New Religious Movements and Rapid Social Change

The twentieth century has seen a considerable and unexpected proliferation of new religious movements in many parts of the world, often associated with periods of rapid social change. New Religious Movements and Rapid Social Change explains the development and characteristics of these movements comparatively and analyzes their outstanding features. The book shows how rapid social change gives rise to novel religious interpretations and how new religious movements, in turn, try to influence the process of change. This analysis is illustrated by studies of the advanced societies of North America and Europe, of Japan during the first phase of industrialization, and of countries and regions in the developing world. New religious movements are revealed as a normal aspect of social life and as critical indicators of social change. This is reflected in each movement's social composition, teachings, values, religious practices and organizational structures as well as their engagement in politics, business and their structuring of social relationships. "This cross-cultural treatment introduces Americans to little-known movements, and places the understanding of movements in this country in a much wider context. The bibliographies are current and wide-ranging. Undergraduate libraries." --Choice "A fruitful exercise. . . . It has got down to sensible, hard-headed empirical observation and analytical and theoretical reflection on the evidence, to produce a substantially sound body of established knowledge." --Sociological Review "This collection of essays is global sociology of religion at its best. . . . The best are on NRMs in North America, Korea and India. . . . Professor Beckford's collection is worthy of purchase for the copious footnotes and index." --Missiology "Provides much new material substantiated with extensive bibliographies. Each case study ends with a conclusion or with concluding remarks which facilitate comparison. . . . The case-studies amply show that there are different religious responses to the same situation of rapid change. . . . The case-studies, very valuable in themselves, also provide a number of incentives for further research in this respect." --Development and Change "Each chapter takes us inside an innovative religion: the book's strength lies in specifics, rather than generalizations. A book worth reading."Beckford, James A. is the author of 'New Religious Movements and Rapid Social Change', published 1987 under ISBN 9780803980037 and ISBN 0803980035.