Robert Balch

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Robert William Balch
Born	1945 United States
Residence	Montana, United States
Nationality	American
Fields	cults, new religious movements, sociology
Institutions	University of Montana
Alma mater	University of Oregon Arizona State University

Robert William Balch is a sociologist from the University of Montana. Balch is best-known for his studies of Heaven's Gate (with David Taylor), the Aryan Nations, and the Love Family.

Contents 1 Education 2 Publications 3 Selected courses 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Education

• Ph. D., Sociology, University of Oregon, 1972
• M.A., Sociology, Arizona State University, 1968
• B.A., Sociology, Arizona State University, 1966

[edit] Publications

• Forthcoming, "The Rise and Fall of Aryan Nations: A Resource Mobilization Perspective." Journal of Political and Military Sociology.
• 2003. "Heaven's Gate: Implications for the Study of Commitment to New Religions." Pp. 122-237 in James R. Lewis, (ed.), Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions. Amherst, NY: Prometheus. (co-author, David Taylor)
• 2002. "Making Sense of the Heaven's Gate Suicides." Pp. 209-228 in David G. Bromley and J. Gordon Melton (eds.), Cults, Religion, and Violence. New York: Cambridge University Press.

[edit] Selected courses

• SOC 110: Principles of Sociology: Overview of the principles and concepts used in the study of human social interaction, groups, communities and societies.
• SOC 130: Sociology of Alternative Religions: Unconventional religious groups in American society. Topics include recruitment, conversion, commitment, defection, leadership, belief systems, organizational structure and change.
• SOC 201: Social Science Methods: Methods of research in the social sciences uncluding naturalistic observation, interviewing, measurement, experiments, surveys, content analysis, and basic data analysis.
• SOC 310: Extraordinary Group Behavior: The study of emergent social behavior including rumors, crowds, crazes, riots, panics, terrorism, revolutions and social movements.
• SOC 488: Field Research Methods: The studying of people in their natural environment by observing what they do as they go about their everyday lives.

[edit] See also

• List of cult and new religious movement researchers

[edit] External links

• Robert Balch, Professor, Department of Sociology, The University of Montana

v • d • e Heaven's Gate Leadership Marshall Applewhite  · Bonnie Nettles Background Cult suicide  · Comet Hale-Bopp  · UFO religion  · Cult Awareness Network Researchers Robert Balch  · David Taylor  · Jacques Vallée  · Louis Theroux  · Janja Lalich  · Irving Hexham  · Nigel Watson Books Bounded Choice  · Millennialism and charisma  · The Gods have Landed  · The Call of the Weird  · Heaven's Gate: Cult Suicide in San Diego  · Inside Heaven's Gate  · The Secret World of Cults: From Ancient Druids to Heaven's Gate  · Cults: From Bacchus to Heaven's Gate  · The Keepers of Heaven's Gate  · How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven's Gate  · Cosmic Suicide: The Tragedy and Transcendence of Heaven's Gate Documentaries Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends  · Cults: Dangerous Devotion In popular culture Chitty Chitty Death Bang WikiSource

Persondata
NAME	Balch, Robert William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American sociologist
DATE OF BIRTH	1945
PLACE OF BIRTH	United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH