New age movements (Organisations and members)

• What are the patterns of gender and religion?

  • a global in 2016, found the 80% of women are identifying with a Faith group compared to only 79% of men
  • Brierley 2005 found that 84% of women who believed in God compared to 64% of men
  • Modoood 1997 found that women were more likely to believe in religion was important to them than men, but men were more likely to attend more mosques
• Miller and Hoffman - explain why women may be more religious than men?


  • Differential socialisation - Women are taught to be submissive & passive than men. characteristics associated religious.
  • Structural location - Women take part in religion Because of their social roles, men are more likely to be breadwinners. Women are more likely to be the housewives/part time and raise children. This gives them more time for church related activities.
  • risk- women tend to be risk averse where is men tend to be risk takers. Not going to church can be risky as it could lead to failure to enter to heaven.
• Davie explaining why women may be more religious than men?


  Women are closer to birth and death, bringing them closer to the Ultimate questions and religion is the closest thing that can help to answer these questions. Also men see God as power and control, whereas women see God as love and forgiveness
• Bruce and why women may be more religious than men ?


  Bruce says that women tend to be less goal orientated, more cooperative and less domineering. These attitudes fit well with religion and spiritually.
• Bruce says that the world falls between the?


  public sphere - Paid work and politics

  private sphere - home, family and personal life

  Bruce agrees that secularisation Is occurring, but also we are more involved in the public sphere The man they can remain within Religion through the private domain(Especially new religious movements/cults)
• Bruce - private and public sphere?


  • Working-class women tend to continue to support religions which believes in an all the powerful gods, and in which they are quite passive
  • Middle class. Women have more experience of controlling their lives and are more attracted to new age groups in which individuals can develop their own spirituality.

  However, brown argues that women are becoming less religious he caused the decline in female piety
• Women and new age movement ?

  • Heels and Woodhead- 80% in the holistic milieu are female these movements celebrate the natural and healing giving women great sense of self-worth and status
  • Bruce child rearing makes women, less aggressive and globally orientated, which fits the expressive emphasis of New Age movements. New movements are authentic Rather than acting out traditional gender roles
• Bruce, the individual sphere?


  Women hold their expressive role in family life. Woodhead argues that new age movements are attractive to women as they explore the third sphere (Individual sphere) Which is based on personal growth. New age movements bypass the role conflict and give identity based in inner self. Brown new age, self religions appear to women’s desires for autonomy. However, some women may be attracted to fundamentalism due to the certain of traditional gender roles
• Class difference Bruce?


  New age movements emphasises personal autonomy and self development which appears to middle-class women. Working class women are attracted to more passive roles such as a belief in all powerful gods or ideas such as superstition, Horoscopes or Lucky charms
• Bruce Women, compensation, and sects?


  Twice as many women are involved in sects Then men. Religion, market theory series like Stark and Bainbridge Argues that people may participate in sects Because they offer compensation for organismic Ethical and social deprivation. These forms of deprivation are more common in women explaining their higher levels of sects
• The forms of deprivation that make women more likely to join sects?

  organismic deprivation -stems from physical and mental problems. Women are more likely to suffer ill health and seek healing offered by sects

  Ethical deprivation -Women tend to be more morally conservative, so they regard the world as being in moral decline and are attracted to sects Who offer and share this view

  Social deprivation - sects Attract poor groups and women are more likely to be poor
• Pentecostal gender paradox?


  • is regarded as patriarchal form of religion, men head of house and church.
• Brusco’s Study in Columbia on Pentecostal gender paradox?


  • Why this appears to women is that the Pentecostalism Demand ascetic Lifestyle, Resembling that of calvinism also insist on traditional gender role in the family where men providers
  • These combat, the machoism in Latin America, men often spend household income on alcohol tobacco, gambling and prostitution . Pentecostal Men pressured by church to change their ways Redirecting income into the family.
  • dosent give westernised women’s liberation, men retain head of house but women use their religion to improve positions, making it popular
• Ethnicity and religion - Modood?


