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Sociology - Beliefs > Topic 1 (Part 1) - Organisations and Movements > Flashcards

Topic 1 (Part 1) - Organisations and Movements Flashcards

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1
Q

Church

A
  • TROELTSCH
  • Large organisations often with millions of members, e.g., Catholic Church
  • Monopoly of truth (WALLIS) = know the correct way to live, this is exclusive
  • Generally run by a bureaucratic leadership team, e.g., professional priests
  • Headed by the sovereign state, e.g., the Queen
  • Universalistic = appeal to whole society
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2
Q

A03 Church

A
  • Due to their organisational structure, they generally appeal to the middle class = prefer conservative means of living = maintains status quo rather than challenge it
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3
Q

Sects

A
  • TROELTSCH
  • Small, exclusive groups
  • Claim to have monopoly of truth
  • Run by small-scale charismatic leadership (someone who is convincing can appeal to those who are lost)
  • Appeals to marginalised groups who are facing disprivilege in their lives = offer salvation
  • Challenge status quo
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4
Q

Denominations

A
  • NIEBUHR
  • Midway between Churches and Sects = Methodism
  • Tolerant of other religious group’s beliefs = inclusive and pluralistic in nature = status quo challenged
  • Run by similar bureaucratic leadership to that of a church, hierarchy of leadership, but not as complex
  • Broad appeal e.g., banning alcohol
  • Membership is not exclusive
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5
Q

Cults

A
  • NIEBUHR
  • Very small scale organisations (highly individualistic)
  • Tolerant of other religious beliefs = approved by postmodernist
  • Specific capabilities to be able to improve life on earth = likely to appeal to those marginalised and require salvation
  • Not bureaucratic but run by “practitioners” or “therapists”
  • Special knowledge, e.g., scientology
  • Appeal to small scale groups with similar interests
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6
Q

A03 Is it really a clear cut?

A
  • BRUCE argues trying to categorise religious organisations is not a clear cut
  • E.g., BRUCE says that the Church is now a Denomination as it is no longer universalistic
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7
Q

A03 Church attendance

A
  • DAVIE argues that religion is not declining and church attendance figures are not evidence to suggest secularisation is taking place
  • Instead she argues that people still hold religious views but are more privatised with their beliefs
  • “Believing without belonging”
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8
Q

New Religious Movements (NRM’s)

A
  • WALLIS
    1. World Rejecting Groups
    2. World Accommodating Groups
    3. World Affirming Groups
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9
Q

World Rejecting NRMS

A
  • WALLIS
  • Similar to Sects in that they claim to have a monopoly of truth = seen as deviant by rest of society
  • E.g., The Children of God
  • A definite notion of what God is
  • Highly critical of the outside world, and challenge the status quo (exclusive)
  • Salvation = sharp break from their former lives
  • Restricted contact with outside world, and live communally
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10
Q

A03 World Rejecting NRMS

A
  • “Brainwashing” criticisms from the outside world
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11
Q

World Accommodating NRMS

A
  • WALLIS
  • Breakaway organisation from mainstream organisations e.g., the Church, beliefs vary slightly
  • Seek to restore purity of which the main organisation failed to satisfy
  • E.g., Neo-Pentecostalists (more spiritualism than Catholicism)
  • Respectable, not deviant
  • Similar to denominations
  • Maintains status quo
  • Conventional lives lead
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12
Q

World Affirming NRMS

A
  • WALLIS
  • Lack characteristics of a traditional religion (structure, “one” metaphysical being)
  • Not organised into a bureaucratic structure, having a “looser” command structure than traditional religions
  • E.G., Scientology
  • Promise followers success in the world (careers and relationships) = “psychologising religion”
  • Inclusive and tolerant of other religious groups
  • Most are cults (members as customers)
  • Appeal to wealthy groups
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13
Q

Comparison of NRMS

A
  • World Affirming NRMS are the most successful of the groups WALLIS studied, e.g., scientology has 165,000 members in the UK compared to 1,200 Moonies (World Rejecting)
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14
Q

A03 NRMS

A
  • Ignores diversity within NRM
  • WALLIS recognises that rarely fit into 1 type, some have features of all 3
  • STARK and BAINBRIDGE categorising is too simplistic, as these have too many similarities with the main 4, e.g., Scientology is both a Cult and World Affirming
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15
Q

Two organisations in conflict with society

A
  • STARK and BAINBRIDGE
    1. Sects
    2. Cults
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16
Q

Sects - STARK and BAINBRIDGE

A
  • Result of a disagreement (schism) with a mainstream organisation e.g., Church
  • Members begin to feel “ethically deprived” and feel the religious organisation is not correct in its ethical code = disagreement with doctrine
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17
Q

A03 Sects (S&B)

A
  • LENIN, STARK and BAINBRIDGE acknowledge that sects are much like an ideological apparatus in Marxism, when subordinated individuals beginning to feel an element of alienation
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18
Q

Cults - STARK and BAINBRIDGE

A
  • Cults develop to offer “this worldly” benefits such as better help, or peach of mind (prevent anomie/cure it)
  • “Psychic deprivation”
  • Other benefits which cults attempt to remedy are economic deprivation, as it is “this worldly benefit”, attempt to remedy organismic deprivation or ill health
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19
Q

Subdivisions of cults (S&B)

A
  • Audience cults
  • Client cults
  • Cultic movements
20
Q

Audience cults

A
  • STARK and BAINBRIDGE
  • Very unorganised, and do not require formal membership e.g., astrology
21
Q

Client cults

A
  • STARK and BAINBRIDGE
  • More organised, and are based around the relationship with a consultant, promising this worldly benefit e.g., homeopathy
22
Q

Cultic movements

A
  • STARK and BAINBRIDGE
  • Highly demanding, and aim to meet the spiritual needs of its followers and are very exclusive e.g., Doomsday cults promise suicide for other worldly benefits
23
Q

Explaining the growth of new religious movements: challenging the status quo

A
  1. Marginality
  2. Relative deprivation
  3. Social change
24
Q

Marginality

A
  • TROELTSCH sects generally recruit their members from poor/oppressed, as they offer a solution to this worldly suffering, by offering other worldly benefit
  • WEBER “theory of disprivilege” = sects offer a solution for those who are oppressed by this world, which traditional organisations cannot do
25
Q

A03 Theory of disprivilege

A
  • Since 1960s sect-like world-rejecting NRMS have recruited from mainly well off middle-class white individuals e.g., The Moonies
  • WALLIS says this does not contradict WEBER because of these individuals have become marginalised too many were hippies, drug users, and drop outs
26
Q

Relative deprivation

A
  • WALLIS argues in todays materialistic consumerist world, even the privileged can feel that they have lost their sense of self, and that their wealth/position in society is “not enough”
  • Advantaged = sect = sense of community
  • STARK and BAINBRIDGE = Marxist belief that the rich man will not reach the gates of heaven equally to a poor man = schism = sect
  • Disprivilege may develop their sense of self = World Affirming Groups
27
Q

A03 A feeling of disconnect

A
  • RUNCIMAN even belonging to the middle class can produce winners and losers, losers are often at the periphery of society
  • Losers find salvation in sects, helping them feel connected, preventing anomie
28
Q

Social change

A
  • WILSON argues the world has changed, from modernity to postmodernity (producing anomie)
  • Can turn to sects as a solution
  • E.g., Methodism emerged when people moved to industrial areas during the industrial revolution, require a solution for the uncertainty their lives faced
  • BRUCE society has become more secular (people are less attracted to traditional religion but prefer cults as they require less and are less demanding)
29
Q

Specific explanations for World Rejecting NRMS

A
  • Social changes in the 1960s
  • E.g., increased time in education, impacted young people
  • Were given freedom to develop counter-cultures alongside the growth of political movements
  • Offer a more idealistic way of life
  • When counter cultures weren’t successful in changing world NRMS offered youths a path
30
Q

Specific explanations for World Affirming NRMS

A
  • Response to modernity
  • Work no longer gave a sense of identity yet people were still expected to achieve
  • Gave a sense of identity and techniques to succeed in this rapidly changing world
31
Q

Why some religions are short-lived

A
  • NIEBUHR
    1. The second generation
    2. Becoming upwardly mobile - “the Protestant ethic”
    3. Death of leader(s)
32
Q

The second generation

A
  • The children may not have the same fervour of their parents who rejected the world and joined voluntarily
33
Q

Becoming upwardly mobile - “the Protestant ethic”

A
  • A World Affirming Group may not exist for very long
  • If “this worldly gain” is not achieved members may leave it
34
Q

Death of leader(s)

A
  • Some World Rejecting Groups that are dependent on the charisma of a single person often only lasts one generation
  • E.g., Doomsday cults, where everyone commits suicide
35
Q

Death of a leader - Example

A
  • Heaven’s gate were a “Doomsday Cult”
  • Existed during the 1990s
  • They believed the world was going to end and they needed to reach a spacecraft on a passing comet
    -39 of the group members including the organisations founders “Bo” and “Beep” committed suicide
  • The group could not continue following the mass suicide in 1997
36
Q

Sectarian cycle

A
  • STARK and BAINBRIDGE
    1. Schism - tension between members of the church and they start to feel deprived
    2. Initial fervour - conflict in beliefs between what the group and the wider society believe
    3. Denominationalism - second generation are born and not as passionate
    4. Establishment - unstable due to change in beliefs
37
Q

A03 Established sects

A
  • WILSON = Not all sects follow the patterns outlined
  • CONVERSIONISTS = e.g., Evangelicals aim to convert large numbers and grow rapidly so become more formal denominations
  • ADVENISTS = e.g., Jehovah’s Witnesses await a second coming to Christ
38
Q

New age movements

A
  • HEELAS
    1 Self spirituality - turned away from traditional religion with external influences but instead look inside themselves
    2 Detraditionalisation - reject external sources and discover the truth from within
39
Q

Postmodernity and the new age

A
  • DRANE linked to postmodernity due to the fact that they are linked to the concept of pluralism and personal choice
  • Loss of faith in narratives who claim a monopoly of truth = people have lost faith in experts including religious figures
  • Traditional religious organisations such as churches have failed them = turn themselves to salvation and finding an inner solution
40
Q

Modernity and the new age

A
  • BRUCE argues they are particularly appealing to professionals who have a disposal income to join them
    HEELAS sees New Age and Modernity linked:
  • Help to maintain a sense of identity in world where an individual has many roles = fragmented identity
  • Reach perfection consumer culture doesn’t
  • Fill a dap in a secularised society
  • Rapid social change and prevent anomie
41
Q

A03 Postmodernity and the new age

A
  • BRUCE argues the growth of NAMs is a characteristic of the latest phase of the Modern era, not the Post-modern era, due to the fact that they reflect the consumerist ethos of capitalism (pick and mix spiritual shopper)
42
Q

Status quo

A
  • The existing state of social and political affairs
43
Q

Marginalised

A
  • People who feel as though they are not integrated into society and are on the edges
44
Q

Bureaucratic leadership

A
  • Like a system of Government where decisions are made by state officials rather than elected representatives
45
Q

Monopoly of truth

A
  • They know the correct way to live and that is exclusive

Sociology - Beliefs (8 decks)

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