Chapter 4: Who Joins NRMs and Why?

Chapter 4: Who Joins NRMs and Why?

RELS 225Cults and New Religious Movements

RELS 225Cults and New Religious Movements

Slide 2.

Joining NRMs: Who and Why?Joining NRMs: Who and Why?

• Stark & Bainbridge say not:• Gullible• Losers• Everyone

• Not the dregs; more like the best & brightest.

Slide 3.

One early theoryOne early theory

1. What were people lacking?2. What does the movement offer?3. Where do they overlap?• That is where the ‘reason’ is to be found.• Derived from deprived classes converting

to Christian sects.

Slide 4.

Then: the 60’s NRMsThen: the 60’s NRMs

• The converts in the 1960’s were privileged.

• So the theory was modified by Glock:• Relative deprivation:• Economic (poor)• Social (power, prestige)• Organismic (health, physical, & mental)• Psychic (love & affection)• Ethical (dissatisfaction with dominant values)

Slide 5.

1965 Lofland & Stark 1965 Lofland & Stark

• John Lofland & grad student Rodney Stark• (Stark published a recent book: Rise of

Christianity)• Best early work on conversion. • Studied a group called “Divine Precepts”

(Unification Church)• The very first cell of “Moonies” 12-15 of them.

• Proposed two kinds of conditions necessary for conversion to a NRM

Slide 6.

1965 Lofland & Stark 1965 Lofland & Stark

• Predisposing conditions:1. Experiencing Tensions2. Religious orientation (predisposed)3. Seeker (already reading, investigating)

Slide 7.

1965 Lofland & Stark1965 Lofland & Stark

• Situational Contingencies:4. Encounter5. Bonds-making6. Bond-breaking7. Interacting

Slide 8.

Who in fact joins?Who in fact joins?1. Join through social networks.2. Affective ties

• They liked the people.

3. Intensive interaction• Left when people disappointed them.

4. No other commitments (family, mortgage)

5. No ideological alignment6. With history of seekership7. People looking for rewards &

compensations:• Needs (Affirmation, belonging, empowerment)• Meaning• Status (job opportunities; opportinity for

advancement; leadership roles)

• Other:• hostile environment (Christianity?)• Competition

Slide 9.

Joiners are not:Joiners are not:• Brainwashed

• making us all equally as susceptible

• loners, social outcasts, or religious radicals.

Slide 10.

CharacteristicsCharacteristics

1. Young• Even younger in the 1970’s

2. Higher educated3. Middle-upper middle class• No appeal to working class

4. Balanced male-female• Although varies by NRM: Moonies started male

5. More secular religious backgrounds• But large Jewish representation, especially in

Zen.

Slide 11.

1984: Two Resources1984: Two Resources• Radical Departures, by

Saul Levine.• North American psychiatrist• Good for parents of cult

members.• 800 interviews

• The Making of a Moonie by Eileen Barker

• British sociologist• Interviewed/surveyed all

Moonie attendees for 10 years.• Compared with a control group.

Slide 12.

Barker’s findings:Barker’s findings:• Respectable

families• Overachievers• Disrupted at

university (disappointed with larger world)

Slide 13.

Levine’s findings:Levine’s findings:• No more psychopathology than

normal• Overacheivers• Quietly suffering in frustration

for years• Identify too strongly with

parents• They like their parents.• Try to please them

• No strong romantic relationship in adolescence

• No all-nighters stoned, pondering metaphysics.

• 90% of joiners left voluntarily in less than 2 years.

Slide 14.

Further FactorsFurther Factors• 2. rationality of

conversions• Same as other large

decisions • e.g., what college to attend

• determine benefits outweigh perceived costs.

• 3. religious experience

• Or perhaps people join because they have indeed experienced some sort of enlightenment