RELIGION FROM A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Foundational Assumptions About The Human Species

• Humans are collective meaning seeking and sharing beings
• Humans are social beings that organize collectively
• All forms of culture and organization are means of establishing and maintaining meaning, order, and control
• The social/cultural reality that humans occupy is socially constructed
• Religion is a uniquely human construction
•Religion is a social category, an analytic category but not sui generis

A Sociological Definition Of Religion

Religion is a social form that involves the social construction of a transcendent, sacred power source (beings, entities, realm, world, sphere, level, plane, power, force) that possesses qualitative different attributes, the sacred, which distinguish it from the profane, everday realm. The social construction of religion involves creating narratives that describe the relationship between the sacred and profane (myth), procedures through which a relationship of the sacred and profane is maintained (ritual), and social through which adherents gather(organizations). The social construction of religion involves the mobilization of symbolic and organizational power that operates as a system of meaning, order, and control.

Elements Of The Sociological Definition

• Social construction – Refers to the process by which symbolic and behavioral patterns are created.
• Transcendence – Refers to structural principles or relations of a level lying above or outside the level of structure taken as the point of reference.
• Sacred – Refers to something that is understood to be of ultimate value and is therefore set apart.
• Transcendent, sacred power source – Refers to the ultimate source of order
• Religious Myth – Refers to n arratives that convey the ultimate truths and foundational assumptions about the nature of the world and humanity.
• Religious Ritual – Refers to a closely prescribed form of behavior through which transcendent sources of value are created and affirmed.
• Religious Organization/Leadership – Refers to organizations that control access to the transcendent realm and transcendent power. Religious leaders are those who mediate relationships with the transcendent.


Religion Versus Religions

• Religion is an analytic category that scholars use to analyze a specified set of groups.
• Actual organizations often have mixtures of characteristics, some of which fit with conventional accepted religious organizations and some that do not.
• From a social standpoint religious is a status claim that is made, implicitly or explicitly, by a group.
• Claims to religious status are evaluated by institutional sectors in the social order.
• The interaction of claim and response determines the social reality of any specific group.


Assessment of Religious Status

• Governmental agencies/authorities
• Media
• Scholars
• Oppositional groups
• Artists/Celebrities
• Therapeutic/medical institutions
• Educational institutions
• Economic institutions



NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS FROM A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE


Distinguishing Characteristics Of New Religious Movements (NRMs)

• NRMs are most likely to emerge during periods of crisis or transition
• All members are first generation members (converts)
• The myth/ritual systems are new (at least to the host society)
• The organization/leadership is new (at least to the host society)
• Members are not representative of the general population
• Leadership/Organization is prophetic rather than priestly
• Movement organization/leadership challenges prevailing institutional logic
• There is some degree of tension with larger society
• NRMs are likely to change rapidly during their early histories

Are NRMs Really A New Phenomenon?

• Every religion was a new religion at some time
• American history is replete with new religions
• America is the most religiously diverse nation in the world
• Over 2,500 religious groups in the U.S., about half are new


What Generalizations Can Be Formulated About NRMs in the U.S.

• Media and group claims to the contrary, most NRMs are relatively small
• Only occasionally do new religious movements grow into major established churches as the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses have done
• Most NRMs survive, institutionalize, and become niche religions. Hence the number continues to increase
•While the number of new religions continues to increase historically, there are periods of unusual religious innovation. The 1960s and 1970s were decades of particular religious innovation. There were specific social and cultural conditions associated with this innovation.
• Groups termed new religious movements are almost never completely new. In most cases they are off-shoots of older religious groups and tend to resemble their parent group.