Organisations, movements and members Flashcards by leah stanley

What did Troeltsch discover?

Sects and Churches

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What did Niebuhr discover?

Denominations and Cults

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What are features of churches? (5)

Millions of members worldwide.
Run by a hierarchy
Bureaucratic - rules you must follow.
Universalistic - accepts societies norms and values
Claims to have a monopoly of truth.

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What is an example of a church? (4)

Buddhism.
Nearly 1 billion Buddhists.
East, South East and Asia is where it is most popular.
Male leader

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What are features of a sect? (5)

Smaller groups that expect 100% committment from members.
Very close knit and hostile.
Charismatic leader
Short lived
Claims to have a monopoly of truth.

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What is an example of a sect? (4)

Branch Davidians.
Interpret scriptures literally.
Demands all committment to its members.
Mass suicide attempt showing it is short lived.

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What are features of denominations? (5)

Known as a watered down sect.
Been around for decades.
Accepts society’s values.
Tolerant to others views (open belief system)
Stronger committment from members.

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What is an example of a denomination? (3)

Pentecostalism
Growing in popularity, while Christianity is declining.
Pentecostalism is a moder version of Christianity.

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What are fearures of a cult? (5)

Smaller individual groups
Loose knit
Led by a spiritual leader
Tolerant of other beliefs.
Membership is flexible.

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What is an example of a cult? (5)

Shamanism.
Ancient tradition
Not an organised religion, a spiritual practice.
No fixed structure
Treat illness by healing the world.

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What do Stark and Bainbridge argue? (4)

Cults can be divided into three types: client, audience and movements.
Client: offer services in exchange for money and can be one to one.
Audience: Least organise,d no formal memberships or committment.
Movement: more organised, aimed to meet its members needs.

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Why is it difficult to classify religious organisations into different typologies?

It is difficult because they may have some features from one or more type of typlogy.

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Why do some ects become established?

They try to protect their members while other sects choose to cut thenselves off from the modern world.

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What does Wallis argue?

There are 3 types of NRM’s: World-affirming, World-accomodating and World-rejecting.

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What are World-affirming NRM’S? (3)

Accept the world and achieve success.
Tolerant of other religions. (open belief system)
Followers are often customers like client cults.

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What are World-accomodating NRM’s? (3)

Neither accept or reject the world.
Focus on religious.
Seek to restore the spiritual purity of religion.

What are World-rejecting NRM’s? (3)

Clear notion of God.
Critical of the outside world.
Restricted contact with the outside world.

What is an example of a World-rejecting NRM? (3)

Heaven’s Gate.
Had a charismatic leader.
21 women and 18 men killed themselves.

What did Wallis evaluate of his own work?

There were some problems because an NRM could have features of each.
E.G: 3HO has a clear concept of God but claims to bring personal benefits.

Why was there a rapid growth of NRMs?

Marginalisation
Relative deprivation
Social change.

How does marginalisation lead to a rapid growth in NRMs? (2)

Sects tend to draw members from poor and oppressed because they may be excluded in society.
Weber offers a theodicy of disprivilege where is a justification of their suffering which explains why they are in that positions.

How does relative deprivation lead to rapid growth in NRMs? (4)

Wallis argues thay m/c feel like they are spiritually deprived so they want to fit into society. By joining an NRM they can gain a sense of community.
W/C are culturally and materially deprived so may join an NRM to put a roof over their head.
Stark and Bainbridge argue that world-rejecting sects offer the deprived compensators that they need for rewards.
M/C will join world-accepting churches.

How does social change lead to a rapid growth of NRMs?

Methodism was able to recruit large numbers of the w/c because it gave them a sense of community and promise for salvation.
But, according to Bruce, society has become secularised so people are less attracted to strict cults because of strict committments and routines.

What is the New Age?

A spiritual movement used to refer to the hollistic milleu and brought about by a strong wave of spiritual energy.

What is included in the New Age? (4)

Astrology Tarot cards Crystals Alternative medicine.

What study shows a spiritual revolution? (3)

Kendal Project Looks at spiritual practices like yoga. Hollistic milleu People can take part in these practices even if it has no significance to them.

What did Brussat argue?

Alphabet of spiritual literacy. The letters are needed to read the world.

What does Heelas argue in NAMs? (2)

There are themes of the new age which are self-spirituality and detraditionalisation. Self-spirituality: individuals searching for spirituality and begin to look inside themselves. Detraditionalisation: individuals are the only source of the truth and they emphasise freedom to discover individuals.

How does the New Age compare to churches? (2)

For the new age salvation comes from within but for churches you find salvation from God. For the new age there is freedom to discover the truth but churches claim to have a monopoly of truth where there is only one version and no discovery.

The new age can be the best of both world, how? (4)

Heelas argues that new age can be world-rejecting and world-affirming. World-rejecting because it stresses how to experience the best of the inner world by turning away from concerns with worldly succes. World-affirming because it stresses how to experience the best of the outer world and how people can be successful in business. But this could cause confusion and tension because they are both opposites and don't compliment eachother.

What does Drane argue?

Due to failure of science people are now turning to spirituality.

What does Giddens argue about NAMs?

New age appeals to the most affluent memebers who are university educated m/c because they have social capital.

Who joins NAMs? (3)

Women - self-improvement. Middle class - Have social capital Middle ages - existential crises.

What does Heelas argue about the new age and late modernity? (4)

Source of identity: in society a person has many roles between family and friends but they can overlap which results in a fragmented identity. Decline or organised religion: modernity leads to secularisation which removes traditional alternatives to New Age beliefs. Consumer culture: creates disatisfaction because it never delivers as it promises. Rapid social change: disrupts the norms and values people held which results in anomie.

What are 3 weaknesses of the new age?

The problem of scale: It would have to be on a large scale to fill the gape for traditional religions. Socialisation of the next generations: For a belief system to survive it needs to be passed down in generations. Weak committment: Even people who call themselves spiritual say these practices are important in their lives. Bruce says they have no interest in alternative spirituality.