Name:

Unit 3SCLY3

Beliefs in Society

February 2011 to May 2011 A2 mock exams

April-May 2011.

Live exams

15th June 2011

Wednesday pm

1 hour 30 min

Unit 4Crime & Deviance

Sociological Theory & Methods

A2 mock exams

20th June 2011

Monday am

2 hours

Unit 3 ~ 20% of A level

Written exam 1hr 30mins

Unit 4 ~ 30% of A Level

Written exam 2 hours

A2 Course Structure and Outline.

The specification:

The relationship between religious beliefs and social change and stability

Functionalism: conservative force, inhibition of change, collective conscience,Durkheim and totemism, anomie; civil religions

Marxism: religion as ideology, legitimating social inequality, disguising exploitationEtc

Weber: religion as a force for social change: theodicy’s, the Protestant ethic Neo-Marxism: religion used by those opposing the ruling class, liberation theology Feminism: religious beliefs supporting patriarchy Fundamentalist beliefs: rejecting change by reverting to supposed traditional

Values and practices.

The significance of religion and religiosity in the contemporary world, includingThe nature and extent of secularisation in a global context

Globalisation and belief systems, including fundamentalism Post modernity: end of meta-narratives, ‘spiritual shopping’

Religious organisations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age movements, and their relationship to religious and spiritual belief and Practice

Typologies of religious organisations: churches, denominations, sects and cults,With examples of each New Religious Movements and typologies of NRMs eg worldRejecting/accommodating/affirming; millenarian beliefs, with examples of each

New Age movements and spirituality, with examples The relationship of these organisations to religious and spiritual belief and

Practice.

The relationship between different social groups and religious/spiritualOrganisations and movements, beliefs and practices

Reasons why people join NRMs, NAMs and other organisations Gender and religion: women: women’s greater participation, women in religious

Organisations including NRMs; men’s participation and organisational roles inReligions; sexuality and religion; images of gender in religions

Ethnicity and religion: religion and ethnic identity; religion in migrant communities;Religions and minority ethnic groups in the UK today

Age and religion: religious participation and belief by age group; religiousSocialisation

Social class and religion: religious participation and belief by social class

Secularisation: problems of definition and measurement; aspects of secularisationSuch as disengagement, rationalisation, rise of pluralism/diversity, desacralisation,Disenchantment, individuation

Arguments and evidence for and against secularisation e.g. attendance andMembership; believing without belonging; the secularisation cycle theory andCompensators (Stark and Bainbridge); UK compared with other countries (e.g.USA) and global significance of religion today.

We are going to be looking at religious organisation 1st

Religious Organisations

Sociologists have used number of terms to identify key social organisations of religion:

Church, Denomination, Sect and Cult

There have been a number of attempts to categorize the different types of religious organisations, but no system fits perfectly the enormous variety of organisations that have existed throughout the world. Nevertheless, it is possible broadly to distinguish some main types of religious organisations.

New Religious Movements and

typologies of NRMs eg world

rejecting/accommodating/

affirming; millenarian beliefs, with

examples of each.

Typologies of religious

organisations: churches,

denominations, sects and cults,with examples

of each.The

relationship of these

organisations to religious

and spiritual belief and practice.

New Age movements and spirituality, with

examples.

Gender,ethnicty,class ,age and

religion: religious participation and

belief by gender,ethnicty,cl

ass & ageWe will be looking at this later on

the course

Reasons why people join NRMs, NAMs and other organisations.

Church

Pages 422-423

DENOMINATION

Ernst Troeltsch

Steve Bruce

Pages 422 (Haralambous & Holborn)Pages 49 AQA A2 Sociology textbook

He was the first to distinguish between different religious organisations – influenced by Weber

He questions the usefulness of the definition of the church that Troeltsch comes up with

Pages 423 (Haralambous & Holborn)Pages 49 AQA A2 Sociology textbook

Niebhur was the first sociologists to differentiate denomination from church

CHURCH DENOMINATION

Similarities

Differences

SECTS& CULTS

Pages 424-425 (Haralambous & Holborn)Pages 49 AQA A2 Sociology textbook

Troeltsch was the first to distinguish between religious organisation starting of with church which you looked at above, the second was sect. He argues that sects have characteristics that are opposite to churches

The Cult

The media use of the term sect has become interchangeable with the word cult. Sensational reporting of such events as the Waco siege in Texas have meant that the term 'cult' has become loaded with negative connotations

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/waco/

Steve Bruce

How does Bruce define cults?

