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Undid revision 1115954107 by Prezbo (talk) She was part of the Democratic Workers Party, which at least she believes is a new religious movement/cult.
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{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Janja Lalich
| name = Janja Lalich
| birth_date = 1945
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1945}}
| occupation = Professor Emerita of Sociology
| occupation = Professor Emerita of Sociology
| organization = [[California State University, Chico]]
| organization = [[California State University, Chico]]
| website = {{URL|janjalalich.com}}
| website = {{URL|janjalalich.com}}
}}
}}
'''Janja Lalich''' (b. 1945) is an American [[Sociology|sociologist]] and writer. Lalich is best known as a foremost expert on [[cults]] and [[coercion]], [[charismatic authority]], [[power (social and political)|power]] relations, [[ideology]] and [[social control]]. She is a professor emerita of [[sociology]] at the [[California State University, Chico]].<ref name="zablocki">{{cite book|title=[[Misunderstanding Cults]] : Searching for objectivity in a controversial field|date=1 November 2001|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0802043733|editor1-last=Zablocki|editor1-first=Benjamin|location=Toronto|page=522|editor2-last=Robbins|editor2-first=Thomas}}</ref><ref name="nyt2018">{{cite news|last1=Wollan|first1=Malia|title=How to Get Someone Out of a Cult|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/magazine/how-to-get-someone-out-of-a-cult.html|access-date=26 September 2018|website=New York Times|date=26 September 2018}}</ref>
'''Janja Lalich''' (born 1945) is an American [[Sociology|sociologist]] and writer. Lalich is best known as a foremost expert on [[cults]] and [[coercion]], [[charismatic authority]], [[power (social and political)|power]] relations, [[ideology]] and [[social control]]. She is a professor emerita of [[sociology]] at the [[California State University, Chico]].<ref name="zablocki">{{cite book|title=[[Misunderstanding Cults]] : Searching for objectivity in a controversial field|date=1 November 2001|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0802043733|editor1-last=Zablocki|editor1-first=Benjamin|location=Toronto|page=522|editor2-last=Robbins|editor2-first=Thomas}}</ref><ref name="nyt2018">{{cite news|last1=Wollan|first1=Malia|title=How to Get Someone Out of a Cult|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/magazine/how-to-get-someone-out-of-a-cult.html|access-date=26 September 2018|website=New York Times|date=26 September 2018}}</ref>


==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
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She is a recently retired professor in the sociology department of [[California State University, Chico]], and has contributed several articles to [[Academic journal|academic journals]] on the subject of [[Cult|cults]] and [[Religion|religions]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Campus Directory|url=http://webapps.csuchico.edu/directory/people/jlalich|access-date=20 February 2015|publisher=CSU, Chico}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Janja Lalich|url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Janja_Lalich|access-date=26 September 2018|website=ResearchGate}}</ref> After her experiences in a radical political group that she identifies as a cult, she founded the Center for Research on Influence and Control. In her work, she describes the main features of a "[[totalistic]]" control group or cult: "They 'espouse an all-encompassing belief system', 'exhibit excessive devotion to the leader', 'avoid criticism of the group and its leader', and 'feel disdain for non-members'."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Al-sibai|first1=Noor|title=Expert explains how Trump's GOP has turned into a cult|url=https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/expert-explains-trumps-gop-turned-cult-warns-spell-will-hard-break/|access-date=26 September 2018|website=Raw Story|date=21 June 2018}}</ref>
She is a recently retired professor in the sociology department of [[California State University, Chico]], and has contributed several articles to [[Academic journal|academic journals]] on the subject of [[Cult|cults]] and [[Religion|religions]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Campus Directory|url=http://webapps.csuchico.edu/directory/people/jlalich|access-date=20 February 2015|publisher=CSU, Chico}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Janja Lalich|url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Janja_Lalich|access-date=26 September 2018|website=ResearchGate}}</ref> After her experiences in a radical political group that she identifies as a cult, she founded the Center for Research on Influence and Control. In her work, she describes the main features of a "[[totalistic]]" control group or cult: "They 'espouse an all-encompassing belief system', 'exhibit excessive devotion to the leader', 'avoid criticism of the group and its leader', and 'feel disdain for non-members'."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Al-sibai|first1=Noor|title=Expert explains how Trump's GOP has turned into a cult|url=https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/expert-explains-trumps-gop-turned-cult-warns-spell-will-hard-break/|access-date=26 September 2018|website=Raw Story|date=21 June 2018}}</ref>


Lalich went on to write several books on the subject of cults, including her best known book, ''[[Bounded Choice]]'' (2004), based on [[Heaven's Gate (religious group)|Heaven's Gate]].<ref name="bbc2018">{{cite web|last1=Taylor|first1=Laurie|title=Thinking Allowed: Charismatic cults|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed_20050126.shtml|access-date=26 September 2018|website=BBC Radio}}</ref> As a recognized international authority in the field, Lalich has also appeared in several court cases as an [[expert witness]] on coercive control or [[undue influence]].<ref name="vice2018">{{cite web|last1=Berman|first1=Sarah|title=Courts Are Rarely Kind to 'Brainwashed' Victims|url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kzyqwz/courts-are-rarely-kind-to-brainwashed-victims|access-date=26 September 2018|website=Vice}}</ref>
Lalich went on to write several books on the subject of cults, including her best known book, ''[[Bounded Choice]]'' (2004), based on [[Heaven's Gate (religious group)|Heaven's Gate]].<ref name="bbc2018">{{cite web|last1=Taylor|first1=Laurie|title=Thinking Allowed: Charismatic cults|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed_20050126.shtml|access-date=26 September 2018|website=BBC Radio}}</ref> As a recognized international authority in the field, Lalich has also appeared in several court cases as an [[expert witness]] on coercive control or [[undue influence]].<ref name="vice2018">{{cite web|last1=Berman|first1=Sarah|title=Courts Are Rarely Kind to 'Brainwashed' Victims|url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kzyqwz/courts-are-rarely-kind-to-brainwashed-victims|access-date=26 September 2018|website=Vice|date=9 July 2018 }}</ref>


