Exam 9: What Do You Believe Religion, Science, and Deviance

Which religious group has been perceived as evil, dangerous and a threat to the social order?

Using specific examples, discuss the ways that the more "objective" characteristics of statistical rarity, harm, normative violation, and societal reaction are involved with the social typing of "deviant" religions.

Using specific examples, explain the notion of religion as deviance.

The horrors of Nazi Germany led the Canadian federal government and provincial governments to immediately halt their eugenics programs.

Radio science is an example of a scientific belief that was once considered legitimate, but has recently been labelled as deviant science.

Why, in part, does a greater degree of tension exist with the larger society for the Jehovah's Witnesses than for the Seventh-Day Adventists?

The blurring of boundaries between religious and political belief systems can be perceived as religion as a social typer of deviance as well as religion as deviance, depending on one's point of view.

Distinguish between the bad apple theory and iceberg theory explanations of "deviance in science".

In contemporary Canadian society, __________ is the primary creator of society's dominant moral code, by which "deviance" and "normality" are judged

What was the central goal of the eugenics movement?

Jehovah's Witnesses are frequently categorized as a denominational sect, while Seventh-Day Adventists are categorized as an established sect.

Counter-cult groups identify Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism as "cults".

According to Wright (1997), why is media coverage of cults distorted and selective?

The blurring of religious and political boundaries inevitably has negative consequences.

Differentiate between the anti-cult groups and counter-cult groups.

In contemporary society, the medicalization of "too fat" and "too thin" is an example of science acting as a social typer of deviance.

Apply the theoretical ideas of the moral panic with the experience of cults in contemporary society. How do cults become constructed? Can you provide examples?

In the Soviet Union, all religious groups were socially typed as "deviant" and made subject to social control.

In an analysis of the disproportionate spreading of the witch hunts across Europe, Ben-Yehuda concluded that witch persecutions happened more often:

Social Darwinism and the science of eugenics contributed to