1. Stark & Bainbridge on Cults
2. The increased popularity of NRMs
3. Faith Schools.

This is a very good area to study, as it will give you a lot more detail to include in answers on NRMs. It is also extremely relevant to questions on secularisation. You can also use it for questions on general perspectives and theories about religion.

Stark & Bainbridge, you will remember, argued that religion meets universal needs that people have: the need for compensators. When large religious organisations fail to meet people's needs (i.e. they fail to provide them with adequate compensators) people turn to small organisations such as cults, which offer better compensators. (For example, a person may find the teachings of the C. of E. bland and vague, and turn to the absolute "certainties" offered by the London Church of Christ, or the Moonies. This is a bit like finding the clothing sold by Marks & Spencers too bland and uninteresting, and deciding to open an account with a small trendy designer!) This process, where people withdraw their allegiance from big religious organisations such as Churches and Denominations, and support NRMs, is known as resacrilisation. So the existence of small religious organisations is evidence that religion is necessary, and that secularisation is not occurring.

Cults are groups of people who have minority religious beliefs. They are of 3 types:

1. Audience cult. This is where "followers" are content to passively absorb the religious ideas, without doing much about it. They will look at web sites, buy books, attend talks, etc. Examples include "UFOlogy"; feng shui; wicca; Satanism; and various conspiracy theories etc. ("I've really got into..."!)
2. Client Cult. Followers will become clients of the organisation, paying money in exchange for services. They may attend workshops, undergo "training", and buy products etc. Examples include advanced yoga and meditation groups; some types of feng shui; EST; etc.
3. Cult Movement. This is where the followers/members become deployable agents; they do what the cult leadership want them to. Examples include the London Church of Christ; the Unification Church ("Moonies"); the Solar Temple. It is these types of cult that the media start moral panics about, making claims about "brainwashing", etc.

Quantitative data on religiosity shows us that the second half of the 20th Century experienced an increase in NRMs within developed countries. More people have a range of minority or deviant religious views and practices than they did a generation or so ago. Possible reasons are:

1. Deprivation. Weber links sects to disadvantaged and marginalised groups within the population. They are desperate for help, and a "theodicy of disprivilege" gives a religious explanation for their position, and promises a better future. Millenarian groups (i.e. those who proclaim that "the end of the world is nigh") are in this category, along with The Nation of Islam; black pentecostalists; and "The People's Temple". N.B. you already know about deprivation from your module on Wealth, Poverty, & Welfare. Use material from here to show that Britain has increasing numbers of poor people, and link it to this point!
2. Relative deprivation. The first point does not entirely explain the growth in NRMs, as many NRM members are from affluent, white, middle-class backgrounds. (So this is a good evaluation point!!). Wallis argues that these people may feel "spiritually deprived" (lacking "soul"?) and seek the feeling of community, commitment, and identity to be found in some NRMs.
3. Stark & Bainbridge. (We have already covered this earlier on this page.) NRMs represent resacrilisation. When established religions cease offering acceptable compensators, individuals will withdraw their support ("desacrilisation") and offer it to newer groups that offer better compensators. This explains the growth of NRMs.
4. Functionalism. NRMs are a sign that the value consensus is breaking down (and are therefore undesirable). People stop believing in mainstream norms/values, and adopt minority ones. The collective conscience (Durkheim) fragments.
5. Youth Culture. Extended periods in education, expansion of university places, changes in employment patterns, and the growth of consumerism have meant that "youth " as a social category has expanded and given young people more opportunities to explore "alternative" lifestyles and beliefs.
6. Consumerism. Postmodernists point out that we now live in a world where we are defined by our purchases and "lifestyle choices". We can now "pick & mix" from a range of alternative "New Age" religions and fads. Bruce points out that these tend to be very short-lived, with little social importance.

The government is currently carrying out plans to revitalise the secondary school system by encouraging religious groups to set up single faith schools. These are thought to perform better than normal comprehensives. They are however very controversial, with some claiming that they will lead to cultural "apartheid" and the fragmentation of communities along religious lines. They point to the lack of contact between religious/ethnic communities in some northern cities, a factor partly responsible for riots there in summer 2001.

Sociologically, such "faith schools" are extremely interesting, and you can use them to answer lots of exam questions.

• Bruce argues that one reason why religion survives in a secularising society is because of cultural transition: immigrant populations use it as a source of strength and identity in their new country. This would explain why Moslems, for example, want faith schools in order to support and defend their religion.
• You can use faith schools as part of an answer about secularisation. As we shall see, one measure/operationalisation of religiosity is disengagement - the extent to which religions have lost their ability to influence other areas of society. Whereas those in favour of the secularisation thesis would point to the declining role of churches (less compulsory religious education; losing the battle over Sunday trading; unable to have much influence in debates over personal/sexual morality), faith schools are clear evidence that religious groups can still influence the government.
• Functionalists would probably think faith schools are a bad idea. They undermine cultural homogeneity and value consensus, as different groups would have different norms & values.
• If faith schools can have such a big impact on society, then they probably help to prove Weber's theory about religion being able to act as an agency of social change.