The year 13 sociologists have been looking at different religious organisations and the roles which they play in contemporary society. This week in particular we have examining definitions of churches, denominations, sects and cults. We have been examining text book material, challenging our own ideas and using sociological evidence to try to clarify definitions.
Using the link below and the information gathered from watching the video on Barker's study called 'The Making of a Moonie', students need to consider the extent to which definitions of sects and cults could be challenged.
4 comments:
People assume that sects and cults involve people who have been "brainwashed". However, if you look at evidence from Eileen Bakers research of the Moonies, she argues that there was choice whether or not to be a Moonie. I think that we are only concerned with the idea of sects and cults, because we are unfamiliar with it's content.
Looking at the fixed definitions of sects and cults and how they are portrayed in society are quite different to what we assume. For example the Poeple's Temple that was a extreme sect, cults on the other hand are very flexible and not as set in their ways. The definitions of sects and cults need to be addressed in a way which appeal to socity today.
Cults and sects have always had a negative connation attached to them, and this is mainly to do with how the media portrayes it. But as individuals, we immediately believe that they bad things mainly due to the fact that we are unfamiliar with them. There are some cults which are not good such as 'Johns town'. But Eileen Barkers study showed that people had free will and this weren't forced or brainwashed. This challenges the notion of cults and sect as evil.
Sects and cults have always seemed to have a negative definition attached to them; however, research done by Baker one the Moonies has proved that sects/cutls are not always what they seem, and people had a choice to become a Moonie or not. The media has had a big influence on the definition and therefore that's why they are protrayed the way that they are. We need to look at the definitions of a sect and cult in more depth to understand the meanings and not just assume what they are from the information from the media.
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