title: New religious movement membership and the importance of stable 'others' for the making of selves.
abstract: Challenging the view that people join New Religious Movements because they have fallen victim to powerful brainwashing techniques, the analysis of in-depth life history interviews of 23 former members from 11 different Australian 'cults' suggests that membership was personally negotiated and motivated by a desire for stronger social connections, albeit for different reasons. While for some participants, a desire for social connectedness was related to a strong need for guidance and direction from 'stable' others, for others it reflected a desire for self-change or self-enhancement. To make sense of the participant narratives, symbolic interactionist understandings of the self are applied.
authors.affiliation: The University of Newcastle, School of Social Science and Humanities, 10 Scott Street, Point Clare, NSW, 2250, Australia, dominie.coates@uon.edu.au.
authors.forename: Dominiek D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Coates
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D004532:Ego; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior