Social Change

• Wilson 1970: in periods of rapid change and disruption, anomie is produced. A response to this uncertainty is to join a sect. 
• Dislocation created by the industrial revolution caused the birth of English Methodism. 
• Bruce 1995;1996;2011: growth of sects and cults a reaction to modernisation and secularisation. Society is now secularised and thus people are less attracted to traditional churches and strict sects because they demand too much commitment. Thus people now prefer cults because they are less demanding and require fewer sacrifices.