Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion
Encyclopedia
Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion is a non-fiction
book on cult
s and coercive persuasion, written by Marc Galanter (MD)
. The book was published in hardcover format in 1989 by Oxford University Press
, and again in hardcover in 1999 in a second edition work. The second edition was reprinted by Oxford University Press, in March 2007.
, as Professor of Psychiatry
and Director of the Division of Alcoholism
and Drug Abuse
. He is also the editor of Cults and New Religious Movements: A Report of the American Psychiatric Association. In a review in The American Journal of Psychiatry, Favazza described Galanter as "the psychiatric expert on cults".
. Groups discussed and examined include the Aum Shinrikyo
, Hare Krishna
, Peoples Temple
, Unification Church
, the Divine Light Mission
, and Alcoholics Anonymous
.. In addition to these groups, the author also examines alternative medicine and spiritual recovery movements, and their similarities to charismatic groups and their leaders. Galanter analyzes recruitment tactics of the groups, indoctrination techniques, and legal aspects involved with conservatorship
and deprogramming
. A directory is provided for those seeking help after being involved in groups similar to those discussed in the work.
The book analyzes these groups and methodologies from a scientific viewpoint, as well as providing first-person accounts of religious conversion
, and in certain cases subsequent disillusionment. Galanter utilizes systems theory
to illustrate how cult functions are similar to a social organism, with increasing conformity
managed by the manipulation of psychological distress. The material is worded in a scholarly format, and yet is accessible to the non-academic reader as well.
, Silk writes that Galant kept his "clinician's detachment" throughout the work in his assessment of the psychological health of members of charismatic groups, but also states that the book's failing is its single-minded, social-scientific approach to the subject. Nixon of Library Journal
stated that Galanter's work was more "neutral and open" than Cults and Consequences, but recommends both books. Publishers Weekly
described the book as a "comprehensive analysis of cult power.". Salama of School Library Journal
noted that Galanter compared cult groups for psychological characteristics, without passing judgement on the individual groups analyzed.
In his review in The American Journal of Psychiatry, fellow physician
Favazza heartily recommended the book to all of his colleagues, noting that it provides insights into both group dynamics and family functioning. Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion was also reviewed in Contemporary Sociology, by Benjamin Zablocki
, and in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, by Thomas Robbins
.
The book was required reading in the Cornell University
sociology
course, Communes, Cults, and Charisma, as well as the University of Pennsylvania
course, Religious Violence and Cults. Galanter's characteristics of charismatic groups from Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion are cited in the article on "Cults", in the Encyclopedia of Psychology.
Reviews
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book on cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
s and coercive persuasion, written by Marc Galanter (MD)
Marc Galanter (MD)
Marc Galanter, M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry at NYU, Founding Director of the Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse at NYU, and Director of the NYU Fellowship Training Program in Addiction Psychiatry. He is also a Division Director at NYU’s World Health Organization Collaborating Center, and...
. The book was published in hardcover format in 1989 by Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, and again in hardcover in 1999 in a second edition work. The second edition was reprinted by Oxford University Press, in March 2007.
Author
Galanter works at the New York University School of MedicineNew York University School of Medicine
The New York University School of Medicine is one of the graduate schools of New York University. Founded in 1841 as the University Medical College, the NYU School of Medicine is one of the foremost medical schools in the United States....
, as Professor of Psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
and Director of the Division of Alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
and Drug Abuse
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
. He is also the editor of Cults and New Religious Movements: A Report of the American Psychiatric Association. In a review in The American Journal of Psychiatry, Favazza described Galanter as "the psychiatric expert on cults".
Main points
The book is based on Galanter's fifteen years studying the psychology of contemporary charismatic groupsCharismatic authority
The sociologist Max Weber defined charismatic authority as "resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him." Charismatic authority is one of three forms of authority laid out...
. Groups discussed and examined include the Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....
, Hare Krishna
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...
, Peoples Temple
Peoples Temple
Peoples Temple was a religious organization founded in 1955 by Jim Jones that, by the mid-1970s, included over a dozen locations in California including its headquarters in San Francisco...
, Unification Church
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
, the Divine Light Mission
Divine Light Mission
The Divine Light Mission was an organization founded in 1960 by guru Shri Hans Ji Maharaj for his following in northern India. During the 1970s, the DLM gained prominence in the West under the leadership of his fourth and youngest son, Guru Maharaj Ji...
, and Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
.. In addition to these groups, the author also examines alternative medicine and spiritual recovery movements, and their similarities to charismatic groups and their leaders. Galanter analyzes recruitment tactics of the groups, indoctrination techniques, and legal aspects involved with conservatorship
Conservatorship
Conservatorship is a legal concept in the United States of America, where an entity or organization is subjected to the legal control of an external entity or organization, known as a conservator. Conservatorship is established either by court order or via a statutory or regulatory authority...
and deprogramming
Deprogramming
Deprogramming refers to actions that attempt to force a person to abandon allegiance to a religious, political, economic, or social group. Methods and practices may involve kidnapping and coercion...
. A directory is provided for those seeking help after being involved in groups similar to those discussed in the work.
The book analyzes these groups and methodologies from a scientific viewpoint, as well as providing first-person accounts of religious conversion
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
, and in certain cases subsequent disillusionment. Galanter utilizes systems theory
Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
to illustrate how cult functions are similar to a social organism, with increasing conformity
Conformity
Conformity is the process by which an individual's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are influenced by other people.Conformity may also refer to:*Conformity: A Tale, a novel by Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna...
managed by the manipulation of psychological distress. The material is worded in a scholarly format, and yet is accessible to the non-academic reader as well.
Reception
In his review of the book in The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Silk writes that Galant kept his "clinician's detachment" throughout the work in his assessment of the psychological health of members of charismatic groups, but also states that the book's failing is its single-minded, social-scientific approach to the subject. Nixon of Library Journal
Library Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
stated that Galanter's work was more "neutral and open" than Cults and Consequences, but recommends both books. Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
described the book as a "comprehensive analysis of cult power.". Salama of School Library Journal
School Library Journal
The School Library Journal is a monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia. Reviews are included for preschool to 4th grade,...
noted that Galanter compared cult groups for psychological characteristics, without passing judgement on the individual groups analyzed.
In his review in The American Journal of Psychiatry, fellow physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
Favazza heartily recommended the book to all of his colleagues, noting that it provides insights into both group dynamics and family functioning. Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion was also reviewed in Contemporary Sociology, by Benjamin Zablocki
Benjamin Zablocki
Benjamin Zablocki is and American professor of sociology at Rutgers University where he teaches sociology of religion and social psychology. He has published widely on the subject of charismatic religious movements and cults....
, and in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, by Thomas Robbins
Thomas Robbins
Thomas Robbins may refer to:* Thomas Robbins , Congregational minister, bibliophile and antiquarian* Thomas Robbins , independent scholar of sociology of religion* Tom Robbins , author...
.
The book was required reading in the Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
course, Communes, Cults, and Charisma, as well as the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
course, Religious Violence and Cults. Galanter's characteristics of charismatic groups from Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion are cited in the article on "Cults", in the Encyclopedia of Psychology.
External links
- "Cults", Encyclopedia of Psychology
Reviews
- Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion, 2nd ed., The American Journal of Psychiatry, 2002
- OUTSIDERS WELCOME, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, 1989