers, eg, interest in horoscopes
Client cults.
Are based on relationships between consultants and customers: consultants provide spiritual fulfilment eg. medication.
Cultic movements.
Are more organised and require more commitment: they promise to meet spiritual needs of members provided they dedicate their time to the organisation eg. scientology.
Why are marginal groups in society more likely to join sects?
Weber believes marginalised groups may join sects when they feel that they’re not receiving economic reward.
What does Weber mean by a ‘theodicy of disprivilege?
It’s a justification for this inequality that’s offered by sects eg. you may get rewards in the future.
According to Wallis, why do some well-educated young, middle class whites join sects?
Many middle class people are marginalised eg, hippies or drug users and so many join sects due to this.
Relative deprivation.
Subjective sense of being deprived
why might middle-class people feel spiritually deprived?
they may feel spiritually deprived as the world lacks, moral values and warmth
why do world rejecting sects appeal to the deprived?
deprived people are likely to break away from mainstream organisations in order to protect its original message.
Why are the privileged more likely to join world-accepting churches?
They express their status and bring them more sucesss.
According to Wilson, why do sects emerge in periods of rapid social change?
Due to Anomie.
According to Bruce, why do people join sects in response to secularisation?
some sects and cults require less commitment.
what’s the reason for the growth in World rejecting NRMs and world-affirming NRMs?
World rejecting NMRs- grew as a result of radical political movements, increased time spent on education and offering young people a more idealistic way of life.
World-affirming NMRs- Grew due to rationalisation. When we don’t get rewards they can give us a sense of identity.
Define schism.
Splitting from an established church or denomination.
Explain Niebuhrs 3 reasons for sects being short lived?
The 2nd generation- born into the sect lack the commitment of theor parents who joined voluntarily.
The ‘Protestant ethic’ effect- May help the members to become more prosperous turning the organisation into a denomination as they abandon world rejecting beliefs.
Death and leader- the organisation will either collapse or again turn denominational.
According to Wilson, what patterns do conversionist and adventist sects follow
Conversionist- such as mormonism tend to grow in number as they make it their mission to attract more members; they tend to end up being almost denominational.
Adventist- Such as the seventh day adventists are awaiting the second coming of christ they therefore tend to segregate themselves from the corrupt world around them
3 example of established sects
Amish
Quakerism
Pentecostalism
According to a wilson why is it becoming more difficult for sects to keep themselves separate?
Because the rise in globalisation and media, contact between different social groups is increasing so isolation is a challenge which could cause the sect to lose power.
what is the positive impact of globalisation for some sects?
it can benefit sects which are struggling in developed countries as they can now access other parts of the world to attract members there.
4 example of New Age beliefs.
Astrology
Tarot
Psychotherapy
Medication
What is self spirituality
looking inside oneself.
What is detraditionalisation.
Personal experience and discovering truth. Generally classed as world affirming as they focus on individual potential.
What are meta narratives
Big stores or claims of truth.
Why have people lost faith in professionals such as scientists and doctors?
science promised to bring about a better world but it’s as failed.
According to Bruce, why is the growth of the new age a feature of modern society?
Modern society promotes individualism and this is a key principle of new age movements.
why are new age activities attractive to westerners!”?
as they are similar to eastern religious but watered down.
explain the 4 ways in which Heelas links the new age and modernity
A source of identity- modern society offers many identities, NAMs offers and authentic identity.
Consumer culture- never offers perfection the new age does.
rapid social change- creates anomie, the new age offers a sense of certainty.
decline of organised religion- modernity leads to secularisation, thereby removing the traditional alternatives.
3 main reasons for women’s higher levels of religiosity (Miller and Hofferman’s)
-Women tend to be risk averse whereas men tend to be risk takers. Not going to church can be risky as it could lead to failure to enter heaven.
-Women are taught to be more submissive and passive than men these characteristics are associated with being more religious.
-Social roles. Men are more likely to be hill time breadwinners and women are more likely to be housewives/ work part time and raise children. this give them more time also personal identity and taking children to church can be an extension of the mother role.
According to Bruce what was the reason for women’s higher religiosity in the past?
it’s a result of their lower levels of involvement in paid work.
2 reasons why religion remains attractive to some women.
-women still perform caring roles and religion is still linked to this.
-religion has become feminised and this attracts more women.
Why are women more often associated with nature?
due to childbirth and the healing role.
According to Bruce how does women’s experience of child rearing make them more likely to be attracted to new age movements?
women are more caring and need to feel and this fits with NAMs
Explain the role conflict that women in paid work suffer from.
Women in paid work experience conflict between the instrumental work role and the expressive role.
Explain what woodhead means by the individual sphere.
it’s the 3rd role women perform and this is concerned with personal growth.
According to brown why do self religions attract women.
as they appel to their wish for autonomy.
why might women be attracted by fundamentalism
as these religions offer certainty.
Explain the class differences in the types of religion the appeal to women identified by Bruce
Working class women tend to continue to support religions which believe in an all powerful God and in which they are quite passive. Middle class women have more experience of controlling their lives and are more attracted to new age groups in which individuals can develop their own spirituality b
Organismic deprivation
women are more likely to suffer i’ll mental health
ethical deprivation
women have higher morals and so join sects as they tend to be strict
social deprivation
women tend to be poor
In what ways is pentecostalism a patriarchal religion
men are viewed as the head of the house and the head of the church.
according to Bruso, why is pentecostalism attractive to women despite its patriarchal features
due to its strict calvinist principles. they attract women as they can exert control over their husbands.
why had religious participation declined among women in the UK
They’re becoming less religious due to paid work and decline of traditional roles.
why do women reject treaditional religions?
as they reject traditional gender roles
cultural defence
a source of community defence
cultural transitions
helps people to cope with stress of migration and eases transition to new society culture
the ageing effect as an explanation for age differences in religiosity
people become more religious as they are. life experiences eg having children or getting older might encourage time to return to religion.
the period or cohort effect as an explanation for age differences in religiosity
period effect those born in a particular period (time) are more lucky to be religious than those born at another time period.
secularation as an explanation for age differences in religiosity
progressive decline each generation is less religious than the period one.
According to Voas and corckett which of the 3 reasons for age differences in religiosity is the main one.
Secularisation.
