How sects promised belonging and shared purpose

The psychology behind cults in the 1970s concerns social groups with unusual, often extreme religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals; since the 1970s, the secular anti-cult movement has opposed certain groups, accusing them of practicing brainwashing.

2 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 1 hr 19 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   the psychology behind cults in the 1970s · Wikipedia · 25 min read

   In the early 1960s, sociologist John Lofland studied Unification Church members in California as they tried to promote their beliefs and win new members. Lofland noted that most efforts were ineffective and that most people who joined did so because of personal relationships with other members, often family relationships.

2. Read
   Mass Suicide & the Jonestown Tragedy: Literature Summary – Jonestown & Peoples Temple · jonestown.sdsu.edu · 48 min read

   The sect promises members a sense of belonging and shared purpose, which overrides the existence of the individual, and unites their need to submit to a higher power in the form of a charismatic leader. A sect's hostile attitude towards the outside world, perceived as vacuous, chaotic, aggressive and evil, is one typical aspect of its conception of life. Individuals' contact with that world was restricted, gradually diminished and eventually ceased altogether.

3. Watch
   

   Why do people join cults? - Janja Lalich · YouTube · 6 min watch

   Janja Lalich describes how cults recruit and manipulate their members, and what differentiates cults from other groups.

4. Book
   

   The Girls · Bookshop.org

   The Girls by Emma Cline describes how a lonely and thoughtful teenager is caught by the girls' freedom and dangerous aura, then drawn to a charismatic leader's cult and a ranch where she desperately wants acceptance.

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