Beliefs - class

• Upper and upper-middle classes, especially women


  • Tend to be over represented in churches
  • Members of all social classes do attend due to their wide scope/appeal
• Ashworth and farthing (2007) found that church going (in all Christain faiths) is a largely middle-class pursuit
• Those in higher social classes were more likley to attend church at least one a month, while manual working classes had the lowest proportion of regualr churchgoers
• Hierarchy and leaders within churchers


  • Typically come from priviledged backgrounds, meaning they create an environment which is uncomfortable for the less well eduacted (working class)
• Those in the poorest social groups, which includes those entirely dependent on the state e.g. sickness, unemployment or old age have the highest proportion who did not attend church
• Marx would argue these are the exact group who he would expect to use religion the most


  Due to its ability to provide compenstation to them
• Marx would argue the middle classes use religion more


  As a means to mainatin the status quo justifying the dividsons in society
• Many denominations appeal to the lower middle classes and upper working class and tend to have the highest proportions of working class membership
• Manduro's belief that the poor use religion


  As a means to help fight their oppression and in Latin America women are doing just that
• Sects


  • Gain their strongest support from the most deprived and marginalised social groups
  • Used as a means of coping with their disadvantage
• Rejection of wider society's rules and values

  • Appeals to the more marginalised groups, who are seeking a more idealistic way of life
  • The most successful sects seem to attract their members from the younger counter-culture groups who are looking for a radical change to how their parents lived
• NRM's


  • Appeal most to young middle classes, who may feel relatively deprived in an increasing consumer driven society and as such turn to NRM's to full a spiritual void
• Cults


  • Attract a cross section of society, including deprived and marginalised groups seeking spiritual salvation or a better life
• New Age Movements or client cults and world-affirming NRM's


  • Appeal most to the affluent middle classes because the followers are more like customers who have to spend money in order to buy products or services
• New Age Movements such as yoga and meditation seem to appeal most to middle class women, who can afford it, while astrology and fortune telling appeal more to the fatalistic beliefs of working class women
• Focusing on one group alone, is too simple and does not take into consideration the many complex reasons to why someone may choose to be religious or not