MOVEMENTS AND MEMBERS

Question 1

How does marginalisation explain why people join religious movements

Answer 1

refers to feeing socially excluded
-happens to ethnic minorities or poor people
WEBER:people are attracted to religion as it offers theodicy of dispriviledge:relgious explanation for suffering
TROELTSCH:sects tend to be filled by people from poor or ethnic backgrounds
-world reciting sects are good as they allow people to feel welcomed and valued in community
EG-peoples temple which didn’t discriminate against race which made him popular
EVALU:
-doesnt explain why m/c people join sects despite not feeling excluded

Question 2

how does relative deprivation explain why people join religious movements

Answer 2

refers to feeling deprived compared to others
-can be experienced by those who are actually privileged but may feel spirituality or socially deprived
-MC join world rejecting sects so feel more part of a community which is a good set of values for them to follow
-people who feel relatively deprived join world affirming cults which provides them with tools to improve their social status
EVAL:
-doesnt explain why some people join world rejecting sects and some join world affirming cults who feel relatively deprived

Question 3

explain how modernity has led to growth if new age movements

Answer 3

• people are more individualistic ad use NAMS to express this
• -people have individual identity
  1) NAMS creates an authentic identity
  2) consumerism is important NAMS require people to spend
  3) NAMS used to comfort people during processes of change
  4) organised religions is at popular so people use NAMS to occupy themselves

Question 4

explain how post modernity has led to growth in NAMS

Answer 4

-growing of NAMS shows we have mode into an era of post modernity
-meta narratives are used to explain how the world works
EG-people less focused on science and religion and focus on finding their own truth for themselves
-join NAMS to go on a journey of self discovery