Religious groups and migration: analysing the global expansion of Milli Görüş and Soka Gakkai in the late twentieth century

This article investigates the international expansion and membership patterns of Milli Görüş and Soka Gakkai through a comparative lens. Drawing on a ‘most different systems’ design, it examines how these two late-twentieth religious movements with distinct theological foundations, political orientations and geographic focuses have nonetheless followed similar transnational trajectories. The analysis emphasises the role of migration and employs the relative deprivation framework to explain why global migrants – particularly those of Turkish and Japanese origin – were drawn to these organisations. While differing in their ideological and institutional characteristics, both movements attracted members who faced social, cultural or economic marginalisation in host societies. The study argues that experiences of both relative and absolute deprivation played a significant role in shaping individual participation and in driving the global reach of these religious movements.