In 2007, Lalich was awarded the [[Margaret Singer|Margaret L. Singer]] Award: "for advancing the understanding of coercive persuasion, undue influence, and psychological manipulation" by the [[International Cultic Studies Association]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ashcraft|first1=W. Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CnVUDwAAQBAJ|title=A Historical Introduction to the Study of New Religious Movements|date=2018|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1351670838|pages=Chapter 4|access-date=4 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Awards|url=https://www.icsahome.com/aboutus/awards|access-date=4 October 2018|website=International Cultic Studies Association}}</ref>
In 2007, Lalich was awarded the [[Margaret Singer|Margaret L. Singer]] Award: "for advancing the understanding of coercive persuasion, undue influence, and psychological manipulation" by the [[International Cultic Studies Association]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ashcraft|first1=W. Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CnVUDwAAQBAJ|title=A Historical Introduction to the Study of New Religious Movements|date=2018|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1351670838|pages=Chapter 4|access-date=4 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Awards|url=https://www.icsahome.com/aboutus/awards|access-date=4 October 2018|website=International Cultic Studies Association}}</ref>
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==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB-dJaCXAxA YouTube - Why do people join cults? - Janja Lalich | TED-Ed]<br>
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FghSUttp6Lc YouTube - Former Cult Member Answers Cult Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED]


{{Opposition to NRMs}}
{{Opposition to NRMs}}
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[[Category:California State University, Chico faculty]]
[[Category:California State University, Chico faculty]]
[[Category:American women sociologists]]
[[Category:American women sociologists]]
[[Category:Former members of new religious movements]]
[[Category:American sociologists]]
[[Category:Brainwashing theory proponents]]
[[Category:Brainwashing theory proponents]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
[[Category:21st-century American women academics]]
[[Category:21st-century American academics]]
[[Category:Former Marxists]]
[[Category:21st-century American women scientists]]

Latest revision as of 16:29, 24 April 2024

Janja Lalich
Born1945 (age 78–79)
OccupationProfessor Emerita of Sociology
OrganizationCalifornia State University, Chico
Websitejanjalalich.com

Janja Lalich (born 1945) is an American sociologist and writer. Lalich is best known as a foremost expert on cults and coercion, charismatic authority, power relations, ideology and social control. She is a professor emerita of sociology at the California State University, Chico.[1][2]

Early life and education[edit]

The daughter of Serbian immigrants,[3] Lalich was born in 1945. Lalich has a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California.[1] Beginning in the 1970s, Lalich spent around ten years as part of a radical Marxist-Leninist group, the Democratic Workers Party in California. She later came to realize that the group was a cult. Lalich recalls that during her time in the group she stored questions and doubts in the back of her mind, unable to express them.[2] Lalich became a high-ranking member of the group working long hours with little contact outside the immediate members. She claims that ex-members were harassed and attacked and that she felt increasingly threatened. Eventually, the group dissolved and she was able to leave.[4]

Career[edit]

She is a recently retired professor in the sociology department of California State University, Chico, and has contributed several articles to academic journals on the subject of cults and religions.[5][6] After her experiences in a radical political group that she identifies as a cult, she founded the Center for Research on Influence and Control. In her work, she describes the main features of a "totalistic" control group or cult: "They 'espouse an all-encompassing belief system', 'exhibit excessive devotion to the leader', 'avoid criticism of the group and its leader', and 'feel disdain for non-members'."[7]

Lalich went on to write several books on the subject of cults, including her best known book, Bounded Choice (2004), based on Heaven's Gate.[8] As a recognized international authority in the field, Lalich has also appeared in several court cases as an expert witness on coercive control or undue influence.[9]

In 2007, Lalich was awarded the Margaret L. Singer Award: "for advancing the understanding of coercive persuasion, undue influence, and psychological manipulation" by the International Cultic Studies Association.[10][11]

Bibliography[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Zablocki, Benjamin; Robbins, Thomas, eds. (1 November 2001). Misunderstanding Cults : Searching for objectivity in a controversial field. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 522. ISBN 978-0802043733.
  2. ^ a b Wollan, Malia (26 September 2018). "How to Get Someone Out of a Cult". New York Times. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  3. ^ Lalich, Janja. "The Violent Outcomes of Ideological Extremism: What Have We Learned Since Jonestown?". jonestown.sdsu.edu. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  4. ^ Paoletta, Rae. "Women share their real-life horror stories of surviving a cult". Revelist. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Campus Directory". CSU, Chico. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  6. ^ "Janja Lalich". ResearchGate. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  7. ^ Al-sibai, Noor (21 June 2018). "Expert explains how Trump's GOP has turned into a cult". Raw Story. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  8. ^ Taylor, Laurie. "Thinking Allowed: Charismatic cults". BBC Radio. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  9. ^ Berman, Sarah (9 July 2018). "Courts Are Rarely Kind to 'Brainwashed' Victims". Vice. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  10. ^ Ashcraft, W. Michael (2018). A Historical Introduction to the Study of New Religious Movements. Routledge. pp. Chapter 4. ISBN 978-1351670838. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Awards". International Cultic Studies Association. Retrieved 4 October 2018.

External links[edit]

YouTube - Why do people join cults? - Janja Lalich | TED-Ed
YouTube - Former Cult Member Answers Cult Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Janja_Lalich&oldid=1220568493"