The emerging network : a sociology of the New Age and neo-pagan movements

The 1980s saw the emergence of New Age and neo-paganism as major new religious movements. In the first book-length study of these movements, Michael York describes their rituals and beliefs and examines the similarities, differences and relationships between them. He profiles particular groups, including the Church Universal Triumphant, Nordic pagans, and the Covenant of Unitarian Pagans, and questions the adequacy of existing sociological categories for describing these largely amorphous phenomena.

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Can the church-denomination-sect-cult typology be usefully applied to New Age (NA) and neo-pagan (NP) groups? York presents NA and NP as theological perspectives carried by religious movements that differ from each other but have areas of significant overlap and ideological linkages. His treatment of these groups is informative. Their similarities are highlighted without negating differences in their orientations, roots, or the amorphous nature of their organizations. Although he reports from participant observation and survey research, York's strength lies in his review of the literature. This is true when discussing NA and NP, and also in his careful delineation of the many variations of the church-sect concept constructed by sociologists of religion. He decides the best conceptual tool for studying NA and NP will use these organizational features: segmentation, polycentrism, and integrated network (SPIN), combined with a few variants of the church-sect scheme. Readers need little prior information about NA and NP, but a familiarity with sociology of religion in recent decades is assumed. The book is well written. The table of contents, chapter endnotes, bibliography, and index are extensive and useful. Graduate; faculty; professional. R. L. Herrick; emeritus, Westmar University

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