  Looked at participation and identification. He found that there was a big difference in the importance Attached to religion. Only 11% of white members of the C of E so religion as a very important in their life, compared to 71% of Caribbean members of new protestant churches and 43% of Hindus and 74% of Muslims. Minority ethnic groups Were all likely to attend places of worship more than whites
• Bied identified five main reasons why ethnic groups are more religious what are they?

  1. Many members of ethnic minority groups o have high levels of religiosity such as Pakistan and the Caribbean
  2. belonging to a minority ethnic group within a society means that religion can be an Important basis for a sense of community and solidarity.
  3. Minority groups, see religion as a way of maintaining cultural identity in terms of Traditions
  4. Socialisation can lead to strong pressure on children to maintain religious commitment
  5. Religious beliefs may be a way to cope with oppression
• Bruce, on Ethnicity, religion?


  Accepts that Ethnic minorities are more religious than whites in modern society, but believes that religious city is more of an expression of community than religious commitment
• Bruce and how religion is used by ethnic minorities?


  cultural defence- using religion to protect identities in a hostile environment cultural Transition- religion is used to cope with upheaval or migration
• Bruce and how religion is used by ethnic minorities?


  • cultural defence- using religion to protect identities in a hostile environment
  • cultural Transition- religion is used to cope with upheaval or migration
• Bruce and how religion is used by ethnic minorities?


  Bruce believes that overtime, the secular nature of British society will erode The importance of religion for ethnic minorities. Modood Supports this as he found that younger, Chinese white and Afro Caribbean people were considerably less religious than their Parent. Their parent were considerably less religious than their parents. He found that in some groups, there was no decline between generation, particularly Muslims.
• Statistics on age and religion?

  • according to 2011 UK census Young people are much more likely to report they have no religion
  • people under 25 made up 30% of the religion population as a whole, but only 39% of those reporting they had no religion
  • Those aged, 65+ made up 16.5% of the population as a whole, but just 5.6 of those reported they had no religion
  • Brierley by 2025, 15 to 19-year-olds will make up 2.5% of churchgoers half of English church will have one under 20 attending.
• Why are young people less likely to be Religious?


  Bruce argues that one cause is the decline in Religious education, although there was a small revival of Faith schools in the 1990s, and 2000s. There has been a huge decline in Sunday schools. he even predicted that Sunday schools might be distinct by 2016 But he was wrong about this
• Why are older people more religious?

  Due to their proximity to death. It seems natural to assume that as people get older and closer to death, they become more interested in what happens after they die, which is something religions have answers to it may be that people become more religious, Closer to death because they find the thought of afterlife, more comforting than the thought of themselves, just turning into dust
• Another reason why older people are more religious ?

  Growing up in the 21st century, we have experienced far great secularisation Then our grandparents generation we have more tolerance of different beliefs, more models non-belief And more religious city to choose from because we have grown up with a society that works like that
• Who distinguish the church and sects?

  Troeltsch
• Who identified two different types of organisations that are fundamentally different to the church and a sect?

  Niebuhr
• What are the characteristics of churches according to Troeltsch and Wallis?

  • They are bureaucratic and closely linked to the state (have a clear hierarchal power structure with paid officials are wealthy, lots of power & influence in society)
  • They are conservative (Churches are likely to accept the dominant norms of society and generally support the status quo- to maintain the current structure of society churches often support the state to maintain the structure of society
• What are the characteristics of churches according to Troeltsch and Wallis?


  • integrate with social and economic structures of society (Church members Play a full and active part in societal life)
  • are universalist with open membership (Church welcomes individuals from all parts of society and don’t require particular demonstrations of Faith just believe)
  • They tend to be it tolerant and hegemonic (They claimed to have the monopoly on the worlds truths)
  • they make up the ecclesia of a country (According to Yinger A church should be defined as a part of the ecclesia of a particular country )
• what are characteristics of denominations ?


  They are bureaucratic, but do you have some division in authority and more democratic (denominations do not have a strict hierarchal structure and do not always have links with the state)

  They are generally conservative (Likely to accept dominant norms, but often have restrictions. E.g. alcohol, gambling are more concerned with every day morality than other worldly.)

