Soka Gakkai in America: Supply and Demand of SGI (2)David W. Machacek

THERE were two good reasons to get excited about this study: First,
it was a rare opportunity to collect data on members of a new religious movement (NRM) from a national random sample; second, it wasan opportunity to study an NRM that, unlike most, achieved organizational stability. It was an opportunity, therefore, to examine factors
influencing the development and growth of new religions.
Soka Gakkai in America is a success story. The typical story is one ofsudden growth and equally sudden decline. Although SGI-USA has
experienced cycles of growth and decline, long-term growth has
exceeded long-term decline. Based on the number of subscriptions toSGI publications in the US and the average number of members perhousehold indicated by respondents to our survey, we estimate approximately 36,000 active members in the US, and growing. Note that ourdata underrepresented nominal or inactive members and newer, moremarginal members. Consequently, that estimate is a conservative one.
By comparison, the current membership of the International Societyof Krishna Consciousness (ISKON) is estimated at about 3,000 activemembers. The Unification Church has fewer than 5,000 active members. Both organizations have been losing members in recent years.
SGI-USA is also successful in another way. It achieved a level oflegitimacy that is not shared by most of the NRMs. Apart from minor
incidents early in the organization’s history in the US, and a very small
group of disgruntled ex-members, SGI-USA has been largely ignoredby the anti-cult movement. In the mainstream press, stories about theactivities of Soka Gakkai in Japan are more frequent than stories about
the movement in the US, and when stories about SGI-USA do appear in
American newspapers, it is usually to report, in the local news, themembers’ efforts to clean up a local park or sponsor a public exhibit.
While there have certainly been rough spots along the way, the storyof SGI-USA is one of overall success, and explaining that success, relative to the other new religions that appeared in the US at about thesame, is the major purpose of our study.
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SOKA GAKKAI IN AMERICA (2)Current research suggests three major factors that influence the success of a religious organization: 1) The degree to which the social environment is open to religious competition; 2) decisions made and actions
taken by a religious organization itself regarding how it will deliver its
message (marketing tactics); and 3) the degree to which that message
appeals to people in that society. We found that all three factors tended
to favor the growth of Soka Gakkai in America.
During the middle of the 20th century, the American social environment was opening up to religious competition in particular to religionsof Asian origin. New immigration laws made it easier for people from
Asian countries to immigrate to the US. Not only did the number of
new immigrants from Japan rise, the demographics of those immigrantschanged dramatically. Prior to 1965, immigration from Japan, forinstance, was restricted to the wives and children of American citizens.
Immigration statistics show that in 1965, 90 percent of all immigrants
from Japan were housewives or dependent children. Apart from young
children, males were almost entirely excluded. By 1975, the proportionof housewives and dependents among new immigrants from Japan had
dropped to two-thirds, while the proportion of professionals rose from 4percent to 15 percent. By 1994, professionals accounted for 20 percent
of all new immigrants from Japan. By that time, as well, the proportionof male immigrants had risen to about one-third of all immigrants fromJapan. The new demographics of Japanese immigrants to the US meant
not only that there were larger numbers of Buddhists in America, butalso that representatives of Buddhism would have access to a muchbroader pool of potential recruits.
Furthermore, the fragmentation of a one-time “Judeo-Christian” religious consensus resulted in declining authority of the mainline churches. Permanent divisions over issues of public morality—such as the saleand use of drugs and alcohol, sexuality, relations between labor andbusiness, and race relations—and over issues of the proper interpretation of the Bible resulted in a decline in the authority of mainline
churches and a greater emphasis on personal, individual choice in matters of faith. Even the US Supreme Court came to recognize the individual conscience as what is protected by the religious disestablishment
and free-exercise clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
The outcome was a cultural awakening to the reality of religious pluralism in America, which made the social environment much more open toreligious diversity and competition.
These factors, however, did not favor Soka Gakkai over the other new
religious movements that appeared at about the same time and under theSOKA GAKKAI IN AMERICA (2)135same social conditions. The ability to compete for new members was
not a guarantee of growth. In order to grow, Soka Gakkai had to findsome way to get its message out.
Imagine, if you will, religious organizations as firms trying to sell aproduct. If you are going to import a product designed on the basis of
one set of cultural assumptions into a society with a very different culture, the product is going to have to be redesigned to accommodate thenew social realities.
For example, let’s say I wanted to import lap-top computers fromJapan to the United States. However, the computers designed for a
Japanese market cannot connect to the power supply that is available in
my American home. In order to use the computer, I will need anadapter. What if I then discovered that my new computer will not communicate with my printer because the two devices use different programming languages. Now I am going to have to figure out some way
to translate the programming language used by my computer to thatused by my printer. Obviously, such a product is not going to sell very
well unless adjustments are made to accommodate the new environment.
The same principles apply to religion, and it was the failure of manyof the new religions to make such adjustments to the American social
environment that accounts for much of their failure. SGI-USA, however, succeeded in adapting itself to the American social environment. Inaddition to surface changes—such as conducting meetings in the English language and sitting in rows of folding chairs rather than kneelingon the floor during meetings—SGI-USA adopted a low-profile, soft-sell
recruitment method that was much more palatable to American tastes
than the often aggressive and highly visible recruitment practices ofother new religions. Furthermore, it has increasingly adopted the congregational style of religious organization that is preferred in American
society, which gives local members great control over local activities.
The national organization has also been moving from the more hierarchical style of the Japanese organization toward the more democraticstyle of American religions.
Whereas many of the new religions in America maintained practices
that were at odds with American social institutions, Soka Gakkai adapted
to American institutional practices. The result was that, while the practices of some new religions made them appear odd and sometimes eventhreatening to the American way of life, Soka Gakkai achieved an aura oflegitimacy that allowed it to avoid undue public scrutiny and made it easier for Americans to join without disrupting their everyday lives.

