Citation

Westley F. Sociol. Relig. 1978; 39(2): 135-145.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, Association for the Sociology of Religion)

DOI

10.2307/3710213

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper provides a theoretical discussion of Durkheim's predictions concerning religious evolution and their applicability to the new religious movements of the 1970s. Initially, the paper attempts to elicit from Durkheim's work on the past and future of religion a series of precise hypotheses concerning the causes, expressions, and functions of religion in complex societies. Then the paper èxamines the significance of these hypotheses as alternative explanations for some of the debated features of these movements: the middle class origins of their adherents, their system of ethics and their relationship to scientific and socio-scientific rationalism. Finally, the paper examines ethnographic data on two new religious movements to suggest that if Durkheim's predictions concerning the relationship of ritual, belief and social organization hold up in a variety of movements, they may form the basis of comparative work in this area.