577. Robbins, Thomas. "Milton Yinger and the Study of Religious Movements." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 1978.
Milton Yinger has made major contributions to church-sect theory in sociology, especially in his earliest work, where he developed his church-sect typology of the ways in which movements relate to their social contexts. They may preserve ideological purity and high standards of conduct for their members and/or the world at large, but in doing so they risk remaining small, relatively isolated groups with little direct influence (sects). On the other hand, they may accommodate to society to some extent at least, join the establishment, become larger, and exert more direct but less radical influence on the society (churches). The problem then is to find a middle ground as seems to have been done by the Eugene McCarthy organization in 1968, which retained its counter-culture legitimacy while working hard to appeal to and appear like straight society. Yinger's insight can, as this example demonstrates, be applied with equal appropriateness to secular groups.
The difficulties Robbins finds with Yinger's later work are first that he seems to have assumed that "alienation" is an objective category, where in fact it can clearly be seen to be negotiated in the eyes of an audience by comparison with groups perceived to be more radical. Thus groups like ISKCON escaped a good deal of negative attention while the New Left was around to absorb it, but once that movement was gone, attacks were focussed on the exotic new religions; they became a more immediate threat once the greater threat was overcome. The second difficulty with Yinger's work is that it has been drawn into a scholastic and empty typologizing.
578. ———. "Sociological Studies of New Religious Movements: A Selective Review." Religious Studies Review 09, 1983a: 233-39.
Estimates that at least two thirds of the sociological material on American NRMs deals with processes of conversion because 1) of concern about supposed brainwashing and 2) the assumption that apotheosis is [at least] problematic. [This is probably correct, as far as it goes, but Robbins neglects the fact that these NRMs directly effect the constituents of academic sociology: college students and potential students and their parents. Could this account for the reassuring tone of much of what gets published?]
579. ———. "The Transformative Impact of the Study of New Religions on the Sociology of Religion." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 27 (1), 1988a: 12-31.
Study of NRMs has resulted in important changes in the sociology of religion.
580. ———. "The Historical Antecedents of Jonestown: the Sociology of Martyrdom." In New Religious Movements, Mass Suicide and People's Temple edited by Rebecca Moore and Fielding McGehee, III. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989a: 51-76.
It appears that Jones and his chief followers had given thought to mass suicide and martyrist groups before their own suicide. The Donatists and Old Believers may have been among these antecedents.
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