ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the social background of Alpha guests and considers whether certain characteristics seem evident. It examines the significance of church and religious background of those who subscribe to the course. The chapter is concerned with the basic question related to the consumer side of Alpha: what kind of people join the course? A substantial majority of Alpha guests in the greater number of the churches in the survey might be described as lower middle-class: those with lower professional, clerical and administrative jobs – representing a wide spectrum of white-collar occupations. The research findings of both the pilot and national study showed that fairly high percentage of those attending Alpha courses were not in paid employment, which may mean that Alpha is more attractive to those who have more free time and less work and family obligations than others. One of the principal reasons why people dropped out of an Alpha course was because of work or family commitments.
