RELG242

This course provides an introduction to the study of new religious movements, popularly called sects and cults, and the communal movements that are their more secularized cousins. We will consider several case studies and examine the wider phenomenon of such groups in the modern world. We will pay attention to the traditional sociological issues of leadership, charisma, conversion, and belief maintenance, as well as the lived practices and experiences of members of such groups, such as rituals, gender practices, and holidays. No prerequisites.