Social scientists tend to assume no supernatural intervention in the
formation of religions, viewing them in the same way they view the
development of other social structures.Typology of religious groups
According to what is at present the most common typology among
sociologists, religious groups are classified as
ecclesias,
denominations, cults
or sects.
Note that sociologists give these words precise definitions which
are different from how they are commonly used. Note especially that
the words 'cult' and 'sect' as used by sociologists are free from
prejudice, even though the popular use of these words is often
highly pejorative.
The sociological view of religion
The below text deals only with one theory; work of
other authors needs to be included.
According to the theory of R. Stark & W. S. Bainbridge, religions
are systems of "compensators". Compensators are a body of language
and practices that compensate for some physical lack or frustrated
goal. They can be divided into specific compensators (compensators
for the failure to achieve specific goals), and general compensators
(compensators for failure to achieve any goal).
It has been observed that social or political movements that fail
to achieve their goals will often transform into religions. As it
becomes clear that the goals of the movement will not be achieved by
natural means (at least within their lifetimes), members of the
movement will look to the supernatural to achieve what cannot be
achieved naturally. The new religious beliefs are compensators for
the failure to achieve the original goals. Examples of this include
the counterculture movement in America: the early counterculture
movement was intent on changing society and removing its injustice
and boredom; but as members of the movement proved unable to achieve
these goals they turned to Eastern and new religions as
compensators.
Sociological theories of the formation of religion
The most general sociological theory of the formation of
religions so far is contained in R. Stark & W. S. Bainbridge's book
"Theory of Religion". This theory is outlined roughly below:
Most religions start out their lives as cults or sects, i.e.
groups in high tension with the surrounding society. Over time, they
tend to either die out, or become more established, mainstream and
in less tension with society. Cults are new groups with a new novel
theology, while sects are attempts to return mainstream religions to
(what the sect views as) their original purity. Mainstream
established groups are called denominations. The comments below
about cult formation apply equally well to sect formation.
There are four models of cult formation: the Psychopathological
Model, the Entrepreneurial Model, the Social Model and the Normal
Revelations model.
According to the Psychopathological Model, religions are founded
during a period of severe stress in the life of the founder. The
founder suffers from psychological problems, which they resolve
through the founding of the religion. (The development of the
religion is for them a form of self-therapy, or self-medication.)
According to the Entrepreneurial Model, founders of religions act
like entrepreneurs, developing new products (religions) to sell to
consumers (to convert people to). According to this model, most
founders of new religions already have experience in several
religious groups before they begin their own. They take ideas from
the pre-existing religions, and try to improve on them to make them
more popular.
The Social Model emphasises not the founder of the religion, but
rather the early religious group. According to this model, religions
are founded by means of social implosions. Members of the religious
group spend less and less time with people outside the group, and
more and more time with each other within it. The level of affection
and emotional bonding between members of a group increases, and
their emotional bonds to members outside the group diminsh.
According to the social model, when a social implosion occurs, the
group will naturally develop a new theology and rituals to accompany
it.
The Normal Revelations model was added to the theory by Stark in
a latter work. According to the Normal Revelations model, religions
are founded when the founder interprets ordinary natural phenomena
as supernatural; for instance, ascribing his or her own creativity
in inventing the religion to that of the deity.
Some religions are better described by one model than another,
though all apply to differing degrees to all religions.
Once a cult or sect has been founded, the next problem for the
founder is to convert new members to it. Prime candidates for
religious conversion are those with an openness to religion, but who
do not belong or fit well in any existing religious group. Those
with no religion or no interest in religion are difficult to
convert, especially since the cult and sect beliefs are so extreme
by the standards of the surrounding society. But those already happy
members of a religious group are difficult to convert as well, since
they have strong social links to their pre-existing religion and are
unlikely to want to sever them in order to join a new one. The best
candidates for religious conversion are those who are members of or
have been associated with religious groups (thereby showing an
interest or openness to religion), yet exist on the fringe of these
groups, without strong social ties to prevent them from joining a
new group.
Potential converts vary in their level of social connection. New
religions best spread through pre-existing friendship networks.
Converts who are marginal with few friends are easy to convert, but
having few friends to convert they cannot add much to the further
growth of the organization. Converts with a large social network are
harder to convert, since they tend to have more invested in
mainstream society; but once converted they yield many new followers
through their friendship network.
Cults initially can have quite high growth rates; but as the
social networks that initially feed them are exhausted, their growth
rate falls quickly. On the other hand, the
rate of growth is exponential (ignoring the limited supply of
potential converts): the more converts you have, the more
missionaries you can have out looking for new converts. But
nonetheless it can take a very long time for religions to grow to a
large size by natural growth. This often leads to cult leaders
giving up after several decades, and withdrawing the cult from the
world.
It is difficult for cults and sects to maintain their initial
enthusiasm for more than about a generation. As children are born
into the cult or sect, members begin to demand a more stable life.
When this happens, cults tend to lose or de-emphasise many of their
more radical beliefs, and become more open to the surrounding
society; they then become denominations.
The goal or dream of most founders of religions is to convert
their entire society; but of the myriad religions founded throughout
history, few have been very successful. Most of the world's
religious market share is taken up by a few religions (Christianity,
Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism). It is very difficult for a religion to
grow to this size, and depends more on the luck than the skill of
the religion's founder. Most of these religions (especially
Christianity) established themselves by penetrating the social
network of the society's elite. Once this network was penetrated,
the religion quickly controlled the elite of the society. The
religion of the common people took much longer to change (sometimes
centuries), but once the elite had changed their religion the change
of the whole society was inevitable.
