Danisname Beşeri ve Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

Öz

Religious groups constitute one of the main areas of interest in the sociology of religion. It is possible to treat religious groups as a subtitle of social groups. Typologies created in relation to religious groups, on the other hand, are classifications made by specifying differences between religious groups. In this context, concepts such as cult, denomination, New Religious Movements (NRM), order and congregation were developed separately from the church and sect. In this article, typologies related to religious groups were examined and orders were discussed in terms of their social functions. Their contributions in terms of education, economy and politics were also evaluated within this framework. As a result, it is possible to say that orders create a response to social living conditions. Religious groups come across as the basic social form of interaction between religion and society. Religious groups, which form a special form of social groups, differ from other group structures in terms of content and function. Sociologically, the concept of religious groups refers to religious formations that differ within a society. Religious groups that exist in the social layer can sometimes take on a completely different form due to issues such as the geography in which they live, the State, previous admissions, and the influence of established culture. For this reason, the classification of religious groups has become important, and in the Sociology of religion, religious groups are divided into two according to classical typology: natural religious groups and purely religious groups. In addition, two structures appeared in Weber's typology, which subjected religious groups to a typological classification for the first time, which are churches and sects. Apart from the church and sect, in the context of recent typologies denomination, cults, new religious movements (NRM), congregations and orders are also prominent.