From the mass weddings of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church to the mass suicides at Jonestown, charismatic cults and their devotees have become facts of American life. Once exotic offshoots of the Sixties counterculture exciting suspicion, scorn, terror, and counter-terror (as in the brief vogue of "deprogrammers"), cults have grown so common and entered so many areas of public life--managing everything from roadside flower-sellers to major metropolitan newspapers and nation-wide political campaigns--that only spectacular disasters like the immolation of the Philadelphia cult MOVE seem to remind us how extraordinary their burgeoning really is. Using material gleaned from fifteen years of direct encounters with cults and their detractors, as well as a wide range of his quantitative research, Marc Galanter shows not only how cult members feel and think at all stages of their involvement but also how larger social and psychological forces interact within the cults to command and reinforce individual commitment. After examining the powerful combination of social cohesiveness, shared beliefs, and altered consciousness that cults offer potential recruits, Galanter shows how these forces are orchestrated into self-contained social systems that relieve anxiety within while warding off threats--real or imagined--from without. Finally, he demonstrates this basic system in action, both in apparently successful movements like the Unification Church and in catastrophic failures such as MOVE and Jim Jones's People's Temple, and reflects on how and why some groups turn to violence. The book is full of compelling stories--first-person accounts of conversions, daily life under the rule of charismatic leaders, disillusionments, and departures both voluntary and forced--and fascinating overviews of many of the most influential cults, including the most comprehensive psychological analysis ever published of the evolution of the "Moonies." Many of Galanter's findings, especially his account of the similarities between cults and "zealous" self-help movements, are highly controversial, and his discussion of the powerful influence that Alcoholics Anonymous exerts over its members will spark much debate. Moving beyond the exposés and confessions that have characterized so much of the literature on this subject, Galanter offers the most extensive psychological analysis of cults available. Although based on extensive on-site research, it is immediately accessible to both the general reader and to anyone personally or professionally concerned with cults.

Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion

Politics & Social Sciences

Galanter, Marc

Philosophy

Oxford University Press

From the mass weddings of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church to the mass suicides at Jonestown, charismatic cults and their devotees have become facts of American life. Once exotic offshoots of the Sixties counterculture exciting suspicion, scorn, terror, and counter-terror, cults have grown so common and entered so many areas of public life that only spectacular disasters like the immolation of the Philadelphia cult MOVE seem to remind us how extraordinary their burgeoning really is. Based on fifteen years of direct encounters with cults and their detractors, as well as extensive research, Marc Galanter's fascinating study explores not only how cult members feel and think at all stages of their involvement, but also how larger social and psychological forces reinforce individual commitment within the cults. Galanter presents a wealth of compelling stories, from first-person accounts of conversions and daily life under the rule of charismatic leaders to disillusionments and voluntary and forced departures, as well as intriguing overviews of many of the most influential cults, including the most comprehensive psychological analysis ever published of the evolution of the "Moonies." He also provides a provocative and controversial account of the similarities between cults and "zealous" self-help movements such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Moving beyond the exposés and confessions that have characterized so much of the literature on this subject, Galanter offers the most extensive and accessible psychological analysis of cults available.

Sociology

Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion

From the mass weddings of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church to the ritual suicides at Heaven's Gate, charismatic cults and their devotees have become facts of American life. Using material gleaned from twenty-five years of direct encounters with cults and their detractors, as well as extensive research, Marc Galanter offers the most extensive psychological analysis of these organizations available. Cults explores not only how members feel and think at all stages of their involvement, but also how larger social and psychological forces reinforce individual commitment within the cults. For this revised and newly-illustrated second edition, Galanter has added three new chapters on cult development in the 1990s, spiritual recovery movements, and alternative medicine.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Mental Health

From the mass weddings of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church to the ritual suicides at Heaven's Gate, charismatic cults and their devotees have become facts of American life. Using material gleaned from twenty-five years of direct encounters with cults and their detractors, as well as extensive research, Marc Galanter offers the most extensive psychological analysis of these organizations available. Cults explores not only how members feel and think at all stages of their involvement, but also how larger social and psychological forces reinforce individual commitment within the cults. For this revised and newly-illustrated second edition, Galanter has added three new chapters on cult development in the 1990s, spiritual recovery movements, and alternative medicine.

Competing equalities: Law and the backward classes in India

Oxford

Though "modern Indian law" is actually of Western origin, Galanter here contends that independent India has accepted this mid-twentieth century legal system intellectually and institutionally. His thirteen articles, covering a wide range of issues in Indian society, explore the operation of modern Indian law, and explicate the ways in which a complex body of formal law accommodates and adjusts itself to local conditions to which it is alien.

Law and Society in Modern India

Legal Theory & Systems

Though "modern Indian law" is actually of Western origin, Galanter here contends that independent India has accepted this mid-twentieth century legal system intellectually and institutionally. His thirteen articles, covering a wide range of issues in Indian society, explore the operation of modern Indian law and explicate the ways in which a complex body of formal law accommodates and adjusts itself to local conditions to which it is alien.

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

Tournament of Lawyers traces in detail the rise of one hundred of the nation's top firms in order to diagnose the health of the business of American law. Galanter and Palay demonstrate that much of the large firm's organizational success stems from its ability to blend the talents of experienced partners with those of energetic junior lawyers driven by a powerful incentive—the race to win "the promotion-to-partner tournament." This calmly reasoned study reveals, however, that the very causes of the spiraling growth of the large law firm may lead to its undoing. "Galanter and Palay pose questions and offer some answers which are certain to change the way big firm practice is regarded. To describe their work as challenging is something of an understatement: they at times delight, stimulate, frustrate and even depress the reader, but they never disappoint. Tournament of Lawyers is essential to the understanding of the business of the big law firms."—Jean and Colin Fergus, New York Law Journal

Tournament of Lawyers: The Transformation of the Big Law Firm

Business & Money

Palay, Thomas

Economics

University of Chicago Press

Tournament of Lawyers traces in detail the rise of one hundred of the nation's top firms in order to diagnose the health of the business of American law. Galanter and Palay demonstrate that much of the large firm's organizational success stems from its ability to blend the talents of experienced partners with those of energetic junior lawyers driven by a powerful incentive—the race to win "the promotion-to-partner tournament." This calmly reasoned study reveals, however, that the very causes of the spiraling growth of the large law firm may lead to its undoing. "Galanter and Palay pose questions and offer some answers which are certain to change the way big firm practice is regarded. To describe their work as challenging is something of an understatement: they at times delight, stimulate, frustrate and even depress the reader, but they never disappoint. Tournament of Lawyers is essential to the understanding of the business of the big law firms."—Jean and Colin Fergus, New York Law Journal

Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture

What do you call 600 lawyers at the bottom of the sea? Marc Galanter calls it an opportunity to investigate the meanings of a rich and time-honored genre of American humor: lawyer jokes. Lowering the Bar analyzes hundreds of jokes from Mark Twain classics to contemporary anecdotes about Dan Quayle, Johnnie Cochran, and Kenneth Starr. Drawing on representations of law and lawyers in the mass media, political discourse, and public opinion surveys, Galanter finds that the increasing reliance on law has coexisted uneasily with anxiety about the “legalization” of society. Informative and always entertaining, his book explores the tensions between Americans’ deep-seated belief in the law and their ambivalence about lawyers.

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

University of Wisconsin Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Galanter, Marc. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Galanter, Marc

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Galanter, Marc. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion

Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion

Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion

Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion

Competing equalities: Law and the backward classes in India

Law and Society in Modern India

Law and Society in Modern India

Tournament of Lawyers: The Transformation of the Big Law Firm

Tournament of Lawyers: The Transformation of the Big Law Firm

Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture