Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion - Couverture rigide

Galanter, Marc

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0195056310 ISBN 13 : 9780195056310

Editeur : Oxford University Press Inc, 1989

Synopsis

Why do people join cults? How do cults exert such a strong influence over their members' beliefs and even their appearance? These and other questions about the operation of cult groups are answered in this study. The psychological forces that enable cults to exert their intense influence are analyzed in detail and with many examples. These forces include social cohesiveness, which has its parallels in the ties that bind family members together; shared beliefs, which set the groups' standards for behaviour; and altered consciousness, which can lead to a rapid change in the attitudes of recruits and members. Galanter points out that many new recruits are vulnerable to such influences because they have been socially dislodged and their ties to other persons are weak. He shows how cults tend to seal off their members from straightforward contact with the outside world and impose their own ideology. To fill out the picture of how cults function as social systems, Galanter gives accounts of a number of groups. The book contains first-person accounts of conversions, daily life under the rule of charismatic leaders, disillusionments, and departures both voluntary and forced. There are also overviews of many of the most influential cults, including a psychological analysis of the evolution of the "Moonies".

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Why do people join cults? How do cults exert such a strong influence over their members' beliefs and even their appearance? These and other questions about the operation of cult groups are answered in this unique book. The psychological forces that enable cults to exert their intense influence are analysed in detail and with many examples. These forces include social cohesiveness, which has its parallels in the ties that bind family members together; shared beliefs, which set the groups' standards for behaviour; and altered consciousness, which can lead to a rapid change in the attitudes of recruits and members. For this second edition, Galanter has added three new chapters on cult developments of the 1990s -- the Branch Davidians, Aum Shinrikyo, and Heaven's Gate. The books also features 32 new photographs.

Biographie de l'auteur

Marc Galanter is Professor of Psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Oxford University Press Inc
• Date d'édition: 1989
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0195056310
• ISBN 13: 9780195056310
• Reliure: Relié
• Numéro d'édition: 2
• Nombre de pages: 240
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Oxford University Press; https://corp.oup.com/; ; WMF Platz 1; Geislingen/Steige; Baden-W?rttemberg; 73312; Allemagne