Psychopathologies and the Attribution of Charisma: A Critical Introduction to the Psychology of Charisma and the Explanation of Violence in New Religious Movements

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorne L. Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Structural ◽  
Charismatic Authority

ABSTRACT: Charismatic authority is widely held to be a defining mark of new religious movements (NRMs). It is also thought to play a crucial role in the onset of violence in some NRMs. We have begun to understand both the psychological and the social structural dynamices of this mode of leadership and how, under specific social conditions, it contributes to a dangerous cycle of deviance amplification. This paper presents a synthetic and critical analysis of several different theories of the charismatic bond. The central concern is why people attribute charisma to some leaders, and hence grant them special authority over their lives. The theories examined help to explain why charismatic relationships form, but they do not allow us to differentiate sufficiently between benign and potentially dangerous types of charismatic bonds, let alone how one may become the other. Scholars of NRMs need to take a closer look at the observable social psychological processes that prompt the attribution of charisma to a leader. A better grasp of these processes, it is argued, would help us understand how the mismanagement of charismatic authority has led some religious groups to see violence as an appropriate response to their concerns.

Modernity: Religious and Ethical Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicos Mouzelis
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Top Down ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Ethical Perspectives

In Modernity: Religious and Ethical Perspectives Nicos Mouzelis examines the three unique structural features of modern societies: inclusion of the whole population into the nation state, top-down differentiation of institutional spheres and the expansion of individualisation from the top to the base of the social pyramid. The author shows how the above features relate to present day religious phenomena such as secularisation/desecularisation, the new religious movements and the forms of present day spiritualities. He examines the extent to which secularisation and rationalisation led to the “disenchantment of the world”. Later, however, one observes a reaction to the established, hierarchically organised churches and to the adherence, mainly of young people, to less structured religious groups, to religious syncretism and to individual seekers who tried to find “their own God”. From this perspective, one can argue that we have a partial “re-enchantment of the world”.

Providing Freshmen with a Good “Starting-Block”

2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikaël De Clercq ◽  
Charlotte Michel ◽  
Sophie Remy ◽  
Benoît Galand
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Student Adjustment ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Pivotal Phase ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Study Task ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Belonging ◽  
Intention To Persist

Abstract. Grounded in social-psychological literature, this experimental study assessed the effects of two so-called “wise” interventions implemented in a student study program. The interventions took place during the very first week at university, a presumed pivotal phase of transition. A group of 375 freshmen in psychology were randomly assigned to three conditions: control, social belonging, and self-affirmation. Following the intervention, students in the social-belonging condition expressed less social apprehension, a higher social integration, and a stronger intention to persist one month later than the other participants. They also relied more on peers as a source of support when confronted with a study task. Students in the self-affirmation condition felt more self-affirmed at the end of the intervention but didn’t benefit from other lasting effects. The results suggest that some well-timed and well-targeted “wise” interventions could provide lasting positive consequences for student adjustment. The respective merits of social-belonging and self-affirmation interventions are also discussed.

From Spiritualism to Theosophy: “Uplifting” a Democratic Tradition

1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Prothero
Keyword(s):  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
American Religion ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Democratic Tradition ◽  
The Status ◽  
Taboo Topics

The status reversal ritual that American religious historiography has undergone in the last two decades has done much to “mainstream” previously taboo topics within the field. Many religious groups once dismissed as odd and insignificant “cults” are now seen as “new religious movements” worthy of serious scrutiny. One subject that has benefited from this reversal of fortunes is theosophy. Thanks to the work of scholars such as Robert Ellwood and Carl Jackson, theosophists are now part of the story of American religion. Exactly what part they are to play in that story remains, however, unclear.

On the Volatile Relationship of Secularization and New Religious Movements

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Holland
Keyword(s):  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Christian Science ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the complex relationship between secularization and the emergence of new religious movements. Drawing from countervailing research, some of which insists that new religious movements abet secularizing processes and some of which sees these movements as disproving the secularization thesis, the chapter presents the relationship as inherently unstable. To the extent that new religious movements maintain a precarious balance of familiarity and foreignness—remaining familiar enough to stretch the definitional boundaries of religion—they contribute to secularization. However, new religious movements frequently lean to one side or other of that median, either promoting religious power in the public square by identifying with the interests of existing religious groups, or emphasizing their distinctiveness from these groups and thus provoking aggressive public action by the antagonized religious mainstream. This chapter centres on an illustrative case from Christian Science history.

