...A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger religious group. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and principles. Sects are smaller, less highly organised grouping of committed believers who usually set themselves up in protest at what a church has become. Sects usually have members who are usually numbered around the couple of hundred mark, showing the main difference between them and the church. According to Troeltsch (1931), sects are essentially the polar opposite of churches. They are much smaller organisations and the larger ones will tend to have thousands of members rather than millions, while some have only a handful of members. The groups have no norms and values, and if norms and values are attained, they are very different to those of wider society. Troeltsch also describes sects as being radical rather than conservative, with a hostile opinion of wider society, shown in the clashing of them with the law. Deep commitment is also expected of those who are members of the group. An example of a sect group would be the Jehovah’s witnesses; the social background of sect members tends to be connected with the lower classes who may feel oppressed by the state. However, by the fact that Martin (1978) says that the term secularisation...
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...ethnic minorities who are marginalised, and reject from wider society for example afro-Caribbean’s. Barker has adopted the concept of new religious movements as an overarching idea that embraces both sects and cults, it is a more neutral term to highly negative meanings of sects and cults in popular culture. A new religious movement (NRM) is a religious community or spiritual group of modern origins, which has a peripheral place within its nation dominant religious culture. Wallis’s typology of NRMs looks at the relationship between wider society and sect’s, he identifies 3 – world affirming, world accommodating and world rejecting. World affirming NRMs try to gain the most from society, and seen as a less threatening ‘loose’ organisation for personal achievement. Specifically they lack religion and use internet and technology for contact, levitation or meditation are examples. World accommodating disagree with society but choose to accept it and live normal lives, they seek to restore faith and religion into society, and an example includes Neo-Pentecostalism, where they believe in speaking in tongues. Then there is world rejecting who are seen as the scariest to society as they make a strong commitment to their movement, disowning family and friends. The Branch Davidians and the Moonies are examples of world rejecting movements. Wilson’s typology of NRMs include conversionists that see the world...
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...“New Religious Movements can best be distinguished by the degree of commitment they ask of their followers”. (Barker) To what extent do sociological arguments and evidence support this view of NRMS. A new religious movement (NRM) is a comprehensive term used to identify religious, ethical, and spiritual groups, communities and practices of relatively modern origins. NMRs have grown since the 1960s, such as the Moonies, Scientology and Krishna Consciousness. They have grown because of the marginality of marginality – Weber (1922) argued that sects appeal to disprivileged groups who are marginal to society; sects offer a solution to their lack of status by offering their members a theodicy of disprivilege – a religious explanation of their disadvantage and many sects and millenarian movements have recruited from the marginalized poor, relative deprivation – it is possible for someone who is quite privileged to feel deprived compared with others; e.g. some middle-class people may feel spiritually deprived and so people may turn to sects for a sense of community; Stark and Bainbridge argue that it is the relatively deprived who break away from churches to form sects and rapid social change – which Wilson argued undermined established norms, producing anomie (normlessness); those most affected may turn to sects, e.g. Methodism during the industrial revolution. Wallis distinguishes between three types of NRM depending on whether their attitudes to wider society are world-rejecting...
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...Assess the view that sects and cults are only fringe organisations that are inevitably short lived and of little influence in wider society Troeltsch believed that a sect was “the opposite of a church”. He defines this type of religious organisation as a small, tightly-knit group of individuals that often oppose mainstream values and attempt to change society in some way. Cults on the other hand, are loosely knit and lack any concrete beliefs. Stark and Bainbridge suggest that cults often have “clients” rather than members. There are therefore some significant differences between these two organisations, although it is widely accepted that they are similar, in that they are usually short lived and have little influence on society as a whole. Supporting the notion that sects and cults are short lived; Niebuhr offers a number of explanations as to why this is so. He proposes that sects cannot survive beyond one generation, as they are often led and “held together” by one charismatic individual who claims to have some kind of “divine power/connection”. Following the death of this leader, the sect usually disappears. Furthermore, second generation members that are born into sects may not maintain the traditions of the movement with the same fervour as the founding generation. As a result, it is difficult for sects to maintain their extreme values, and they may accommodate/compromise their theology and become denominations. This can be seen in the example of early Methodism, which...
