Current Moral Hysteria & Alternative Religion: What does old Modelling Say

The link between sectarian membership and deprivation has been an important and enduring aspect of the study of sects.  As we have seen, in such works as that of Troeltsch and Niebuhr, deprivation is usually given to mean material poverty and social marginalization. For those who have little stake in society the sect brings a new status. Often, through millenarian themes which stress the immanent arrival of the kingdom of God, it constructs a new set of values that are in conflict with the world, frequently attacking injustices and the sources of poverty and alienation. (Hunt, 2003, p. 37)

In the 1960's, as part of the wider picture of profound religious and social change, sects appeared to be proliferating.  In the USA, at least, the growth seemed to be more obviously linked to the recruitment of marginalized and disadvantaged groups.  For instance, the Black Muslim movement provided for the needs of many poor blacks.  Although it started in the 1930's among Afro-Americans the movement proliferated at a time of pressure for civil rights from the 1960's onwards and began to also attract middle-class adherents.  In time-honoured tradition, the movement has since splintered into various factions.  Some have returned to Sunni Islamic orthodoxy while others continue to be politically motivated, advancing black rights in what is perceived to be a white-dominated society. (Hunt, 2003, p. 38)

In explaining the rise of sectarian type groups, Glock (1958) expanded the notion of deprivation. This was in order to understand how sects, in numerous ways, provide a channel through which their members are able to transcend their feelings of deprivation by replacing them within a sense of religious privilege.  This privilege comes through sectarianism, with its emphasis on belonging to an 'elite'.  Thus we can understand how adherents to sects may be drawn from a variety of social background. Here, sect members no longer compare themselves tin terms of their relatively lower economic position, but by way of their superior spiritual status....Religious solutions to this range of deprivations are more likely to occur where the nature of the deprivation is inaccurately perceived or where those experiencing the deprivation are not well placed to work directly at eliminating the causes.  Conversely the resolution is likely to be secular, without reference to the supernatural, in  a situation where deprivation is correctly assessed by those experiencing it and they have the power to overcome its causes directly. (Hunt, 2003, p. 38)

Hunt, J. (2003).  Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction. Ashgate, England.