Participation and Causality

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory W. Dawes
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Cognitive Dimension ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Modes Of Thought ◽  
Experimental Attitude

A recurring debate within discussions of religion, science, and magic has to do with the existence of distinct modes of thought or “orientations” to the world. The thinker who initiated this debate, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, distinguished two such orientations, one characterized as “participatory” and the other as “causal.” The present essay attempts to clarify what a participatory orientation might involve, making use of the social-psychological category of a “schema.” It argues that while the attitude to which Lévy-Bruhl refers is to be distinguished from an explicit body of doctrine, it does have a cognitive dimension and can embody causal claims. It follows that if such a distinction is to be made, it is not helpfully characterized as a contrast between participation and causality. A better distinction might be that between a mythical and an experimental attitude to the world.

scholarly journals The Closed Religious Community: the Strategy of Forming аnd the Principles of Functioning

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-100
Author(s):  
Svetlana V. Riazanova
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
World View ◽  
Popular Religion ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Total Community

The point of the author’s research interest is mechanisms for the formation of a private religious community on the example of the Intersession brotherhood. A group of believers was emerged as part of the revival of the Orthodox life of the Kama region, but transformed into specific organization with features of popular religion, new religious movements and so-called “historical sects.” Author reconstructs the history of the community involving elements of the biographical method. The study is based on interviews and correspondence with former members of the community, close people of the residents of the commune, as well as analysis of the materials of the closed group on the social network, some audio of the groups’ seminars, photocopies of the working notebooks of the group and a series of photographs made by the believers. The investigation is based on the theoretical constructions of E. Goffman and the concept of total community. Intersession brotherhood appears as a community with the features of totality – territorial and communication closure of the residents, their employment in internal jobs, perception of the group as a family. Lack of privacy is combined with the presence of “mother-child” connection to the leader. The practice of naming for adults, the creation of new marriages, participation in gender-oriented councils create a special micro-environment with the unification of the world view. The system of privileges for advanced residents is supplemented by a developed system of fines. It makes possible to speak about special tools that lead to a change of values, a narrowing of the set of social roles and a reduction of critical thinking.

Choosing a religion in the context of specificity of a religious experience

2020 ◽  
pp. 6-15
Author(s):  
V.Yu. Lebedev ◽  
A.L. Bezrukov
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Religious Groups

The paper considers the process of choosing religion in a modern society. Factors that affect the behavior of an individual in the process of choosing religion are considered in the light of religious, psychological and social sciences. The classification of religions is divided into two types: personal experience religions and dogmatic religions. A modern man's motivation to be a follower of new religious movements is considered using the examples of neoprotestant, neohindu and neopagan religious groups.

Must We Save the Language? Children’s Discourse on Language and Community in Provençal and Scottish Language Revitalization Movements

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Costa Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Revitalization Movements ◽  
The One

This chapter proposes a critical analysis of the types of discourse articulated by children involved in language revitalization programmes in two Western European contexts: Provence (south-eastern France) and southern Scotland. It focuses on how the minority language (Occitan and Scots) is described and what this means for how children categorize the language and speech communities within which they are being socialized. Of all the social actors involved in language revitalization programmes, and despite the central part they play, children are the only ones whose opinion on participation is never required. Children occupy a very ambiguous place in language revitalization movements. On the one hand, they are perceived as the embodiment of the future of the language, while, on the other hand, they are often accused of not speaking the language properly or of mixing minority and dominant languages. This seems to be a fairly widespread pattern in Europe, where ‘neo-speakers’ are generally viewed with mistrust.

Social Consequences of Disparagement Humor: A Prejudiced Norm Theory

2004 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Ford ◽  
Mark A. Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Self Regulation ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Disparagement Humor ◽  
The Social ◽  
Norm Theory ◽  
Prejudice And Discrimination

In this article we introduce a “prejudiced norm theory” that specifies the social-psychological processes by which exposure to disparagement humor uniquely affects tolerance of discrimination against members of groups targeted by the humor. Our theory posits that a norm of tolerance of discrimination implied by disparagement humor functions as a source of self-regulation for people high in prejudice. For people high in prejudice, this norm regulates the effect of exposure to disparagement humor on tolerance of subsequently encountered discriminatory events. Our theory contributes to the literature on prejudice and discrimination by delineating the processes by which disparagement humor creates a normative climate of tolerance of discrimination, as well as variables that accentuate and attenuate its effects.

Gender in Coed Team Sports: A Social Psychological Perspective

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Adam Vanzella-Yang ◽  
Tobias Finger
Keyword(s):  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Team Sports ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Common Goal ◽  
Expectation States ◽  
The Social ◽  
Expectation States Theory ◽  
Social Psychological Perspective

Coed team sports typically offer different experiences for women and men. Though scholars have documented gender imbalances in participation within such teams, the social psychological processes at play and the broader consequences of unequal participation have rarely been explored. In this paper, the authors revisit coed team sports through the lens of status construction theory and expectation states theory to suggest that coed teams reinforce gendered notions of worth, prestige, and competence in the field of sport. The authors draw on research showing that mixed-sex settings where people must cooperate to achieve a common goal are especially prone to the reproduction of gender stereotypes. This paper builds bridges between two subfields of sociology and illuminates gender dynamics in a coed sport that has not been previously studied (futsal).

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