Analysing non‐doctrinal socialization: re‐assessing the role of cognition to account for social cohesion in the Religious Society of Friends1
- 1 June 2007
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in British Journal of Sociology
- Vol. 58 (2), 253-275
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2007.00150.x
Abstract
To incorporate newcomers into membership, a group employs socialization strategies to transform the characteristics of the newcomers, so that it can admit them with the confidence that their behaviour will not endanger group unity. Analyses of socialization emphasize that novices' interiorization of an institutional definition of group behaviour is a necessary condition to ensure successful socialization. The contemporary Religious Society of Friends in Britain, however, is a non-doctrinal religious movement that avoids defining the content of its beliefs and practices. To analyse the socializing interaction between members and newcomers in this movement in Britain, and among co-religionists in the USA, this inquiry applies a model of socialization that does not include assumptions about the role played by cognition in socialization (Long and Hadden 1983). My results show that: (a) the diffuseness in Friends' collective explanations of institutional conduct supports novices' identification with institutional practice, and (b) experimental and affective components in socialization motivate novices to imitate institutional behaviour despite the fact that Friends have no authoritative explanations of such behaviour. The data suggest that socialization and social cohesion are not necessarily as strongly cognitive-oriented phenomena as they were previously thought to be. This finding has important implications for thinking about social cohesion in postmodern society.Keywords
This publication has 44 references indexed in Scilit:
- Explaining Schism in American Protestant Denominations, 1890–1990Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2004
- Combating “Cults” and “Brainwashing” in the United States and Western Europe: A Comment on Richardson and Introvigne's ReportJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2001
- Deconstructing 'brainwashing' within cults as an aid to counselling psychologistsCounselling Psychology Quarterly, 2001
- Contemporary British Quakerism: The relevance of structure and reference to the supernatural for its validityJournal of Contemporary Religion, 1998
- Denominational America and the New Religious PluralismThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1985
- The Rise of a New World FaithReview of Religious Research, 1984
- On the Presumed Fragility of Unconventional BeliefsJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1982
- Church-Sect and Cult: Bringing Mysticism Back InSociological Analysis, 1981
- Committed and Consensual Religion: A Specification of Religion-Prejudice RelationshipsJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1967
- Social Movement Organizations: Growth, Decay and ChangeSocial Forces, 1966