  They integrate with social and economic structures of society (Denominations members play a full and active role in social life. They may have rejected a church.)
• what are characteristics of denominations ?


  They are universalist with open membership (despite being open, they tend to rely on self selection And family ties. They are hardly ever as social majority as they und represent the working class and upper class.

  They are tolerant of other denominations (They see themselves as one among many)

  they are well accommodating (They are often breakaway moments from main churches. They do reject the world or think another world is better. They simply get on with the state of the world and focus on spiral tree and religion rather than wildly affairs.
• What are the characteristics of sects?


  • they are not bureaucratic and hierarchal, but are more egalitarian (Although they tend to have a charismatic leader, power tends to be shared, and distributed among Followers)
  • They are radical in nature (They tend to reject the dominant norms of society and replaces Mainstream norms with their own beliefs and values)

  They are Withdrawal (Members are expected to withdraw from society and conversional life. sects Have tight control over their members and often live in Community in their own breakaway societies)
• What are the characteristics of sects?

  • They have Closed/controlled membership (They are self, selective usually family tradition, close not hostile/suspicious of nonmembers. Often attract marginalised groups of people.)
  • They are tolerant of others (They are exclusive rather than inclusive they make up a minority, tend to attract people from marginalised positions in society)
  • They are world rejecting (sects Are highly critical of the outside world and demand significant life style changes from their followers.)
• how do Stark and Bainbridge sum up sects?


  They argue that sects promised our members is a world benefits to those who have rejected what the world denies them E.G heaven examples of these groups are Amish and the peoples temple
• what are Wilson and his 6 types of sects?


  1. conversionist - the world is evil and needs to be saved by converting people to the troop path, E.G the nation of Islam
  2. revolutionist- for the end of the world or a second coming these are often referred to as millenarian movements E.G Jehovah’s Witnesses, seventh day
  3. introversionist- withdraw from society, usually from separate societies, E.G the Amish and the Moonies
• what are Wilson and his 6 types of sects?


  3. manipulationist - offer a set of teachings of rituals for success in life (like cults) E.G Kabbala

  4. thaumaturgical - offers, miracles or magical healing from magical sources, E.G necromancy and astrology

  5. Reformist - Desire change in society, but no necessary revolutionary E.G Quakerism
• What are the characteristics of cults?


  • They have a loose structure (They tend to lack the rigid structure, E.G collective worship/strict dogmas That was a movements tend to have)
  • They emphasis opportunity and success ( offer individual advancement through spiritual teaching)
  • They expect followers to continue, living, normal lives (They have a little control over their members and encourage their followers to integrate with the world)
• What are the characteristics of cults?


  They have open membership and are tolerant of other Religions(They are non-exclusive and membership is open. All their services are often sold as a service.)

  • They attract higher class member (Members tend to have large incomes and are rarely from marginalised positions in society)
  • They are world affirming (According to Walls “typology of religion organisations) cults are similar to self-help group therapy groups in that they offer success and betterment through spiritual teaching
• Stark and Bainbridge- 3 types of cults?


  1. Audience cult - More individuals are an organised, usually sustained through the media. E.G astrology
  2. Client cult - more organised and provide a service to their clients, E.G spiritualism

  Cultic movements - almost like sects offer spiritual and material rewards to the followers, E.G Scientology
• Wallis summarise the similarities and differences in religion and organisations, what are they?

  How they see themselves the church, and sects Claim that they have the monopoly of truth. Denominations in courts, except that they can be many valid, different interpretations

  How they are seen by why does society churches and Denominations are seen as respectable and legitimate, whereas cults and sects are seen deviant
• The emergence of new religious movements (NRMs)?


  memberships of churches may be dropping but affiliation With other Religious organisations are considered to have written. E.G, there has been a note that there may be as many as 25,000 New religious movements in Europe with 12,000 members residing in the UK
• Wallis the three main kinds of new religion movements?


  1. world affirming groups
  2. world rejecting groups

  world accommodating groups