"Underground" Traditions in the Study of Sectarianism: Non-Religious Uses of the Concept "Sect"

Investigation of the topic of sectarianism suggests the benefit of greater interchange between sociological subdisciplines. Delineating two of sect analysis, largely ignored by sociologists of religion, this paper notes their emphasis on non-religious and particularly political sectarianism. The utility of these underground traditions for sociologists of religion is indicated, as is the contribution which the mainstream study of sects may make to the study of social movements. Location of the sect in a broader context is seen as relevant to an understanding of the complex relationship between the religious and the secular, and as crucial to a full historical and comparative understanding of the phenomenon itself.