Robert Schroeder

Why do people join cults ....and more to the point why do they stay in them? This is a source of endless fascination to me but I guess the answer is relatively simple. Most of these cults seem to develop around one charismatic leader who offers some sort of a vision but also some sort of extended "family" or social connections. They then indulge in fairly standard brainwashing techniques....removing the individuals from their normal social reference points: family, friends, work acquaintances etc. .....frequently remove them physically in remote sites or isolate them from the rest of society, deprive them of sleep...maybe food, Plus constant re-inforcement of the Guru's doctrines. If anyone strays from the prescribed path they are subject to group pressure to conform or risk banishment. And this answers the second part of my question: Why do people stay. Well they stay because they cannot see a way out; they are economically and socially totally dependent on the cult. And, it requires enormous strength of willpower to break with the cult and be friendless and resourceless in a tough world.
The book is a collection of cults of all sort and there is a depressing similarity about them: charismatic leader who helps himself (nearly always male figures) to sexual favours from the acolytes., and who lives a luxurious lifestyle (food, cars, houses etc., on the earnings and contributions of the followers). It's even interesting how many of the cults have some sort of doomsday scenario where only they will escape the doom. And many of the cult leaders have made the mistake of predicting actual days when this doom will strike. But the amazing thing is that the cult does not automatically disintegrate when the prediction is shown to be false. They simply re-work it. God decided to postpone it; the date is actually only the beginning of the doom period, etc etc. Even the death of leaders who were supposed to live forever or be assumed into heaven seem to be insufficient to end the sect. But very few of them really make it into the mainstream. A few have: Christianity, Mormonism, Islam, Scientologists, Moonism. I seem to recall there is something similar with Hinduism and something called Sathya Sai Baba...plus of course Hare Krishna.
The book is rather short on detail with just a couple of pages devoted to each cult but they are depressingly similar stories throughout. Must confess I found it interesting but maybe only worth two stars.… (mehr)

A good overview of various different religions and splinter groups. He gives a brief overview of various movements, then describes some of the leaders of those movements and some of the impact of the movements in history. The book is fairly up to date, this edition published in '07 so it covers events like Jim Jones and David Koresh. There is a good section on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. His definitions of sect and cult are more of the popular understandings of these terms and not so much the sociological understandings, but aside from that it is a good survey of movements that have impacted history.… (mehr)