Cults in Our Midst (book)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cults in Our Midst | |
 Cults in Our Midst |
|
| Author | Margaret Singer Janja Lalich Robert Jay Lifton, Foreword |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Cults |
| Genre(s) | nonfiction psychology cults |
| Publisher | Jossey-Bass |
| Publication date | September 1996 |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 374 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7879-0266-7 |
| Preceded by | Captive Hearts, Captive Minds |
| Followed by | Crazy Therapies, Bounded Choice |
Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives is a nonfiction psychology book on cults, by Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich, Ph.D., with a foreword by Robert Jay Lifton. The book was published by Jossey-Bass in 1996 in hardcover format. In 1997, the book was published in Spanish, as Las Sectas Entre Nosotros[1], and in German, as Sekten: Wie Menschen ihre Freiheit verlieren und wiedergewinnen können ("Cults: How people lose and can regain their freedom")[2].
In this book I will use the term cult and cultic group to refer to any one of a large number of groups that have sprung up in our society and that are similar in the way that they originate, their power structure, and their governance. Cults range from the relatively benign to those that exercise extraordinary control over members' lives and use thought-reform processes to influence and control members. While the conduct of certain cults causes nonmembers to criticize them, the term cult is not in itself pejorative but simply descriptive. It denotes a group that forms around a person who claims he or she has a special mission or knowledge, which will be shared with those who turn over most of their decision making to that self-appointed leader. [3]
A second edition of the book without Lalich as co-author was published in paperback form by John Wiley & Sons, in 2003, with a new title[4] shortly before Dr. Singer's death.
Contents |
[edit] Reviews
| “ | What makes Cults in Our Midst so absorbing is Singer's ability to show the extremely damaging effects of cults as well as the lure that cults may have for the "average" people in "normal" life.. | ” |
| “ | In 1992, Singer (emeritus adjunct, psychology, Univ. of California at Berkeley) unsuccessfully sued the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association, alleging conspiracy to discredit her research and destroy her reputation. That suit and this book hinge on whether Singer's theory of "coercive persuasion" (i.e., nonphysical coercion) is demonstrably valid. Fully a third of this book is a replay of Singer's previous studies and arguments, with the remainder applying her questioned paradigm to cult-associated tragedies. While Midst does present numerous examples of deceptive recruitment and other unethical practices, no new ground is broken. Further, as the title implies, Singer's approach is alarmist and often tabloidesque. Lalich's earlier Captive Hearts, Captive Minds (LJ 7/94) is a better choice, contending with cult-associated problems in a more pragmatic, more substantial, and less hysterical manner. | ” |
[edit] Cited in secondary works
Cults in Our Midst is cited by at least 30 other books on the subject[7], including: Robert Jay Lifton's 2000 Destroying the World to Save It[8], on apocalyptic destructive cults; Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman's 1995 Snapping[9]; Janja Lalich's 2006 Take Back Your Life[10]; and Philip Cushman's 1996 Constructing the Self, Constructing America[11].
The book is required reading, along with Peter Olsson, M.D.'s Malignant Pied Pipers of Our Time: A Psychological Study of Destructive Cult Leaders from Rev. Jim Jones to Osama bin Laden, in Edward Lottick, M.D.'s King's College, Pennsylvania course on "American Cults"[12] as of January, 2006.
Cults in Our Midst was cited as a reference in the FBI's 1999 Project Megiddo report[13].
[edit] Related lawsuit
In 1996, Landmark Education sued Singer, for defamation. Singer mentioned Landmark Education in Cults in our Midst; it was unclear whether she labeled Landmark Education as a cult or not. Singer issued a statement pursuant to a settlement agreement stating that she did not intend to call Landmark a cult, nor did she consider it a cult. [14] Singer removed the references to Landmark Education from subsequent editions of the book. She also stated at deposition that she had "no personal, firsthand knowledge of Landmark or its programs."
Amanda Scioscia reported in the Phoenix New Times that Singer never called Landmark a cult, but that she described it as a "a controversial New Age training course". She also stated that she would not recommend the group to anyone, and would not comment on whether Landmark uses coercive persuasion for fear of legal recrimination from Landmark[15]
[edit] References
- ^ Las Sectas Entre Nosotros/Cults in our Midst,1997, Lauguage:Spanish, ISBN 8474326052
- ^ Sekten/Cults in our Midst,1997, Lauguage:German, ISBN 3896700154
- ^ Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich. Cults in our Midst (book), 1995, pp. ix-xx. ISBN 0-7879-0051-6.
- ^ Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace, April 11, 2003, ISBN 0787967416 , ISBN 978-0787967413
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle, 1993.
- ^ Bill Piekarski, Southwestern Coll. Lib., Chula Vista, California, Library Journal, 1995, Reed Business Information, Inc.
