New Religious Movements

World Rejecting NRM

• vary in size 
• clrarly religious with notions of God
• highly critical of the outside world 
• want radical changes 
• requires a break from normal life
• members live comunally 
• strict moral codes
• e.g. moonies, children of God and the Manson Family 

World Accomodating NRM

• break away from existing mainstream religions 
• neither accept not reject the world
• focus on religion rather than worldly matters
• e.g. neo - pentecostalists and subud 

World Accepting NRM

• lack conventional features of relgion like collective worship
• accept the world as it is and act towards mainstream goals
• non exclusive and tolerant of other religions
• claim to have additional or special knowledge 
• most are cults 
• most followers are customers of some sort 
• few demands
• most successful of the three 
• e.g. scientology, TM

Evaluation

• useful classification system
• ignores diversity within NRM (although Wallis recognises they rarely ever fit)
• Stark and Bainbridge believe this typology is unuseful as it should be based on the amount of conflict between the NRM and wider society 

Marginality 

• sects tend to draw on the poor and oppressed 
• Weber (1922) NRMs appeal to the marginal groups in society with no economic or social status, this is the theodicy of disprivilage - a religious explanation for suffering
• more recently the rich are attracted to NRMs, Wallis argues however, these groups are still marginalised from the rest of society 

Relative Deprivation

• subjective sense of being deprived 
• m/c are spiritually deprived, turning to NRMs for a sense of comunity 
• Wallis and Stark and Bainbridge agree that the relatively deprivd for sects, normally world rejecting 

Social Change 

• Wilson (1970)
• periods of rapid change disrupts and underminds the established norms and values 
• this produces anomie
• people turn to religion as the answer 
• Bruce (1996) modernisation means people are less attracted to traditional religion 

The Growth of NRMs

• WR offer attractive ideals of reality and grew with the growth of radical politics 
• social change in the 1960s
• WA respond to modernity by offering a sense of identitiy and promising success 

Denomination or Death - Neibuhr (1929)

• sects are short lived and are kept within generation, they either die out or compromise
• the 2nd generation born into the sect lack commitment and can acquire conscious rejection
• the death of a leader could mean beauratic control takes over, meaning there is a shift in attitudes
• 'protestant ethic' effect occurs meaning the sect becomes more prosperous and it compromises to fit in with the world 

The Secterian Cycle - Stark and Bainbridge (1985)

• 1st stage - schism, tension arrises between the deprived and the priviledged
• 2nd stage - inital fervour, tension arrises between the sect and wider society 
• 3rd stage - denominationalisation
• 4th stage - establishment, the sect becomes more world accepting
• 5th stage - futher schism, the less priviledge break away to form a new sect 

Established Sects - Wilson (1966 and 2003)

• not all sects follow the pattern
• conversionist aim to convert large numbers of people and are likely to rapidly grow 
• adventists however await the second coming of christ and remain fairly stable in numbers
• some sects survive multiple generations 

The Growth of the NRM - Heelas (2008)

• loosely organised cults and sects are extremely diverse
• self spirituality looks inside the individual 
• detraditionalisation rejects spiritual authrotity and values personal experience 

Postmodernity 

• Drane (1999) people have lost faith in meta narratives
• science has promised to bring progress but instead brought war
• we now look for truth inside ourselves 

New Age Modernity 

• Bruce suggests NRMs offer softer versions of religion which fit better with modern lifestyles 
• Heelas adds that they offer a source of identity, relate to consumer culture, aid social change and signify the declind of traditional religion