Chapter 3:Why Did NRMs

Emerge?

Chapter 3:Why Did NRMs

Emerge?RELS 225

Cults and New Religious Movements

RELS 225Cults and New Religious Movements

Slide 2.

Why did NRMs Emerge?Why did NRMs Emerge?

• Response to something unique in history, or

• They are not unique in history.

Slide 3.

Response to Cultural Change?Response to Cultural Change?

• (Robert Bellah)• 1960’s changes in:

1. Values• Love for others• life• environment• Self-awareness

2. Social structure3. Role and character of religious institutions

Background: Changes after WW2

Background: Changes after WW2

1.Distinct youth culture

Political protestCivil Rights movementVietnam War

Drug experimentationLiberal lifestyles

Slide 5.

1. Changes in Values1. Changes in Values

• NRMs are successor movements to political protest and cultural experimentation of the 1960s.

• Rises in:• Affluence• birth rates• Education

• Rejection of 2 American pillars of ideological understanding:

• Biblical religion• Utilitarian individualism, rejected for being unsatisfying,

in light of their new ideals.

Slide 6.

1.a Baby Boomer values in 1970’s

1.a Baby Boomer values in 1970’s

• Me generation• Guidance no longer from church• Had to “grow up”; reintegrate into society• How to redirect revolutionary spirit?

• Turned to NRMs for guidance1. Human potential movement2. Conservative Christian groups3. Neo-Oriental groups

Slide 7.

1.b appeal of 1970s NRMs over conventional religion

1.b appeal of 1970s NRMs over conventional religion

• NRMs appealed to various classes• Provided a variety of religious beliefs and

ways of life• Provided a feeling of control over own

lives• Permitted reintegration into society while

retaining idealism.

Slide 8.

1.c Social Reintegration1.c Social Reintegration

• Thomas Robbins, Anthony, & Curtis• NRMs are a method of social reintegration,

providing:1. Adjustive socialization

• resocializing individuals to mainstream values and norms,2. Combination

• combining expressive and utilitarian orientations together3. Compensation

• renewing commitment to vocational routines (religion fulfills the needs jobs can’t)

4. Redirection• substituting stigmatized activities and satisfactions for

those deemed to be socially legitimate (“highs”)

Slide 9.

2. Changes in Social Structure2. Changes in Social Structure

• Three varieties of change:a. Family / community

• young adults search for ‘surrogate families’ to replace ‘mediating structures’ (social clubs)

b. deinstitutionalization• alienating expectations • Public/private sphere blurred

c. Adapting life in late modernity• Response to uncertainty: turn inward and cultivate

close personal relationship and a heightened sense of subjective identity in the form of self-actualization

Slide 10.

2.a Family changes2.a Family changes

• Society moved from community-oriented to nuclear family

• What about when you move away from your family of origin?

• Family-like system missing in private lives• Work isolates people from others

• NRMs transform into something positive:• Childish expressivity• Instrumentalism and adult functionality

• NRMs reconcile the two

Slide 11.

2.b Deinstitutionalization2.b Deinstitutionalization

• Hunter and Johnson (1981) build on Berger

• Social life became polarized between private and public.

Slide 12.

2.c Modernity2.c Modernity

• Modernity created 3 structural changes for religion:• Disembedding of social life• Institutionalization of reflexivity• Process of globalization

• Search for meaning• In intense cultivation of personal relationships• When that fails, in religion.

• NRMs provide hope

Slide 13.

3. Changes in Religion3. Changes in Religion

• Secularization• Independent institutions• Economic• Political• Medical• Educational

• Transferred authority away from religious institutions

Slide 15.

NRMs as Cultural ContinuityNRMs as Cultural Continuity

• NRMs not a “New” phenomenon.• Christianity began as a “cult”• Other religions, too.

• Were met with skepticism, hostility, persecution• NRMs are a normal part of religious

history, not a recent anomaly.

Slide 16.

Great Awakenings (McLouglin; Wilson)

Great Awakenings (McLouglin; Wilson)

• 1st 3 Great Awakenings since middle of 18th century

• American religious dissent• Protestant Christianity• Each show shift in self-conception• In cyclical patterns• Natural• Needed for dynamic growth of nation.

• A 4th “Great Awakening” in American religious history?

• NRMs since the 1960s

Slide 17.

NRMs not so “New” (Ellwood & Partin)

NRMs not so “New” (Ellwood & Partin)

• NRMs have their roots in older religious traditions.

• NRMs are the result of society continuing to seek to fulfill its needs.• What are those needs?• How do NRMs meet these needs?