Causes of the Rapid Social Change

Causes of the Rapid Social Change

The view of the title is that sects emerge as a response to rapid

social change, social dislocation and anomie. Cohn 1957 said that the

experience of disasters either natural or manmade e.g. outbreaks of

plague or war can lead to people feeling a deep sense of doom and an

eager desire for salvation. Sects may also emerge as a response to

contact with an “alien culture” especially when it is with being

occupied and colonised e.g. when Palestine was colonised by the Romans

a sect emerged which is now known as Christianity. Wilson (1970)

argues that Methodism emerged as a sect as a response to the “chaos

and uncertainty of life in newly settled industrial areas” by the new

urban working class. However some sociologist do not think that sects

emerge as a response to social change, Stark and Bainbridge 1985

looked at the percentages of sects formed in the USA at different time

periods. They found that there was not much difference in the

percentages of sects being formed in 1950’s and 1960’s, they argued

that if sect emerged as a response to social change there would have

been a significant difference in the 1960’s as it was the time of

demonstrations, the hippie movement, Black riots and the Vietnamese

war. On the other hand this research can be criticised because Stark

and Bainbridge’s definition of a sect was very limited and a broader

definition may have meant that the findings changed and the conclusion

have been different. So although rapid social change may explain to a

certain degree why sects emerge it does not seem to provide a full

explanation and is of li...

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... with social change. However this view is criticised by Beckford 1975,

in his study of Jehovah’s witnesses he found that most of them did not

appear to be relatively deprives in fact they were either upper

working class or lower middle class and showed no obvious signs of

relative deprivation either in income or social status. So this

explanation in light of its criticisms again may offer a limited

explanation for why sects emerge.

In conclusion it can not be said that sects emerge as a response to

rapid social change alone, the other explanations have to be taken

into account. Although social change, social marginality and relative

deprivation can not explain the emergence of sects on their own put

together they are very useful in explaining why sects emerge and in

what circumstances they are most likely to emerge.