Society vs. Cult — What's the Difference?

A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societies are characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations) between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions; a given society may be described as the sum total of such relationships among its constituent of members.

In modern English, a cult is a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or by its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This sense of the term is controversial, having divergent definitions both in popular culture and academia, and has also been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study.

The aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community

A system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object

An organization or club formed for a particular purpose or activity

A person or thing that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or section of society

The situation of being in the company of other people

A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.

The totality of people regarded as forming a community of interdependent individuals

The followers of such a religion or sect.

A group of people broadly distinguished from other groups by mutual interests, participation in characteristic relationships, shared institutions, and a common culture

A system or community of religious worship and ritual.

An organization or association of persons engaged in a common profession, activity, or interest

The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.

The wealthy, socially dominant members of a community. Also called high society.

A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.

Companionship; company

Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.

(Biology) A colony or community of organisms, usually of the same species

The object of such devotion.

(countable) A long-standing group of people sharing cultural aspects such as language, dress, norms of behavior and artistic forms.

An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.

(countable) A group of people who meet from time to time to engage in a common interest; an association or organization.

A group, sect or movement following an unorthodox religious or philosophical system of beliefs, especially one in which members remove and exclude themselves from greater society, including family members not part of the cult, and show extreme devotion to a charismatic leader.

(countable) The sum total of all voluntary interrelations between individuals.

The veneration, devotion, and religious rites given to a deity (especially in a historical polytheistic context), or (in a Christian context) to a saint.

(uncountable) The people of one’s country or community taken as a whole.

(informal) A group of people having an obsession with or intense admiration for a particular activity, idea, person or thing.

(uncountable) High society.

Of or relating to a cult.

A number of people joined by mutual consent to deliberate, determine and act toward a common goal.

Enjoyed by a small, loyal group.

The relationship of men to one another when associated in any way; companionship; fellowship; company.

Alternative form of kvlt.

Connection; participation; partnership.

Attentive care; homage; worship.

A number of persons associated for any temporary or permanent object; an association for mutual or joint usefulness, pleasure, or profit; a social union; a partnership; as, a missionary society.

A system of religious belief and worship.

The persons, collectively considered, who live in any region or at any period; any community of individuals who are united together by a common bond of nearness or intercourse; those who recognize each other as associates, friends, and acquaintances.

A system of intense religious veneration of a particular person, idea, or object, especially one considered spurious or irrational by traditional religious bodies; as, the Moonie cult.

Specifically, the more cultivated portion of any community in its social relations and influences; those who mutually give receive formal entertainments.

The group of individuals who adhere to a cult (senses 2 or 3).

An extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization

A strong devotion or interest in a particular person, idea or thing without religious associations, or the people holding such an interest; as, the cult of James Dean; the cult of personality in totalitarian societies.

A formal association of people with similar interests;

Adherents of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices

The state of being with someone;

An interest followed with exaggerated zeal;

The fashionable elite

A system of religious beliefs and rituals;