Cult Wars

Today Celine and Stephen decide to take a sober and even-handed approach to the question of how we should research and talk about High Control Groups or Cults, and then find themselves getting all worked up! The term 'New Religious Movements' is seen as a more appropriate and less prejudicial label than the word cult, should we be using it? Are anti-cult activists getting in the way of proper sociological research? Is brainwashing not really a thing? Are ex members unreliable sources of data and should they be sidelined in favour of more sober rational and objective opinions?

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References used on this episode

Barker, E. (2012). New religious movements: their incidence and significance (pp. 33-50). Routledge.

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/11887/1/__libfile_REPOSITORY_Content_Barker%2C%20E_New%20religious%20movements_Barker_New%20religious%20movements_2013.pdf

 

Zablocki, B. (1997). The blacklisting of a concept: The strange history of the brainwashing conjecture in the sociology of religion. Nova Religio, 1(1), 96-121.

https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.1997.1.1.96

 

Academics who ignore defectors as ‘apostates’ will never see Scientology for what it is by Chris Shelton.

https://tonyortega.org/2021/10/02/academics-who-ignore-defectors-as-apostates-will-never-see-scientology-for-what-it-is/