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...Assess the view that sects and cults are only fringe organisations that are inevitably short lived and of little influence in wider society Troeltsch believed that a sect was “the opposite of a church”. He defines this type of religious organisation as a small, tightly-knit group of individuals that often oppose mainstream values and attempt to change society in some way. Cults on the other hand, are loosely knit and lack any concrete beliefs. Stark and Bainbridge suggest that cults often have “clients” rather than members. There are therefore some significant differences between these two organisations, although it is widely accepted that they are similar, in that they are usually short lived and have little influence on society as a whole. Supporting the notion that sects and cults are short lived; Niebuhr offers a number of explanations as to why this is so. He proposes that sects cannot survive beyond one generation, as they are often led and “held together” by one charismatic individual who claims to have some kind of “divine power/connection”. Following the death of this leader, the sect usually disappears. Furthermore, second generation members that are born into sects may not maintain the traditions of the movement with the same fervour as the founding generation. As a result, it is difficult for sects to maintain their extreme values, and they may accommodate/compromise their theology and become denominations. This can be seen in the example of early Methodism, which...
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...Beliefs in society: • Different theories of ideology, science and religion, including both Christian and non-Christian religious traditions. • The relationship between religious beliefs and social change and stability. • Religious organisations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age movements, and their relationship to religious and spiritual belief and practice. • The relationship between different social groups and religious/spiritual organisations and movements, beliefs and practices. • The significance of religion and religiosity in the contemporary world, including the nature and extent of secularisation in a global context. 1. Religion serves to restore faith and the set basic guidelines for living that people should adhere to; an example of this is the Ten Commandments. 2. It can help to restore faith and a sense of individuality. 3. Maintains a sense of unity and creates hope with the promise of heaven. Explaining belief systems: Belief systems: are broadly defined as the framework of ideas through which an individual makes sense of the world. Ideology: originally a Marxist idea meaning a set of beliefs that serve the interests of a dominant group by justifying their privileged positions. The term usually implies that the beliefs are false or only partially true. Theories of ideology Ideology can be defined in a variety of ways - As a set of political beliefs - As the ideas and beliefs of a particular...
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...Asian Criminology (2008) 3:61–73 DOI 10.1007/s11417-007-9040-1 Kidnap for Ransom in South East Asia The Case for a Regional Recording Standard Mohd Kassim Noor Mohamed Received: 27 July 2007 / Accepted: 5 November 2007 / Published online: 15 December 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2007 Abstract Kidnapping for ransom is not a new phenomenon. According to the Control Risk Group, an international risk consultancy, kidnappings of foreign nationals globally have increased by 275% over the past 10 years. High profile incidents such as the tourist kidnappings in 2000 by the Abu Sayyaf group, operating out of the troubled southern region of the Philippines, show that South East Asia has its own regionalised kidnapping hotspots. It is suspected that a high proportion of kidnappings are perpetrated by economically motivated crime groups but it is not possible to estimate with any degree of accuracy what percentage can be attributed to organised crime. This article will provide an overview of the problem, drawing upon existing literature available in the public domain. A typological discussion will show the critical differences between the various categories of kidnapping. The reliability of existing statistics, categorisation and recording of kidnapping for ransom will also be scrutinised, in particular for their variability across the region, to see whether this presents a barrier to a better understanding of the size and seriousness of the problem. As kidnapping for...
