Identification of new religious movements in R. Stark’s research programme
Abstract
This article is devoted to the problem of identification of new religious movements in the research programme of the famous American sociologist of religion Rodney Stark. The author describes in general terms the legacy, contribution of the scientist to the development of the sociology of religion and the methodological shifts he made towards the analysis of religious organisations, also adjusted for a diachronic perspective. Particular attention is paid to the presentation of theoretical and methodological foundations of R. Stark’s typology of religious organisations, as well as his concept of tension with society. Based on the results of the author’s research, the problematic points proposed by R. Stark are identified, both in the methodology of analysis and in the theory of the system of relations between religious organisations and society. Specific theoretical and methodological proposals are made to resolve the revealed problems, including those based on the study of the social identification of religious organisations.
References
1. Stark R, Bainbridge WS. A theory of religion. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press; 1996. 386 p.
2. Stark R. Bringing theory back in. In: Young LA, editor. Rational choice theory and religion. New York: Routledge; 1997. p. 3–22.
3. Stark R, Finke R. Acts of faith. Explaining the human side of religion. Berkley: University of California Press; 2000. 343 p.
4. Stark R. Micro foundations of religion: a revised theory. Sociological Theory. 1999;17(3):264–289.
5. Stark R. Reconceptualizing religion, magic, and science. Review of Religious Research. 2001;43(2):101–120. DOI: 10.2307/3512057.
6. Glock CY, Stark R. Religion and society in tension. Chicago: Rand McNally; 1965. 316 p.
7. Stark R, Glock CY. American piety: the nature of religious commitment. California: University of California Press; 1968. 230 p.
8. Stark R, Bainbridge WS. The future of religion. Secularization, revival and cult formation. Berkeley: University of California Press; 1985. 571 p.
9. Lofland J, Stark R. Becoming a world-saver: a theory of conversion to deviant perspective. American Sociological Review. 1965;30(6):862–874. DOI: 10.2307/2090965.
10. Stark R, Bainbridge WS. Networks of faith: interpersonal bonds and recruitment to cults and sects. American Journal of Sociology. 1980;85(6):1376–1395.
11. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Friendship, religion, and the occult: a network study. Review of Religious Research. 1981;22(4):313–327. DOI: 10.2307/3509765.
12. Stark R. Psychopathology and religious commitment. Review of Religious Research. 1971;12(3):165–176. DOI: 10.2307/3510420.
13. Stark R. Religion as context: hellfire and delinquency one more time. Sociology of Religion. 1996;57(2):163–173. DOI: 10.2307/3711948.
14. Stark R. Do Catholic societies really exist? Rationality and Society. 1992;4(3):261–271.
15. Pitchford S, Bader C, Stark R. Doing field studies of religious movements: an agenda. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 2001;40(3):379–392. DOI: 10.1111/0021-8294.00064.
16. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Cult formation: three compatible models. Sociological Analysis. 1979;40(4):283–295. DOI: 10.2307/3709958.
17. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Scientology: to be perfectly clear. Sociological Analysis. 1980;41(2):128–136. DOI: 10.2307/3709904.
18. Stark R, Bainbridge WS, Doyle DP. Cults of America: a reconnaissance in space and time. Sociological Analysis. 1979;40(4):347–359. DOI: 10.2307/3709963.
19. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Client and audience cults in America. Sociological Analysis. 1980;41(3):199–214. DOI: 10.2307/3710398.
20. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. American-born sects: initial findings. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1981;20(2):130–149. DOI: 10.2307/1385611.
21. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Church and cult in Canada. Canadian Journal of Sociology. 1982;7(4):351–366. DOI: 10.2307/3339889.
22. Stark R. Europe’s receptivity to religious movements. New York: Paragon House; 1985. Religious movements: genesis, exodus, and numbers; p. 301–343.
23. Stark R. Europe’s receptivity to new religious movements: round two. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1993;32(4):389–397. DOI: 10.2307/1387179.
24. Stark R, Iannaccone LR. Response to lechner: recent religious declines in Quebec, Poland, and the Netherlands. A theory vindicated. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1996;35(3):265–271. DOI: 10.2307/1386557.
25. Stark R, Smith BG. Pluralism and the churching of Latin America. Latin American Politics and Society. 2012;54(2):35–50. DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-2456.2012.00152.
