Organisations, Movements & Members

Church & Sect

• Troeltsch: Church & Sect
• Church: hierarchy & professional clergy; monopoly of truth; tied to the state; conservative; few demands on members; new members through reproduction
• Sect: hostility & suspicion to & from wider society; charismatic leader; membership through recruitment from marginalised groups; demanding

Denomination & Cult

• Wallis's typology: uniquely / pluralistically legitimate; respectable / deviant
• Denominations: midway between churches & sects; not linked to the state but do accept society's values; do not claim monopoly of truth
• Cults: individualistic; loose-knit; no defined belief system; less demanding; usually world-affirming

New Religious Movements

• World-rejecting: similar to sects; clearly religious; highly critical of the outside world; members have restricted access to the outside world; morally conservative
• World-accommodating: focus on restoring the purity of religion; breakaways from existing churches / denominations
• World-affirming: offer access to spiritual / supernatural powers; optimistic, promise of personal success; non-exclusive & tolerant

Sects & Cults (Stark & Bainbridge)

• Sects result from schisms over doctrine. Offer other-worldly benefits to thise suffering economic / ethical deprivation
• Cults are new religions, offering this-worldly benefits to the better-off who are suffering relative deprivation
• Audience cults: no formal membership / commitment
• Client cults: provide services to their followers
• Cultic movements: exclusive; high level of commitment

Marginality

• Sects tend to draw membership from marginalised groups
• Weber: sects offer a theodicy of disprivilage

Relative deprivation

• Deprived members of churches tend to break away & form sects
• M/c join cults & NAMs

Social change

• Wilson: periods of rapid social change disrupt & undermine established norms & values, producing anomie. Methodism emerged during the IR among the industrial w/c
• Bruce: churches & sects are too demanding for most, so people turn to cults instead
• Growth of world-rejecting NRMs: 1960s social changes & failure of counter-culture
• Growth of world-affirming NRMs: response to modernity; need for a sense of identity

Denomination or Death

• Sects come into existence as a result of schism from an established church
• 2nd generation are less enthusiastic
• The "Protestant ethic" effect means that sects that practice asceticism tend to become more prosperous
• Death of a charismatic leader causes a sect to collapse or be taken over by a more bureaucratic hierarchy

Stark & Bainbridge: The Sectarian Cycle

• Schism => initial fervour => denominationalism => establishment => further schism

The Growth of the New Age

• Self-spiritual: People find their own spirituality
• De-traditional: Rejection of spiritual authority of external sources
• Drane: Postmodernity is the death of metanarratives
• Bruce: Growth of the New Age is a feature of modernity (individualism). Pick & Mix & spiritual shopping
• Heelas: source of identity, consumer culture, rapid social change, decline of organised religion

Gender & Religiosity

• Women are more likely to attend church
• 55% of women & 44% of men say they have a religion
• Women are less likely to be atheist / agnostic

Reasons for Gender Differences

• Risk aversion: Women are less likely to take the risk of not being religious
• Socialisation: Women are socialised into being passive, obedient & caring
• Gender roles: Women are more likely to be carers
• Paid work: Women's lower levels of involvement in paid work means they are more religious
• Women who work may be attracted to NAMs as a source of identity
• Stark & Bainbridge: 3 types of deprivation - organismic, ethical & social
• The Pentecostal Gender Paradox: Patriarchal but does require men to provide, which benefits women & children in poor countries

Gender & Religiosity

• Women are more likely to attend church
• 55% of women & 44% of men say they have a religion
• Women are less likely to be atheist / agnostic

Reasons for Gender Differences

• Risk aversion: Women are less likely to take the risk of not being religious
• Socialisation: Women are socialised into being passive, obedient & caring
• Gender roles: Women are more likely to be carers
• Paid work: Women's lower levels of involvement in paid work means they are more religious
• Women who work may be attracted to NAMs as a source of identity
• Stark & Bainbridge: 3 types of deprivation - organismic, ethical & social
• The Pentecostal Gender Paradox: Patriarchal but does require men to provide, which benefits women & children in poor countries

Patterns

• Ethnic minorities are more religious
• Majority Christian
• 5% Muslim

Reasons for Ethnic Differences

• Cultural defence
• Cultural transition

Patterns

• Older people are more religious
• Under 15s go with parents

Voas & Crockett: 3 Reasons for age differences

• The ageing effect
• The period / cohort effect
• Secularisation