Author | Janja Lalich |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Cults |
Publisher | University of California Press |
Publication date | September 15, 2004 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (Paperback) |
Pages | 353 |
ISBN | 0-520-24018-9 |
OCLC | 54046983 |
306/.1 22 | |
LC Class | BP605.H36 L35 2004 |
Preceded by | Captive Hearts, Captive Minds, Cults in Our Midst |
Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults is a 2004 psychology and sociology book on cults by Janja Lalich. It was published by University of California Press.
Lalich had previously studied Heaven's Gate and the Democratic Workers Party (DWP) for her doctoral dissertation titled "Bounded Choice: The Fusion of Personal Freedom and Self-Renunciation in Two Transcendent Groups",[1] and that research was incorporated into the book.[2]
Lalich's methodologies were influenced by the work of Anthony Giddens, Herbert Simon and Robert Lifton.[3] Heaven's Gate, a UFO religion, was used as a model for analyzing the cult structure.[2][4]
According to Rubina Ramji's review, Lalich identifies four structures to cults: charismatic authority, a transcendent belief system, systems of control, and systems of influence. They interlock to create "true believers" who end up in a state of "bounded choice" in the cult.[5]
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).