26. Finke R, Stark R. Religious economies and sacred canopies: religious mobilization in American cities, 1906. American Sociological Review. 1988;53(1):41–49. DOI: 10.2307/2095731.
27. Stark R, Roberts L. The arithmetic of social movements: theoretical implications. Sociological Analysis. 1982;43(1):53–67. DOI: 10.2307/3711418.
28. Stark R, Iannaccone LR. Why the Jehovah’s witnesses grow so rapidly: a theoretical application. Journal of Contemporary Religion. 1997;12(2):133–157. DOI: 10.1080/13537909708580796.
29. Stark R. The rise and fall of Christian science. Journal of Contemporary Religion. 1998;13(2):189–214. DOI: 10.1080/13537909808580830.
30. Stark R. How sane people talk to the gods: a rational theory of revelations. In: Williams MA, Cox C, Jaffee MS, editors. Innovation in religious traditions. Essays in the interpretation of religious change. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter; 1992. p. 19–34.
31. Stark R. A theory of revelations. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1999;38(2):287–308. DOI: 10.2307/1387795.
32. Stark R, Finke R. Religions in context: the response of non-Mormon faiths in Utah. Review of Religious Research. 2004;45(3):293–298. DOI: 10.2307/3512266.
33. Mencken C, Bader C, Stark R. Conventional Christian belief’s and experimentation with the paranormal. Review of Religious Research. 2008;50(2):194–205.
34. Stark R. Modernization and Mormon growth: the secularization thesis revisited. In: Cornwall M, Heaton TB, Young LA, editors. Contemporary Mormonism: social science perspectives. Chicago: University of Illinois Press; 1994. p. 13–23.
35. Stark R. The rise of Mormonism. New York: Columbia University Press; 2005. 173 p.
36. Melton GJ. Encyclopedia of American religions. Volume 1. Detroit: Gale; 2016. 1720 p.
37. Stark R. The Churching of America, 1776–2005. Winners and losers in our religious economy. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press; 2014. 246 p.
38. Stark R. For the glory of God. How monotheism led to reformations, science, witch-hunts, and the end of slavery. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2003. 488 p.
39. Finke R, Stark R. The churching of America, 1776–2005. Winners and losers in our religious economy. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press; 2014. 347 p.
40. Stark R, Bainbridge WS, Kent L. Cult membership in roaring twenties: assessing local receptivity. Sociological Analysis. 1981;42(2):137–162. DOI: 10.2307/3710591.
41. Finke R, Stark R. How the Upstart Sects Won America: 1776–1850. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1989;28(1):27–44. DOI: 10.2307/1387250.
42. Johnson B. On Church and Sect. American Sociological Review. 1963;28(4):539–549. DOI: 10.2307/2090070.
43. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Sectarian tension. Review of Religious Research. 1980;22(2):105–124. DOI: 10.2307/3510654.
44. Martinovich VA. Sektantstvo: vozniknovenie i migratsiya. Tom 1. Materialy k izucheniyu netraditsionnoi religioznosti [Sectarianism: emergence and migration. Volume 1. Materials for the study of non-traditional religiosity]. Moscow: Poznanie; 2018. 552 p. Russian.
45. Stark R, Bainbridge WS. Secularization, revival, and cult formation. Annual Review of the Social Sciences of Religion. 1980;4:85–119.
46. Stark R, Bainbridge WS. Secularization and cult formation in the Jazz Age. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1981;20(4):360–373. DOI: 10.2307/1386184.
47. Stark R. Secularization, R.I.P. Sociology of Religion. 1999;60(3):249–273. DOI: 10.2307/3711936.
48. Stark R, Bainbridge WS. Religion, deviance, and social control. New York: Routledge; 1997. 205 p.
49. Stark R. Sociology. 10th edition. Belmont: Thomson Higher Education; 2007. 660 p.
50. Martinovich VA. Identification of new religious movements in printed media in the Republic of Belarus. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology. 2017;4:56–65. Russian.
51. Martinovich VA. Perception of new religious movements by the religious organizations of the Republic of Belarus. RUDN Journal of Sociology. 2023;23(4):74-88. Russian. DOI: 10.22363/2313-2272-2023-23-1-74-88.
