Cults and Sects

Sects:

• Not open to all members of the public
• Do not accept the state, the political or the economic systems
• Require a total commitment
• Claim to hold the 'monopoly of truth'
• No professional clergy - Charismatic leader
• Unconvential and Deviant
• They distance themselves from the wider society
• Worship lacks formal rituals

Origin:

• Social marginality: they target the disprivileged to bring self-respect and hope in future
• Relative deprivation: They provide a sense of community, and so improve peoples material situation
• Social dislocation: They provide a clear direction for those who afre confused in society (anomie)

Anomie:

• Natural or man made…