- ^ Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships, Janja Lalich; The Gap in the Jehovah's Witness Religion And How to Recover, Tracy Ringsdorf; New Religious Movements: A Documentary Reader, Dereck M. Daschke; Letting Go: A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years, Fourth Edition, Karen Levin Coburn; Amway Motivational Organizations: Behind the Smoke and Mirrors, Ruth Carter; Shopping for Faith: American Religion in the New Millennium, Richard P. Cimino; Constructing the Self, Constructing America: A Cultural History of Psychotherapy, Philip Cushman; Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics under Persecution, M. James Penton; The Neurophysics of Human Behavior: Explorations at the Interface of the Brain, Mind, Behavior, and Information, Mark E. Furman; The Religion That Kills: Christian Science: Abuse, Neglect, and Mind Control, Linda S. Kramer; Children in New Religions, Susan J. Palmer; Selling All: Commitment, Consecrated Celibacy, and Community in Catholic Religious Life, (Religious Life in a New Millennium, V. 2), Sandra M. Schneiders; Breathing Spaces: Qigong, Psychiatry, and Healing in China, Nancy N. Chen; Understanding Terror Networks, Marc Sageman; The Rise and Fall of Synanon: A California Utopia, Rod Janzen; The Cultic Origins of Christianity: The Dynamics of Religious Development, (Theology), W. W. Meissner; Sexualities (Monograph Published Simultaneously As Women & Therapy , Vol 19, No 4), Marny Hall; Not by Faith Alone: Religion, Law, and Adolescence, Roger J. R. Levesque; New Religions as Global Culture (Explorations. Contemporary Perspectives on Religion), Karla Poewe; Finding Your Religion: When the Faith You Grew Up With Has Lost Its Meaning, Scotty McLennan; Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism, Robert Jay Lifton; Letting Go: A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years, Third Edition, Karen Levin Coburn; Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time, Michael Shermer; Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine Considered: An Appraisal, David W. Ramey; Black Collar Crimes: An Encyclopedia of False Prophets and Unholy Orders, Michael Newton; Encountering New Religious Movements, Irving Hexham; Snitch Culture: How Citizens are Turned into the Eyes and Ears of the State, Jim Redden; Bluebird : Deliberate Creation of Multiple Personality by Psychiatrists, Colin A. Ross; People Farm, Steve Susoyev; Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change, Flo Conway.
- ^ Robert Jay Lifton, 2000, Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism, ISBN 0805065113 , page 348, Note 13.
- ^ Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change, page 374. Note 155., ISBN 0964765004 1995.
- ^ Janja Lalich, Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships, ISBN 0972002154 , 2006, Appendix D, pages 345, 347, 352, 355.
- ^ Philip Cushman, Constructing the Self, Constructing America: A Cultural History of Psychotherapy , ISBN 0201441926 , 1996, pages 394, 407.
- ^ American Cults, Edward Lottick, M.D., course, King's College, Pennsylvania. retrieved 1/17/06, International Cultic Studies Association.
American Cults - Edward Lottick, M.D. - "I have just completed my third time presenting my semester course at King's College on American Cults. Although the course is upper level for junior and senior students, it is basically introductory contemporary cultic studies. Class size has ranged from 20 to 30 students mostly without any significant prior cult experience. Assigned reading includes Margaret Singer's Cults in Our Midst, Peter Olsson's Malignant Pied Pipers of Our Time, and an assembled compendium of relevant historic news and journal articles from the past several decades. The course has been offered during alternating semesters as a psychology elective. This past semester's class was 20 students composed of 10 psychology majors, 5 criminal justice majors, and a pre-med, pre-law, elementary-education, nursing, and audio-visual major." - ^ Project Megiddo, FBI Strategic Assessment, October 20, 1999, retrieved 3/7/07.
- ^ Dr. Margaret Singer, statement, Landmark Education, website, files
- ^ Amanda Scioscia, 2000, Phoenix New Times, Drive-thru Deliverance Singer said she never called it a cult in her book, but simply mentioned it as a controversial New Age training course. In resolution of the suit, Singer gave a sworn statement that the organization is not a cult or sect. She said this doesn't mean she supports Landmark. "I do not endorse them -- never have," she said. Singer, who was in her 70s at the time, said she can't comment on whether Landmark uses coercive persuasion because "the SOBs have already sued me once." "I'm afraid to tell you what I really think about them because I'm not covered by any lawyers like I was when I wrote my book."Singer said, however, that she would not recommend the group to anyone.
[edit] External links
- Excerpts from Cults In Our Midst, Factnet.org
- Chapter 11: Leaving the Cult / Recovery, RickRoss.com
- Landmark Education vs. Singer, litigation public documents pertaining to Landmark Education's case involving Cults in Our Midst
- Review in Spanish, Las Sectas entre nosotros
[edit] Gallery of covers
 1995, English ed., Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives |
 1997 ed. German, Cults: How people lose and can regain their freedom |
 1997 ed. Spanish, Las Sectas Entre Nosotros |
 2003 ed., English, Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace |
[edit] See also
|
||||||||||||||||||||
