Social Change, Gender Roles, and New Religious Movements

The relationship between gender role ambiguities and new religious movements is explored by an analysis of religious and nonreligious communes utilizing both survey and ethnographic data. The existence of a single, morally absolute set of definitions and specific rules concerning sexuality and gender roles distinguishes religious from secular communal movements. Participants in religious groups are characterized by uncertainty about rather than outright rejection of traditional gender roles, and low tolerance for ambiguity. Findings are discussed within a broader explanatory framework which emphasizes the significance of lifestage and gender roles for understanding the interrelationships among structural change, cultural fragmentation and social movement participation.