Involvement in a New Religious Movement: From Discovery to Disenchantment

Abstract

This article discusses involvement in a new religious movement (religious cult) from a sociological perspective developed from a qualitative study of individuals' involvement in Swami Muktananda's Siddha Yoga. The study explored individuals' attractions, affiliation, and disenchantment in a new religious movement. The significance of exploring individuals' involvement was to inform an alternative discourse that challenges the conceptualization held by many helping professionals and cult awareness groups in the brainwashing thesis. Although brainwashing as an empirical concept has been discredited among most researchers of new religious movements, it continues to be used as an explanatory model for cult awareness groups and helping professionals.

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