Why do people join NRM's and sects Flashcards
In response to social change
Individuals can be faced with a situation of anomie and become uncertain as to the correct norms and values to follow in society.
This is because rapid change undermines or disrupts traditional norms and values. Wilson claims that in a situation of such change and uncertainty, such as in the 1960’s, a sect can offer the support of a close knit community, with strong values and definite beliefs.
In the 1960’s the country faced a challenge to its moral values following the legalisation of abortion and homosexuality, the provision of the birth control pill and the emergence of movements such as feminism and the ‘hippy’ subculture, preaching ‘peace’, drug use and ‘free love’.
Such social changes caused some young people who had been subject to a more ‘traditional’ upbringing to experience insecurity and anomie. The growth of NRM’s in the 1960’s was a reaction to anxieties created by such social change and offered people greater security in their beliefs.
In response to social change 2
Moreover, Robert Bellah argues that the increase in NRM membership seen in the late 1960s in the USA was due to middle class youth experiencing a ‘crisis of meaning’ in regard to the materialistic values of their parent’s culture.
Despite their middle class culture, this group became disillusioned with the material world of capitalism and were attracted to the hippy ‘counter culture’. Many turned to an alternative drug/pop culture which rejected such materialistic values and promoted involvement with drug
Those who are marginalised and underprivileged
When a social group is marginalised by being denied status and rewards in society, they may be attracted to a NRM because it not only offers an explanation for their marginality but opportunities for future achievement.
Wilson found young black Americans were attracted to Islamic sects in the 1960’s as they offered an explanation for their social exclusion and a means for radical organisation.
Weber found sects are most likely to emerge amongst the poor. Such sects develop a ‘theodicy of disprivilege’ a religious set of ideas which explains why they are in that position. For example, if a group believes that they are ‘God’s chosen people’, the promise of ‘salvation’ is ‘compensation’ for their poverty. In part, the growth of sects such as the Nation of Islam in the USA in the 1960s was accomplished through recruitment from disadvantaged black groups
Opportunity to gain status
Status frustration
This is particularly associated with young people experiencing a long period of transition from childhood to adulthood.
Wallis suggests that sects are most likely to appeal to young people because they offer them an identity and an opportunity to overcome a sense of status frustration. Bruce found NRM’s appeal to those who cannot achieve job satisfaction or status in wider society. An individual can be given a position of status in a NRM that they may not have outside the organisation; they may also learn techniques that promise ways to achieve success, to make them feel better about themselves by giving them opportunities to help others and giving them a sense of spiritual fulfilment.
Eileen Barker could find no one reason why people became Moonie’s, but she did find that the typical Moonie shared some common characteristics eg, young, middle class and well educated. They often had parents in the ‘service’ professions, and were attracted to the warm sympathetic environment of the Moonies. Many had the desire to good and to make the world a better place. bb
Spiritual deprivation
Stark and Bainbridge use this concept to explain why people break away from an established church to join a NRM. If a church is seen to be compromising its beliefs in order to be accepted by wider society eg by accepting women priests or allowing gays into the church, some members may feel they are being deprived of their true beliefs and leave the church to join a NRM.
Wallis also uses this concept of spiritual deprivation to explain how affluent, successful people may feel spiritually deprived in a world they see as too materialistic, lonely and impersonal. They therefore may seek salvation in the sense of community offered by the sect and by the opportunity to fulfil their spiritual needs.
Self-improvement
Glock and Stark use the concept of relative deprivation to explain why some people may feel relatively deprived compared with other groups. Health deprivation is experienced by those who suffer physical and mental problems, e.g. people may turn to a NRM in the hope of being ‘healed’ from a physical or mental ailment or as an alternative to taking drugs or alcohol.
Ethical deprivation is the result of people perceiving the world to be in moral decline and therefore retreating into a NRM to receive moral guidance and security in an uncompromising code of conduct, e.g. Jim Jones’ People’s Temple ordered members to abstain from sex and only adopt children
Self-improvement 2
Wallis argues that world-affirming movements like Scientology are likely to appeal to middle class groups for various reasons: they claim to offer knowledge, techniques and therapies that enable people to unlock spiritual powers within them, helping them to reduce stress and anxieties at work and in their personal lives. The desire to be a better person or to have a more successful career is identified by Wallis as a reason for joining a world affirming NRM’s. Eg Scientology’s promise of future success has made it appealing to young, affluent professionals.
Heelas suggest that world-affirming sects appeal to more affluent, university-educated, and generally successful middle class groups, whose members nonetheless find something missing in their lives.
To add mystery and magic to life: add to spiritual deprivation
Weber argues that because the world has become more rational, or planned and predictable, the spiritual, magical and mystical elements of life have all but disappeared.
Many churches and denominations have watered down their beliefs to fit in with a more secular world, and tend to focus on worldly issues such as poverty rather than spiritual matters.
Giddens said that this lack of spiritual meaning in traditional religions has led many people to find comfort and a sense of community in smaller, newer, religious groups. The appeal of NRM’s is that they make the world a more exciting place to live in and they give people the opportunity to remystify their lives.
