Customer Reviews

Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Religious Movements

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is poor quality.

At McMaster University I was excited to take their Cults in North America course. After having to purchase and read Dawson's Comprehending Cults my excitement changed to agony. This is probably one of the most poorly written university texts I've had to buy.

Here is why
-miscellany of random quotes are splattered among the writing, use of quotes also seem irrelevant to the topics discussed.
-its needlessly wordy you'll read paragraph after paragraph and it just looks like an incoherent mess
-Dawson is bold enough to create his own social scientific model that would only exist in a vacuum...when it comes to examining NRMs in the real world, his model utterly falls apart
-his treatment of NRMs is very condescending: you'd have to read it (which i don't recommend doing)

I actually emailed Lorne Dawson (University of Waterloo), politely asking him about some of the things in his text. Its hard to really explain further here but he gave me a very dismissive reply.

The problem is that NRMs and cults are difficult to study scientifically, Dawson work exemplifies this fact. Mr. Dawson, that is not a compliment.

I want my money back.

it's a really interesting book. it really opened my eyes to the types of people who join cults and why, I was really suprised.

My prediction is that cultic behavior is going to increase in the future.
Therefore, read this book if you want to understand the phenomenon, and the people who join cults. I believe we are totally unprepared for an increase in cults and for what that would mean for us personally and for the society as a whole. What are the limits if any for religious freedom? Who decides? This book is certainly a great start in beginning to comprehend what cults are. and what they mean socially.

I strongly recomment this book. It discusses new religious movements from an academic perspective. An excellent antidote to the religious intolerance and panic spread by the counter-cult heresy hunters and the anti-cult thought control advocates.

Granted, the wording could use some work, but the "brainwashed" chapter was a refreshing perspective I hadn't found in six other books I have read on the subject. "Who Joins" also was a chapter that included pieces I had not found elsewhere. A perfect place to start for a sociological perspective. Generally free of strong pro or anti religious bias. Recommended.

The scholarship here is certainly broad, but that is almost entirely overshadowed by the author's anti-religion biases.

A very thorough and clear coverage of the controversies raised by cults. I gained new insights into the topic and would readily recommend this book.

this book's content was good enough, but it was writen rather sloppily and with no read order, that i could see anyway. the author attempts to lose us by using hard-to-follow words and phrases.