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SOKA GAKKAI IN AMERICA (2)Finally, we discovered that there is a growing portion of the American population that is demanding religion with Soka Gakkai’s characteristics. Obviously, even the best marketing tactics will not sell a product that no one wants. So who is most likely to “buy” Soka Gakkai
Buddhism in America? Three sets of variables tend to distinguishAmerican converts to Soka Gakkai from the surrounding population.
First, converts score higher on an index of “post-materialism” thanthe American population generally. When asked about their value priorities, converts tend to place more emphasis on things such as selfexpression, aesthetic beauty, and progress toward a society in which
ideas count more than money; they place less emphasis on things suchas economic growth, fighting crime, and strong national defenses. They
place less emphasis on marriage and family; more on self-fulfillment.
That emphasis on self-fulfillment translates into a rejection of traditional rules of sexual morality and the acceptance of more libertarian attitudes.
The emphasis on self-fulfillment is combined, however, with a strong
sense of personal responsibility for oneself and for the impact one’s
actions on others and on the environment. That sense of personal freedom and responsibility is best captured in a measure of attitudes about
poverty. Whereas the American public is evenly divided between those
who think that poverty is caused by structural problems in the socialsystem, those who think that poverty is the result of a lack of effort by
the poor, and those who think that poverty just is and there is nothingthat individuals or society as a whole can do about it, converts to Soka
Gakkai tend to think that while poverty is caused by flaws in the socialsystem, individuals can overcome it by their own efforts. We labeledthis pattern the “human potential” perspective.
Religious persons in America have typically taken one of four positions in response to modernity. “Modernists” tend to reject religion as
superstition in favor of science and reason. “Counter-modernists” tend
to rejection science and reason on the basis of religious convictions. In
between these two extremes are those who attempt to reconcile scienceand reason with religious faith by using scientific methods to enhance
religious understanding—usually associated with the liberal Protestantdenominations—and those who attempt to draw on the wisdom andguidance of religious traditions for guidance in social and scientificprogress. This fourth perspective, which we call the “transmodern“ perspective, best characterizes the religious thinking of American converts
to Soka Gakkai.
For instance, converts to SGI-USA are three times more likely than

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the American public to think of nature as sacred. They are more likely
to take an interest in cultures other than their own. Many, for example,
say they read about other cultures or have traveled to other countries.
They are more likely to believe that rebuilding and healing society isrelated to healing the self, both physically and spiritually. They are cautiously optimistic about the potential for progress through science andtechnology, but recognize that progress is not always an improvement
over traditional ways of doing things. They are more likely to be consumers of culture, expressing a much greater interest in visiting art
museums, attending musical and theatrical performances, making art
and craft objects. They spend more time reading newspapers and listening to the radio and less time watching television. Compared to the public at large, converts express greater optimism about the state of society
and the future.
Taken together, these values suggest that Soka Gakkai is drawing its
converts from a subculture in the United States that is rejecting the traditional Protestant values of hard work, thrift, and self-denial anddemanding religion that provides meaning and moral sanction to thevalues of self-fulfillment, consumption, and the enjoyment of life.
These three factors—a social environment open to religious competition, organizational practices that are consistent with American social
institutions, and a growing demand for religion that provides religious
meaning and moral sanction to the values and behavior of a growing
segment of the American population all contributed to the growth andoverall success of SGI-USA.