SECTS CULTS

Similarities

Differences

Typology of religious organisations

Church Denomination Sect Cult

Structure

Organisation

Jonestown 1978 - scene of mass suicide see John for video on this

http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~remoore/jonestown/index.html

Relationship with secular society

Relationship with members

New members

Time Scale

Social background of members

Examples (4 of each)

Similarities &Differences

New Religious movements, Sects & Cults

How does Eileen Barker attempt to classify new religious movement (new religious movement means the same thing as sects and cults or so it is used as to mean that)

Pages 425-428 (Haralambous & Holborn)Page 50 AQA A2 Sociology textbook

Roy Wallis – The elementary forms of the new religious life

New Religious Movements (NRM's)

Wallis 1984 - 3 types of NRM

1 World Accommodating

Affirmation of the world

Accommodation of the world

Rejection of the world

Wallis 1984

Argues that the last 30 years in the USA and Europe have witnessed a rapid growth in NRM's. This appears to be going hand in hand with the decline in established churches, suggesting that beliefs are not so much declining as changing

2. World-rejecting movements

3. World Affirming Religions

The Middle ground – Wallis realizes that no religious group will conform to the categories he outlines.

Evaluation

Rodney Stark and Sims Bainbridge 1985- Un – Ideal types

Argue that sects are offshoots of existing religions and cults involve innovation and importing ideas from other religions

They classify cults into 3 types

1. Audience Cults

2. Client Cults

3. Cult Movements

Problems with this classification

Pages 428-429 (Haralambous & Holborn)Pages 50-51 AQA A2 Sociology textbook

1.

2.

Reasons for the growth sects,cults and new religious movements

Both church and sect claim that they have the unique, true message - but the church is seen as legitimate (even by non-believers), the sect is seen as deviant.

Cult and denomination recognise a variety of beliefs - but again one is seen as legit (denomination) and one is seen as deviant (cult)

Marginality Relative Deprivation

Pages 420-430 (Haralambous & Holborn)Pages 50-51 AQA A2 Sociology textbook

The Development of sects

Explanations for the growth of religious movements

Marginality Relative Deprivation

Social Change The growth of new religious movements

Pages 431-432 (Haralambous & Holborn)Pages 52-53 AQA A2 Sociology textbook

Sects as short-lived organisations

The life cycle of sects

The life cycle of sects

Internal ideology and the wider society

Other

The New Age

Other

Examples of the new age

Variations within the new age The appeal of the new age

Pages 432-435 (Haralambous & Holborn)Pages 54 AQA A2 Sociology textbook

The themes of the new age

Questions that could be asked on this

Data questions and short essays

Read Item A below and answer parts (a) and (b) which follow.

Item A

Society has changed significantly over the past century and it has often been noted that there has been a drift away from mainstream religious organisations. Many people now feel that their religious needs can no longer be met through the more conventional forms of religious organisation, such as the traditional churches and denominations. In such cases, it is not unusual for people to be attracted by different and new approaches to worship and belief offered by sects and cults.

To help clarify our understanding of these newer religious organisations, Wallis developed a classification of what he called New Religious Movements that divided them into world-affirming, world-accommodating and world-rejecting religions. In such organisations, participation and membership are often significantly different from mainstream religions. Many people fear that New Religious Movements have too great a hold over their members, but evidence shows that in reality the turnover in membership is very high.

(a) Identify and briefly explain some of the reasons why New Religious Movements have such a high turnover of members. (9 marks)

Identify and briefly explain some of the characteristic features of sects, apart from those referred to in Item A. (9 marks)

Identify and briefly explain three reasons why some individuals may choose to join religious sects or cults 6 marks

Example exam 33 mark questions

Assess the view that cults, sects and New Age movements are fringe organisations that are inevitably short-lived and of little influence in contemporary society. (33 marks)

The growth of the new religious movements and the new age beliefs since the 1960s indicates a revival of religion. Discuss 33 marks

Assess sociological explanations for the increasing number of religious and spiritual organisations and movements in society 33 marks

Variations within the new age The appeal of the new age

Conclusion

January 2010

1 Read Item A below and answer parts (a) and (b) that follow.

Item A

Traditional religious organisations have faced many challenges over the past thirtyyears. In the past, their infl uence in society was considerable and they were seenas the mainstream spiritual movements. Some sociologists argue that most peopleparticipated in such organisations, even if only to reinforce their social status. Theseorganisations also had substantial political power and infl uence.However, changes in society over the past few decades have presented considerablechallenges to the traditional roles and status of these organisations. Similarly, somesociologists argue that many people have reassessed their personal commitment totraditional religious organisations. As a result, such organisations have lost bothsupport and membership.

(a) Identify and briefly explain three reasons why traditional religious organisations mayhave lost support and/or membership over the past thirty years, apart from that referredto in Item A. (9 marks)

(b) Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the view that most people today seespirituality and religious belief as purely private and personal matters. (18 marks)