Theory and Research on Today's “New Religions”
A number of analytical perspectives have been developed to explain the present upsurge of deviant religious movements and heightened spiritual ferment. These include secularization, crisis of community, value crisis, and the increasing need for holistic self-definition in a differentiated society. V...
| Authors: | ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[publisher not identified]
1978
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| In: |
Sociological analysis
Year: 1978, Volume: 39, Issue: 2, Pages: 95-122 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | A number of analytical perspectives have been developed to explain the present upsurge of deviant religious movements and heightened spiritual ferment. These include secularization, crisis of community, value crisis, and the increasing need for holistic self-definition in a differentiated society. Viewing the present religious ferment as rooted in a normative breakdown or value crisis affords the basis of a typology of non-traditional movements in which the “types” embody different repsonses to increasing moral ambiguity. An alternative typological strategy has been to assimilate “new religions” to Church-sect theory and to specify the residual concept of “cult.” Much of the literature on “new religions” has been social psychological and has focused on processes of conversion and indoctrination. The dominant models appear to be Lofland's interactionist approach and “coercive persuasion” or “brainwashing” theories. The analysis of contemporary religious ferment is vital to an assessment of sociocultural change in advanced societies. |
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| ISSN: | 2325-7873 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociological analysis
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3710211 |