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...Tourism management fundamentals 1. 1. TOURISM – PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE Unit I: Introduction to Travel and Tourism 2. 2. The word Travel derived from the French word ‘Travail’ All Tourism involves Travel; but not all Travel involves Tourism 3. 3. • Tourism is part of LEISURE. • In modern times Tourism is only a recreational activity is a MISCONCEPTION because participating in meetings, seminars conferences, trade fairs, etc are also a tourism activity. 4. 4. Tourists • The tourist market is divided into: 1. The leisure tourist 2. The business tourist 5. 5. Visitors • A visitor is any person visiting a country other than that in which he/she has his/her usual place of residence, for any other reason than following an occupation from within the country visited – Visitors may be further categorised as excursionist and tourists 6. 6. Excursionist • A day visitor who stays for less than 24 hours at a place. There is no overnight stay 7. 7. Tourist • A tourist is a temporary visitor to a place. They stay at least for 24 hours 8. 8. TOURISM • One of the first attempts at defining tourism was that of Professors Hunziker and Krapf of Berne University in 1942. They held that tourism should be defined s – ‘the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and stay of non-residents, in so far as they do not lead to permanent residence and are not connected to any earning activity’. 9. 9. UNWTO definition • Tourism comprises the...
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...Unit 3 Sociology; Beliefs in Society Different theories of Ideology, Science and Religion An Ideology is a closed set of beliefs that reject other views. A Belief is a framework of ideas through which an individual makes sense of the world. They are generally connected to a religion and based on faith with no evidence needed. Science is based on evidence, factual, objective and regarded as the truth. Religion is based on faith, not truth. It is a fixed view of how the world is and claims to be the truth. Theories of ideology Marxists believe that the ideas that people hold are formed by their position in society, and ideology is seen as the ideas of particular social groups reflecting their interests. The Marxist view is associated with the view that there is a Dominant Ideology (the set of ideas and beliefs of the most powerful groups in society – ruling class). Althusser suggested the dominant ideology was spread through a series of Ideological State Apparatuses (agencies [media, religion, education etc] that spread the dominant ideology and justify the power of the dominant social class). Gramsci developed the concept Hegemony (dominance in society of the ruling class’s set of ideas over others, and acceptance of and consent to them by the rest of society). Pluralism is a view that sees power in society spread among a wide variety of interest groups and individuals, with no single one having a monopoly on power. A Pluralist Ideology is the set of ideas reflecting...
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...CONTENTS Page Appendices List................................................................................. 1. Introduction 1.1Justification and structure of report ……………………………… 3 1.2. Aims and Objectives …………………….…….…………………4 1.3. Background of Oxford city. …………….………………………..4 2. Literature Review 2.1. Urban Tourism................................................................................5 2.2. City Typologies...............................................................................8 2.3 Tourism in historical cities...............................................................9 2.4 Urban tourism supply and Jansen-Verbeke Model (1986)………...9 3. Methodology 3.1. Methodology and Methods...........................................................11 3.2. Field work.....................................................................................13 3.3. Research Limitations and Ethical consideration….......................13 4. Results and Discussions.......................................................................14 5. Conclusion...........................................................................................23 Bibliography............................................................................................25 1.Introduction 1.1 Justification and structure of report This report...
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...The relationship between religious beliefs and social change and stability * Functionalism: conservative force, inhibition of change, collective conscience, Durkheim and totemism, anomie; civil religions * Marxism: religion as ideology, legitimating social inequality, disguising exploitation etc * Weber: religion as a force for social change: theodicies, the Protestant ethic * Neo-Marxism: religion used by those opposing the ruling class, liberation theology * Feminism: religious beliefs supporting patriarchy * Fundamentalist beliefs: rejecting change by reverting to supposed traditional values and practices. Religious organisations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age movements, and their relationship to religious and spiritual belief and practice * Typologies of religious organisations: churches, denominations, sects and cults, with examples of each New Religious Movements and typologies of NRMs eg world rejecting/accommodating/affirming; millenarian beliefs, with examples of each * New Age movements and spirituality, with examples * The relationship of these organisations to religious and spiritual belief and practice. The relationship between different social groups and religious/spiritual organisations and movements, beliefs and practices * Reasons why people join NRMs, NAMs and other organisations * Gender and religion: women: women’s greater participation, women in religious organisations including NRMs; men’s participation...
