New Religious Movements, New Age Movements and Religiosity
New religious movements (NRMs) and New Age movements represent forms of religiosity that grew significantly in the later twentieth century, often outside, or in tension with, mainstream established religion. Wallis's typology, world-affirming, world-rejecting and world-accommodating, classifies NRMs by their stance towards wider society rather than by their specific beliefs. Stark and Bainbridge's relative deprivation theory argues people are drawn to sects and NRMs when they feel deprived, materially, spiritually or in status, relative to others or to their own expectations, and a sect can offer compensation, meaning, status or community, that mainstream society or religion has failed to provide. Bruce characterises the New Age as a highly individualistic, fragmented form of spirituality, often summarised as 'self religion', in which authority sits with the individual's own inner experience rather than an external institution or sacred text, encompassing a wide and loosely connected range of practices from meditation to alternative therapies. Heelas links the New Age's growth to a 'spiritual revolution', a shift in late modern society away from unquestioning deference to external religious authority and towards a subjective search for personal meaning and self-fulfilment, itself a symptom of the individualism Beck and Giddens associate with late modernity more broadly.
Before you start
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Method
- Use Wallis's typology as the primary classification tool: sort any NRM example in an item by its stance to wider society, affirming, rejecting or accommodating, rather than simply by whether it seems unusual or fringe.
- Explain Stark and Bainbridge's relative deprivation theory precisely: it is deprivation relative to others or to expectations, not necessarily absolute poverty, that drives people towards a sect's promise of compensation, and different types of deprivation (economic, social status, spiritual) can attract different kinds of movement.
- Distinguish New Age spirituality from an NRM organisationally: New Age practices are typically loosely connected and individually pursued (e.g. combining meditation with alternative therapy) rather than organised around a single group with defined membership, though the two overlap in practice.
- Use Bruce's 'self religion' concept precisely: authority for New Age practitioners rests in the individual's own inner experience and personal authenticity, not an external institution, text or clergy, a significant break from traditional organised religion's structure.
- Use Heelas's 'spiritual revolution' argument to connect New Age growth to wider late modern individualism, per Beck and Giddens: as deference to fixed external authority declines across many areas of life, a subjective search for personal meaning becomes more attractive than institutional religion.
- When an item describes a specific new movement's beliefs, structure or appeal, identify whether Wallis's typology, relative deprivation theory, or the self religion/individualisation argument best explains the pattern described, rather than reaching for all three unselectively.
- Evaluate relative deprivation theory against its main limitation: not everyone who is relatively deprived joins a sect or NRM, so deprivation alone cannot fully explain who converts and who does not, suggesting other factors, such as direct social contact with existing members, also matter.
- For a 20-mark essay, use the item's specific movement or trend as the anchor throughout, testing each theory against its detail rather than presenting three unconnected theories in sequence.
Worked example
Item B: A movement founded in the 1970s teaches specific meditation and breathing techniques its members say improve their careers, relationships and general wellbeing, while its literature explicitly states members should continue working, socialising and pursuing conventional success in the wider world. Applying material from Item B and your knowledge, analyse two ways this movement fits Wallis's typology of new religious movements. (10 marks)
- Identify the item's key features: techniques said to improve career, relationships and wellbeing, and explicit encouragement to continue pursuing conventional success in wider society.
- Build the first way from the item using Wallis's world-affirming category: offering techniques that improve success within mainstream life, rather than rejecting or withdrawing from it, matches the world-affirming movement's acceptance of society's own goals.
- Build the second way from the item: the explicit instruction to continue working and socialising in the wider world directly rules out Wallis's world-rejecting category, since world-rejecting movements typically demand withdrawal from mainstream society rather than continued participation in it.
- Add development: this pattern also fits Stark and Bainbridge's relative deprivation theory if members are drawn by a sense that mainstream life has not delivered the success or fulfilment they hoped for, and the movement offers techniques promising to compensate for that gap without requiring them to leave conventional society.
- Check both points are drawn directly from the item's detail rather than a general account of Wallis's typology.
Practice questions
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Q1Explain Wallis's three categories of new religious movement.Show answer
Answer: World-affirming movements accept society's goals and offer techniques to achieve them; world-rejecting movements condemn mainstream society and demand withdrawal from it; world-accommodating movements focus on personal spirituality while broadly accepting society as it is.
Q2What is Stark and Bainbridge's relative deprivation theory of religious movement membership?Show answer
Answer: The theory that people are drawn to sects and NRMs when they feel deprived, materially, socially or spiritually, relative to others or to their own expectations, and the movement offers compensation for that felt deprivation.
Q3What does Bruce mean by describing the New Age as 'self religion'?Show answer
Answer: A form of spirituality in which authority rests with the individual's own inner experience rather than an external institution, text or clergy, distinguishing it from traditional organised religion.
Q4Explain Heelas's concept of a 'spiritual revolution'.Show answer
Answer: A late modern shift away from deference to external religious authority and towards a subjective, personal search for meaning and self-fulfilment, which Heelas links to the growth of New Age spirituality.
Q5Give one criticism of relative deprivation theory as an explanation of who joins sects or NRMs.Show answer
Answer: Not everyone who experiences relative deprivation joins a sect or NRM, so the theory alone cannot fully explain conversion, suggesting other factors, such as direct social contact with existing members, also play a role.
Q6Give one way New Age spirituality differs organisationally from a typical new religious movement.Show answer
Answer: New Age practices are usually loosely connected and pursued individually, combining different practices such as meditation and alternative therapy, rather than organised around a single group with defined, exclusive membership.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a A Level Sociology exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Outline two reasons Stark and Bainbridge give for why people join sects or new religious movements.
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Item C: A woman in her forties described trying yoga, then a course in 'energy healing', then a weekend workshop on personal manifestation, over a period of several years, saying she took from each 'whatever felt true to me' and combined ideas from different sources into her own personal outlook, without formally joining any single group. Applying material from Item C, analyse two ways this pattern illustrates Bruce's concept of the New Age as 'self religion'. (10 marks)
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Item D: Survey data over several decades showed a steady decline in regular attendance at traditional places of worship, alongside a rise in the number of people describing themselves as 'spiritual but not religious' and a growing market for wellness retreats, meditation apps and alternative therapy services. Interviews found many respondents in this group said they valued personal choice in spiritual matters and were wary of being told what to believe by any single organisation. Applying material from Item D and your knowledge, evaluate sociological explanations for the growth of New Age spirituality. (20 marks)
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