Access

You are not currently logged in.

Access your personal account or get JSTOR access through your library or other institution:

login

Log in to your personal account or through your institution.

If You Use a Screen Reader

This content is available through Read Online (Free) program, which relies on page scans. Since scans are not currently available to screen readers, please contact JSTOR User Support for access. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader.

Networks of Faith: Interpersonal Bonds and Recruitment to Cults and Sects

Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge
American Journal of Sociology
Vol. 85, No. 6 (May, 1980), pp. 1376-1395
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2778383
Page Count: 20
  • Read Online (Free)
  • Download ($14.00)
  • Subscribe ($19.50)
  • Cite this Item
Since scans are not currently available to screen readers, please contact JSTOR User Support for access. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader.
Networks of Faith: Interpersonal Bonds and Recruitment to Cults and Sects
Preview not available

Abstract

A long tradition in social science explains recruitment to religious cults and sects on the basis of a congruence between the ideology of a group and the deprivations of those who join. A more recent approach to recruitment argues that interpersonal bonds between members and potential recruits are the essential element. In this paper we first show that these are complementary, not competing, approaches. Then, because the available evidential base for the role of interpersonal bonds is limited and qualitative, we present quantitative data pertaining to three quite different radical religious groups. In each case there is overwhelming support for the crucial role played by social networks in the formation and growth of such groups. Next we seek the boundaries of this phenomenon.Available studies suggest that not merely cult and sect recruitment, but commitment to conventional faiths as well, is supported by social networks.However, networks do not seem to play an important role in acceptance of mildly deviant occult beliefs. Belief in seances and tarot cards, for example, seems to spread via the mass media with little mediation by social networks. We discuss the implications of these findings for a theory of cult and sect recruitment.

Page Thumbnails

  • Thumbnail: Page 
1376
    1376
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1377
    1377
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1378
    1378
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1379
    1379
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1380
    1380
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1381
    1381
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1382
    1382
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1383
    1383
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1384
    1384
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1385
    1385
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1386
    1386
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1387
    1387
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1388
    1388
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1389
    1389
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1390
    1390
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1391
    1391
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1392
    1392
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1393
    1393
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1394
    1394
  • Thumbnail: Page 
1395
    1395