52. Martinovich VA. Means of communication of new religious movements in the Republic of Belarus. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology. 2021;3:75–83. Russian.
53. Simpson JH. The Stark – Bainbridge theory of religion in «The work of Rodney Stark: a review panel». Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1990;29(3):367–371.
2. Stark R. Bringing theory back in. In: Young LA, editor. Rational choice theory and religion. New York: Routledge; 1997. p. 3–22.
3. Stark R, Finke R. Acts of faith. Explaining the human side of religion. Berkley: University of California Press; 2000. 343 p.
4. Stark R. Micro foundations of religion: a revised theory. Sociological Theory. 1999;17(3):264–289.
5. Stark R. Reconceptualizing religion, magic, and science. Review of Religious Research. 2001;43(2):101–120. DOI: 10.2307/3512057.
6. Glock CY, Stark R. Religion and society in tension. Chicago: Rand McNally; 1965. 316 p.
7. Stark R, Glock CY. American piety: the nature of religious commitment. California: University of California Press; 1968. 230 p.
8. Stark R, Bainbridge WS. The future of religion. Secularization, revival and cult formation. Berkeley: University of California Press; 1985. 571 p.
9. Lofland J, Stark R. Becoming a world-saver: a theory of conversion to deviant perspective. American Sociological Review. 1965;30(6):862–874. DOI: 10.2307/2090965.
10. Stark R, Bainbridge WS. Networks of faith: interpersonal bonds and recruitment to cults and sects. American Journal of Sociology. 1980;85(6):1376–1395.
11. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Friendship, religion, and the occult: a network study. Review of Religious Research. 1981;22(4):313–327. DOI: 10.2307/3509765.
12. Stark R. Psychopathology and religious commitment. Review of Religious Research. 1971;12(3):165–176. DOI: 10.2307/3510420.
13. Stark R. Religion as context: hellfire and delinquency one more time. Sociology of Religion. 1996;57(2):163–173. DOI: 10.2307/3711948.
14. Stark R. Do Catholic societies really exist? Rationality and Society. 1992;4(3):261–271.
15. Pitchford S, Bader C, Stark R. Doing field studies of religious movements: an agenda. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 2001;40(3):379–392. DOI: 10.1111/0021-8294.00064.
16. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Cult formation: three compatible models. Sociological Analysis. 1979;40(4):283–295. DOI: 10.2307/3709958.
17. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Scientology: to be perfectly clear. Sociological Analysis. 1980;41(2):128–136. DOI: 10.2307/3709904.
18. Stark R, Bainbridge WS, Doyle DP. Cults of America: a reconnaissance in space and time. Sociological Analysis. 1979;40(4):347–359. DOI: 10.2307/3709963.
19. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Client and audience cults in America. Sociological Analysis. 1980;41(3):199–214. DOI: 10.2307/3710398.
20. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. American-born sects: initial findings. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1981;20(2):130–149. DOI: 10.2307/1385611.
21. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Church and cult in Canada. Canadian Journal of Sociology. 1982;7(4):351–366. DOI: 10.2307/3339889.
22. Stark R. Europe’s receptivity to religious movements. New York: Paragon House; 1985. Religious movements: genesis, exodus, and numbers; p. 301–343.
23. Stark R. Europe’s receptivity to new religious movements: round two. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1993;32(4):389–397. DOI: 10.2307/1387179.
24. Stark R, Iannaccone LR. Response to lechner: recent religious declines in Quebec, Poland, and the Netherlands. A theory vindicated. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1996;35(3):265–271. DOI: 10.2307/1386557.
25. Stark R, Smith BG. Pluralism and the churching of Latin America. Latin American Politics and Society. 2012;54(2):35–50. DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-2456.2012.00152.
26. Finke R, Stark R. Religious economies and sacred canopies: religious mobilization in American cities, 1906. American Sociological Review. 1988;53(1):41–49. DOI: 10.2307/2095731.
27. Stark R, Roberts L. The arithmetic of social movements: theoretical implications. Sociological Analysis. 1982;43(1):53–67. DOI: 10.2307/3711418.
28. Stark R, Iannaccone LR. Why the Jehovah’s witnesses grow so rapidly: a theoretical application. Journal of Contemporary Religion. 1997;12(2):133–157. DOI: 10.1080/13537909708580796.