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...between religious beliefs and social change and stability * Functionalism: conservative force, inhibition of change, collective conscience, Durkheim and totemism, anomie; civil religions * Marxism: religion as ideology, legitimating social inequality, disguising exploitation etc * Weber: religion as a force for social change: theodicies, the Protestant ethic * Neo-Marxism: religion used by those opposing the ruling class, liberation theology * Feminism: religious beliefs supporting patriarchy * Fundamentalist beliefs: rejecting change by reverting to supposed traditional values and practices. Religious organisations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age movements, and their relationship to religious and spiritual belief and practice * Typologies of religious organisations: churches, denominations, sects and cults, with examples of each New Religious Movements and typologies of NRMs eg world rejecting/accommodating/affirming; millenarian beliefs, with examples of each * New Age movements and spirituality, with examples * The relationship of these organisations to religious and spiritual belief and practice. The relationship between different social groups and religious/spiritual organisations and movements, beliefs and practices * Reasons why people join NRMs, NAMs and other organisations * Gender and religion: women: women’s greater participation, women in religious organisations including...
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...A sociological inquiry of elderly out migrant returnees to Kerala Introduction “A home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to” -John Ed Pierce “We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time” -T S Eliot Human civilization starts with the incessant flow of people moving from one place to another. Migrations of human populations have been a fundamental part in the history of mankind. Numerous studies show that the process of migration is influenced by social, cultural and economic factors and outcomes can be vastly different for men and women, for different groups and different locations (cf. De Haan and Rogaly, 2002). Migration is a subject that calls for an interdisciplinary approach. Each discipline brings something to the table, theoretically and empirically.(Brettell and Hollifield,2002) Demographers have perhaps the best empirical grasp on te movement of people across boundaries, they have the theoretical and methodological tools to show us how such movements affect popultion dynamics in the sending and receiving societies. Anthropologist looks at networks and transnational communities. Historians portray migrant experience in al of its complexity, giving us a much greater empathetic understanding of the hopes and ambitions of migrants. Political scientist help us to understand the play of organized interests in the making...
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...ASSIGNMENT 1 UNIT 17: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WORK ASSIGNMENT TITLE: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – THEORY AND PRACTICE CATHERINE CARLIN Introduction: In this assignment I am going to explore the core theme of Community Development. In doing so, I will come to understand various theories and concepts, relevant legislation and policy, underpinning values, principles and ethics, and practice application with all regards to community development. In the first section of the assignment I will analyse the differences between Community, Community Work and Community Development and explain how Northern Ireland has become a more diverse community. Following this section I will analyse how worker/agency would go about analysing the strengths, available support systems and potential problems within a community. I will then analyse what the essential information, abilities, that would be required of a worker/community in setting up a community development project. Following this I will then go on to analyse the contribution of a community development agency/ worker who might play a role in empowering the community to identify their own needs. Finishing off this section I will review the key processes involved in initiating and sustaining community development work. In the final section of the assignment I will introduce my own chosen community development project which is currently situated in my home town. I will analyse the potential short and long term effects of my chosen project...
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...Action Theories - Theory and methods This is not a structural theory. Action theories focus on individual behaviour in everyday social situations. This is a bottom up approach – looking at meanings and interpretations of actions. There are many branches of action theories; Symbolic interactionism, Labelling theory, Dramturgical model, Phenomenology, Ethnomethodology, Structuration theory and Webe’rs integrated approaches Key features: 1. Society and social structures/ institutions are socially constructed (family does not exist externally to our daily lives) 2. People have free will to do things and form their own identities 3. Prefer to research on small groups of individuals (micro) 4. People’s behaviour is driven by their beliefs, meaning and emotions gives to a situation. e.g how mother interprets crying of baby, meaning of the cry will affect her actions and the babies behaviour will affect the mother Symbolic interactionism This focuses on how we create the world through our interactions. Our interactions are based on the meaning we give to situations and we can convey this through symbols like language. G. H. Mead – The Role of Others – Symbols vs Instincts Symbols versus instincts: * Animals are guided through instinct whereas we are guided by our responses to the world in the form of meanings we attach to significant things. * We create the world by attaching symbols to meanings we have attached. The symbol of putting a finger to your...
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