Postmodern religion, new movements and fundamentalism
Analyse privatised religion, spiritual shopping, resacrilisation, new religious movements and New Age ideas, and compare explanations for fundamentalist movements.
Exam scope and assessment notes
Original StudyForA teaching mapped to Cambridge syllabus section 12.3. It is independent study support, not Cambridge material or an awarded grade. Extended written responses are self-checked and have not received human examiner or subject-teacher marking. Use evidence and examples appropriate to learners’ age, cultural context and school policy. Avoid stereotypes and do not ask learners to disclose personal experiences. Sociology presents theories for analysis rather than endorsing political positions.
Before you begin
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
Which explanation links a fundamentalist movement to protection of group identity under external pressure?
What you will learn
- Evaluate claims about privatised religion, spiritual shopping and resacrilisation.
- Explain how new religious movements and New Age ideas illuminate contemporary religiosity.
- Compare cultural defence, cultural transition, disengagement, marginality and religious revival as explanations for fundamentalism.
Postmodern accounts examine choice and changing religious practice
Privatised religion refers to religious belief or practice organised more around individual or household choices than formal public institutions. Spiritual shopping describes selecting or combining beliefs and practices from different sources. These concepts may capture choice, but they should not assume that all individuals can choose freely or that institutions no longer matter.
Resacrilisation is the claim that religion or the sacred is becoming more prominent again in some settings, challenging a simple story of steady decline. New religious movements and New Age ideas can reveal new forms of community, practice and meaning. Their significance should be assessed through participation, identity and influence rather than visibility alone.
Fundamentalist movements have several possible explanations
Cultural defence links fundamentalism to efforts to protect a group identity or tradition under perceived external pressure. Cultural transition connects it to rapid social change; disengagement may relate to people feeling detached from established institutions; marginality examines social exclusion; religious revival describes renewed commitment or participation.
These explanations can overlap and should be tested in context. ‘Fundamentalist’ describes a category used in analysis, not a judgement about all members of a faith. Consider who uses the label, what beliefs or actions are being studied and how the movement relates to inequality and opportunity.
Sources for this lesson
Pause and explain
A new religious movement becomes visible in one city. What can be concluded?
Worked example
A survey finds people combine practices from several traditions, while a new religious movement gains a visible following. Explain why these findings could support both postmodern and resacrilisation debates.
Show the worked solution
- Combining practices may illustrate spiritual shopping or privatised belief.
- A visible movement may suggest renewed interest in religion in one setting.
- Compare participation and significance over time before deciding whether these patterns represent a wider change.
Answer The survey may support a postmodern account of individualised or mixed practice, while growth of a movement may suggest renewed religious engagement in that context. Neither finding alone establishes that all religion is privatised or that society as a whole is resacralising; broader comparisons are needed.
Try a topic test
Choose Easy, Normal or Difficult. Save your answers and open worked review after finishing.
Test this topic →From guided practice to a new situation
Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.
A person combines meditation from one tradition with a practice learned from another source. Explain how spiritual shopping may describe this and give one limit of the concept.
Give me a hint
Describe selection or combination, then consider how resources and social context constrain choice.
Compare my reasoning
- The person selects practices from more than one source.
- This may illustrate spiritual shopping and a more individualised form of religiosity.
- Consider access, community ties and whether the person experiences the choice as fully voluntary.
The combination may fit spiritual shopping because practices are selected from different sources. The concept should not imply unlimited freedom: access, culture, family, resources and institutions can shape which choices are available or meaningful.
Look for these in your work
- Applies the concept accurately
- Explains individualisation
- Recognises limits on choice
Compare cultural defence and marginality as explanations for the growth of a fundamentalist movement.
Give me a hint
One focuses on protecting identity under perceived pressure; the other examines social exclusion or disadvantage.
Compare my reasoning
- Cultural defence links growth to protecting group identity or tradition under external pressure.
- Marginality focuses on exclusion or disadvantage that may make a movement's support or certainty appealing.
- Investigate the movement's context, members and alternatives before deciding which explanation fits.
Cultural defence explains support as a response to perceived threats to group identity, while marginality focuses on exclusion or disadvantage. The mechanisms may overlap, and neither should be assumed from the label ‘fundamentalist’. Evidence about members' circumstances, movement ideas and local conditions is needed.
Look for these in your work
- Distinguishes both explanations
- Connects each to a mechanism
- Uses contextual rather than stereotyped evidence
Assess the view that postmodernity has made religion entirely private and individualised.
Give me a hint
Consider individual choice and mixed practice alongside institutions, collective movements and renewed public influence.
Compare my reasoning
- Explain privatised religion and spiritual shopping as possible forms of contemporary practice.
- Consider continued organisations, collective rituals, new religious movements and public religious activism.
- Evaluate change by group, practice and period rather than assuming one universal trend.
Some people may combine practices or organise belief privately, supporting postmodern accounts of individualisation. Yet religious organisations, collective rituals and public movements continue, and some settings show renewed commitment. The claim that religion is entirely private is too absolute; practice and significance vary across groups and contexts.
Look for these in your work
- Explains postmodern concepts
- Considers collective and public religion
- Makes a qualified judgement
Common mistakes
- Assuming spiritual shopping means unlimited or equal choice
- Treating visibility of a movement as proof of society-wide resacralisation
- Using fundamentalism as a label for all members of a religion
What can you explain now?
What does spiritual shopping describe?
Compare with the explanation
Selecting or combining beliefs and practices from different sources as part of individual religiosity.
The concept raises questions about choice and meaning but does not show that everyone has equal freedom to choose.
After trying it yourself, choose your next review. This is your self-assessment.
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Make it stick
Define privatised religion, spiritual shopping and resacrilisation; name two types of new religious practice; summarise three explanations for fundamentalism.
If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.