29. Stark R. The rise and fall of Christian science. Journal of Contemporary Religion. 1998;13(2):189–214. DOI: 10.1080/13537909808580830.
30. Stark R. How sane people talk to the gods: a rational theory of revelations. In: Williams MA, Cox C, Jaffee MS, editors. Innovation in religious traditions. Essays in the interpretation of religious change. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter; 1992. p. 19–34.
31. Stark R. A theory of revelations. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1999;38(2):287–308. DOI: 10.2307/1387795.
32. Stark R, Finke R. Religions in context: the response of non-Mormon faiths in Utah. Review of Religious Research. 2004;45(3):293–298. DOI: 10.2307/3512266.
33. Mencken C, Bader C, Stark R. Conventional Christian belief’s and experimentation with the paranormal. Review of Religious Research. 2008;50(2):194–205.
34. Stark R. Modernization and Mormon growth: the secularization thesis revisited. In: Cornwall M, Heaton TB, Young LA, editors. Contemporary Mormonism: social science perspectives. Chicago: University of Illinois Press; 1994. p. 13–23.
35. Stark R. The rise of Mormonism. New York: Columbia University Press; 2005. 173 p.
36. Melton GJ. Encyclopedia of American religions. Volume 1. Detroit: Gale; 2016. 1720 p.
37. Stark R. The Churching of America, 1776–2005. Winners and losers in our religious economy. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press; 2014. 246 p.
38. Stark R. For the glory of God. How monotheism led to reformations, science, witch-hunts, and the end of slavery. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2003. 488 p.
39. Finke R, Stark R. The churching of America, 1776–2005. Winners and losers in our religious economy. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press; 2014. 347 p.
40. Stark R, Bainbridge WS, Kent L. Cult membership in roaring twenties: assessing local receptivity. Sociological Analysis. 1981;42(2):137–162. DOI: 10.2307/3710591.
41. Finke R, Stark R. How the Upstart Sects Won America: 1776–1850. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1989;28(1):27–44. DOI: 10.2307/1387250.
42. Johnson B. On Church and Sect. American Sociological Review. 1963;28(4):539–549. DOI: 10.2307/2090070.
43. Bainbridge WS, Stark R. Sectarian tension. Review of Religious Research. 1980;22(2):105–124. DOI: 10.2307/3510654.
44. Martinovich VA. Sektantstvo: vozniknovenie i migratsiya. Tom 1. Materialy k izucheniyu netraditsionnoi religioznosti [Sectarianism: emergence and migration. Volume 1. Materials for the study of non-traditional religiosity]. Moscow: Poznanie; 2018. 552 p. Russian.
45. Stark R, Bainbridge WS. Secularization, revival, and cult formation. Annual Review of the Social Sciences of Religion. 1980;4:85–119.
46. Stark R, Bainbridge WS. Secularization and cult formation in the Jazz Age. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1981;20(4):360–373. DOI: 10.2307/1386184.
47. Stark R. Secularization, R.I.P. Sociology of Religion. 1999;60(3):249–273. DOI: 10.2307/3711936.
48. Stark R, Bainbridge WS. Religion, deviance, and social control. New York: Routledge; 1997. 205 p.
49. Stark R. Sociology. 10th edition. Belmont: Thomson Higher Education; 2007. 660 p.
50. Martinovich VA. Identification of new religious movements in printed media in the Republic of Belarus. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology. 2017;4:56–65. Russian.
51. Martinovich VA. Perception of new religious movements by the religious organizations of the Republic of Belarus. RUDN Journal of Sociology. 2023;23(4):74-88. Russian. DOI: 10.22363/2313-2272-2023-23-1-74-88.
52. Martinovich VA. Means of communication of new religious movements in the Republic of Belarus. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology. 2021;3:75–83. Russian.
53. Simpson JH. The Stark – Bainbridge theory of religion in «The work of Rodney Stark: a review panel». Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1990;29(3):367–371.
Published
2023-10-29
Keywords:
sociology of religion, social identification, new religious movements, religion and society, church, rejection of society, tension with society
How to Cite
Martinovich, V. A. (2023). Identification of new religious movements in R. Stark’s research programme. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology, 3, 69-81. Retrieved from https://journals.bsu.by/index.php/sociology/article/view/5846
Section
Sociology of Religion
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