Women After the Utopia
The Gendered Lives of Former Cult Members
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2365099 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M Boeri (0000-0002-7118-0040, Georgia State University, corresponding author), Miriam Williams Boeri (Georgia State University) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 323-360 |
| Publication date | 2002-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary Ethnography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0891-2416 • E-ISSN: 1552-5414 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0891241602031003003 |
| OpenAlex | W2143567304 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 53 |
Research on former members of cults, also known as new religious movements, often focuses on psychological issues. Little has been written about the everyday lives of former members, and rarely has gender been placed at the center of analyses. Based on participant observation at ex-cult reunions and in-depth interviews, this analytical ethnography examines the everyday lives of women who are former members of a religious cult. Their experiences and concerns are analyzed with a focus on four qualitative themes: identity, roles, interactions, and contexts. The salient issues that emerge are alienation, depression, spiritual confusion, changing wife and mother roles, limited friendships, sexual abuse, lack of education and work history, and health concerns. The minority status of cult survivor is proposed as a core concept, and the implications of this study for intervention and future research are discussed
Aesthetics · Alienation · Cult · Ethnography · Identity (music · Participant observation · Qualitative research · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Social Psychology
Cult violence in Nigeria and corporate social responsibility in oil-producing communities
“I'm Now Far Healthier and Better Able to Manage the Challenges of Life”
Involvement in a New Religious Movement
Post-Involvement Difficulties Experienced by Former Members of Charismatic Groups
Counselling former members of charismatic groups
Being in-between; exploring former cult members’ experiences of an acculturation process using the cultural formulation interview (DSM-5)
Caring in the Shadows
Second-Generation Adult Former Cult Group Members’ Recovery Experiences
Familial Ties, Location of Occupation, and Congregational Exit in Geographically-Based Congregations
Cult Commitment' from the Perspective of Former Members
Religion in sociological perspective
The Sociology of Religious Movements
Becoming an Ex
Human Nature and the Social Order
Symbolic Interactionism
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
Misattribution and social control in the children of god
Understanding New Religious Movements
The Sociology of Religious Movements
The Blacklisting of a Concept
Analytic Ethnography
Symbolic Interactionism and Family Studies
Gender of Sexuality
Misunderstanding Cults
Commitment and Community
Dominance and Submission
The Sociological Imagination
Intimate Matters
Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America
Human Nature and the Social Order
The social construction of reality
The sociological imagination
Qualitative research methods for the social sciences
Radical rhetoric and mystical religion in America's late Vietnam war era
Gender and power in new religious movements
Religious Deprogramming and Subjective Reality
Social Change, Gender Roles, and New Religious Movements
Doomsday Cult
Apostates and the Legitimation of Repression
Observations on the Children of God
Legitimating repression
Limits to proselytizing
Evil eyes and religious choices
Deprogramming without tears
Cults of anti-cultism
Conversion careers
From Max Weber
Asylums
Understanding New Religious Movements
Doomsday Cult
The Cult Withdrawal Syndrome
Sex, Slander, and Salvation
Post-Involvement Attitudes of Voluntary Defectors from Controversial New Religious Movements
Religion in Sociological Perspective
Deprogramming, Brainwashing and the Medicalization of Deviant Religious Groups
Appalachian Women
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,63 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2025 (16) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |