SOC 257: New Religious Movements Lectures

University of Virginia

Department of Sociology

Jeffrey K. Hadden 













Cult Formation













    


    Lecture Outline:
    




    

    

    


    Part I: Getting Cults Started


    




    


    


    




    Two Critical Steps to Getting

Started:
    




      

   
    • Novel Ideas

   

   
    • Social Acceptance


    




    Sources of Novel Ideas
    




      

   
    • Evolve from Existing Traditions

   

   
    • Invent

   

   
    • Lift (steal, barrow) from Another Group or

   Cultural Form


    




    Where Do Cults Get Their Novel Ideas

(Beliefs)?
    




      

   
    • Personal Experience

   

   
    • Host Secular Culture

   

   
    • Other Religious Groups

   

   
    • Internal Social Processes


    




    Gaining Social Acceptance
    




      

   
    • New religions must recruit new members.

   

   
    • Virtually all new religions experience high

   tension with thehost culture.

   

   
    • This tension is both a threat to the group and

   a potentialsource of attraction for potential recuits.


    




    


    


    




    Part II: Models of Cult Formation


    




    


    


    




    Models of Cult Formation
    




      

   
    • Psychopathological Model

   

   
    • Entrepreneurial Model

   

   
    • Subcultural Evolution Model

   

   
    • Normal Relations Model


    




    The Psychopathological Model
    




      

   
    • Most popular view of cult formation

   

   
    • Emerges out of psychoanalytical view of

   religion and magicas neurotic wish-fullfillment

   

   
    • Closely linked to deprivation theories of

   revolution

   

   
    • Also linked to anthropological theories about

   "revitalization"or "natiivistic" movements.

   

   
      

   
      

   Revitalization Movements
      

   

   
    • The ideas emerge from the study of

   "primitive"cultures that have experienced invasion and domination

   by westernculture.

   

   
    • Anthropologist Anthony Wallace postulates that

   religions andsocieties to through cycles of:

   

   
        

      
      • DECLINE

      

      
      • REVITALIZATION

      

      
      • STABILIZATION

   
      

   

   
      From the psychological perspective, new religions emerge

   during period of social crisis:
      

   

   
        

      
      • beset by serious personal and social

      problems

      

      
      • person(s) become preoccupied and w/draw

      from social life

      

      
      • self-initiated sensory deprivation

      

      
      • supernatural vision

      

      
      • cognitive reorganization

      

      
      • share vision with others.

   
      

   

   
      Examples that seem to fit the model:
      

   

   
        

      
      • Ann Lee -- lost 4 children in infancy

      

      
      • Mary Baker Eddy - classic case of hysteria

      

      
      • John Humphrey Noyes - manic depressive

      

      
      • Love Israel - drug induced delusions

   
      


    




    The Entrepreneurial Model
    




      

   
    • Brainbridge and Stark note that while not

   widely recognized, many cult founders are self-consciously

   entrepreneurs.

   

   
    • Can you identify the most successful

   entrepreneur in the historyof religion?

   

   
    • Paul

   

   
    • Cults are in the business of production and

   distributionof novel religious ideas.

   

   
    • The entrepreneur:

   

   
        

      
      • creates a new product

      

      
      • which is manufactured and

      

      
      • marketed

   
      

   

   
    • Successful entrepreneurs:

   

   
    • are open to experimentation and restructuring

   of their products.

   

   
    • are quickly copied by other

   entrepreneurs

   

   
    • From the perspective of the entrepreneurial

   model, cults in business of providing a product to customers

   (clients)

   

   
    • Selling novel compensators, freshly

   packaged

   

   
    • Supply is manufactured and sold

   

   
    • Entrepreneur motivated by product

   

   
    • Motivation often stimulated by prior

   involvement in a successfulcult

   

   
    • Cults tend to cluster in lineages

   

   
    • Successful leaders carefully experiment and

   introduce newproducts.

   

   
      Examples:
      

   

   
        

      
      • L. Ron Hubbard (Scientology)

      

      
      • Charles Dietrich (Synanon)

      

      
      • Werner Erhart (est)

   
      


    




    The Subcultural Evolution Model
    




      

   
    • This model emphasis the role of the

   group in the

   creationof new religions.

   

   
    • Beliefs and practices emerge out of group

   interaction processes.

   

   
    • Mutual conversion is key mechanism for gaining

   commitment.

   

   
      Example: Satin's Power
      

   

   
        

      
      • William Sims Bainbridge

      

      
      • Sociologist

      

      
      • Group studied: "The Process"

      

      
      • A psychotherapy group

      

      
      • Volunarily isolated itself

      

      
      • Transformed into a religion

   
      


    




    The Normal Revelations Model
    




      

   
    • Bainbridge & Stark described three ways

   that cult formationmight occur.

   

   
    • Might there be other ways?

   

   
    • Stark reasoned that there should be.

   

   
    • He coined the concept "normal revelation" to

   characterizethe process of attributing extraordinary meaning to

   otherwisenormal, even mundane social activity

   

   
      Examples of Normal Revelations
      

   

   
        

      
      • Mundane mental phenomena experienced as

      contact with supernatural.

      

      
      • Apparitions

      

      
      • Externalizing creativity

   
      

   

   
      Some Implications of "Normal Revelations"
      

   

   
        

      
      • None of these activities will necessarily lead to cult

      formation.

      

      
      • Each has the potential to inspire the recepient of the

      revelationto perceive himself/herself to be visited by God and

      charged with special activities .

      

      
      • Such activities are not necessarily destined to lead to

      cultformation.

      

      
      • Sect formation; even incorporation within the

      establishedgroup, is possible.

   
      

   

   
      

   
      

   
      


    




    Part III: Type of Cults


    




    


    


    




    Types of Cults*
    




      

   
    • Audience Cults

   

   
    • Client Cults

   

   
    • Movement Cults

   
      

         * For  elaboration of the meaning of these three types of

   cults, see: Stark and Bainbridge, "Of churches, Sects, and Cults" 




    




     
    




    Lecture last revised:
    



8/15/97