Chapter 9

Question 1

Secularization (durkhiem)

Answer 1

Ideas and rituals in Religion is on the decline

Question 2

What is the most common religious group

Answer 2

Ecclesia, then churches, then sects, then cults

Question 3

What is Jehovah witness

Answer 3

Sect

Question 4

What is an example of denomination

Answer 4

Judaism and Christianity

Question 5

Which religious groups are seen as deviant

Answer 5

¬ Sects and cults are more isolated from mainstream society and are the religious groups that are traditionally seen as deviant and in need of social control.
¬ Religious groups that are characterized by high levels of tension with the broader society are perceived as deviant. Cults are seen as more deviant than sects

Question 6

Beliefs

Answer 6

anything that you personally think is true, regardless of whether it is actually true or not.
¬ Single beliefs are combined with other interrelated beliefs into organized sets of belief systems
¬ There are two different types of relationships between belief systems and deviance: belief systems as deviance, and belief systems as social typers of deviance.

Question 7

Social embeddedness of religious belief systems

Answer 7

¬ the process by which religious belief systems emerge, the role that religion plays in people’s lives, and the relationships between religion and other social structures or processes.

Question 8

Ecclessia

Answer 8

refers to state religions: a specific religious belief system is adopted at a governmental level and becomes a nation’s “official” religion.

Question 9

Churches

Answer 9

¬ are not “official” religions of an entire society, but are large and powerful religious groups,

Churches are further subdivided into denominations such that there are different types of Christianity and Judaism

Question 10

Sects

Answer 10

¬ are smaller religious groups that have usually broken away from larger churches at some point in their history. They are less established in society than churches

are churches with people of lower social status and members of marginalized groups. Emphasizes rewards come not in life, but the afterlife.

Question 11

Cults

Answer 11

¬ are usually smaller than sects, frequently having only a handful of members. Their doctrine is more reactionary and oppositional with intense level of commitment from members.

Question 12

How are religious groups perceived as deviant

Answer 12

¬ Religious groups that are characterized by high levels of tension with the broader society are perceived as deviant. Cults are seen as more deviant than sects

Question 13

Why are sects and cults seen as deviant

Answer 13

¬ are more isolated from mainstream society and are the religious groups that are traditionally seen as deviant and in need of social control.

Question 14

Denominational sect

Answer 14

verging on being seen as a conventional Christian denomination

Question 15

Established sect

Answer 15

¬ JW are an established sect because of tension that continues to exist with the societies in which they reside.

Question 16

Deviancy amplification

Answer 16

when a deviant group becomes more extreme as a response to hostilities or social control efforts from outsiders

Question 17

How are cults constructed in the media.

Answer 17

The media portrays them as “folk devils” which contributes to moral panic.

Question 18

Controlling “deviant religions”

Answer 18

Measures of social control emerge from the anti-cult movement, counter-cult movement, media, and governments

Question 19

Anti-cult movement for controlling “deviant” religions

Answer 19

o targets only certain religious groups—those considered to be “destructive”

Question 20

Counter-cult movement for controlling “deviant” religions

Answer 20

o a movement with its philosophy not being based on internationally recognized legitimate limits to religious freedom. They are opposed to religious freedom itself. These groups engage in measures to eliminate “deviant” religions in a larger attempt to recruit coverts to their own religious groups.

Question 21

Governments for controlling “deviant” religions

Answer 21

o governments have the power to create legislation, policies, and programs that will curb the destructive nature of “deviant” religions.

Question 22

Social typing of deviance

Answer 22

¬ religious belief systems also play a role in the social typing of deviance—their proclamations of truth incorporate moral truths as well.
Religious belief systems also serve as social types of deviance at the societal level

Question 23

Science

Answer 23

knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths of the operation of general laws, especially as obtained and tested through scientific method

Question 24

Is Science the social typer of deviance or socially typed itself?

Answer 24

¬ Religion is subjected to social control and yet also steers processes of social control—it is socially typed but also socially types others.
¬ Science serves a social control function, dictating to us what is deviant and providing means for controlling that deviance. It is also subject to social control itself to prevent and resolve deviance.

Scientists can be typed as deviant when they engage in scientific misconduct

Question 25

Scientific misconduct

Answer 25

¬ used as an umbrella term to refer to scientific practices deemed unacceptable or inappropriate because they intentionally manipulate research outcomes.

Question 26

What are two explanations for scientific misconduct

Answer 26

Bad apple/person theory and iceberg theory

Question 27

The bad apple/bad person theory

Answer 27

o Deviant acts committed by scientists used to be explained based on individual facts—the bad apple/bad person theory of scientific deviance. A few bad scientists commit deviant acts in their work for similar reasons as why people commit crimes.

Question 28

Iceberg theory

Answer 28

claims that it is far more common than we might think, and that those scientists whose misconduct is detected are just the tip of the iceberg. Proponents of the iceberg theory argue that focusing on a single bad apple obscures complicity, institutional environments, and research contexts that produce or endorse fabrications.

Question 29

Strain theory (Robert Merton)

Answer 29

scientific deviant can be considered an example of the mode of adaptation called innovation; that is the gap between legitimized goals and access to in “innovative” ways.

Question 30

Robert Merton’s normative structure of science–four norms of science

Answer 30

Communism
Skepticism
Disinterestedness
Universalism

Question 31

Social Darwanism

Answer 31

¬ applied the Darwanism concept of evolution to history and society. The theory proposed that just as biological aspects evolve over time, so do human societies, from “primitive” to “civilized”. This theory was soon popularized as the science of eugenics.

Question 32

What is the most powerful social typer in society today

Answer 32

Science.