Bounded Choice - True Believers and Charismatic Cults : True Believers and Charismatic Cults

List of Illustrations xiii Preface xv Acknowledgments xxi 1. Introduction: Cults and True Believers 1(24) Definitional Issues 3(5) Cults in the Headlines 8(6) The Bounded Choice Perspective 14(5) The Comparative Research Project 19(6) PART ONE: HEAVEN'S GATE 2. Gums, Seers, and New Agers 25(17) Entering Heaven's Gate 26(5) Formative Principles 31(1) Sociocultural Influences 32(2) Religious and Spiritual Influences 34(3) Technologies of Change 37(5) 3. The Beginning: "The Two" Arrive 42(21) The Formative Years 42(11) The Development of Bounded Choice (Part 1) 53(10) 4. Evolution of the Charismatic Community 63(28) Consolidating the Membership 63(8) The Development of Bounded Choice (Part 2) 71(20) 5. Denouement 91(22) The Death of Nettles 91(2) Going and Staying Underground 93(5) Leaving the Human Level 9S The Development of Bounded Choice (Part 3) 98(15) PART TWO: THE DEMOCRATIC WORKERS PARTY 6. Revolutionaries, Rebels, and Activists 113(13) Historical and Ideological Influences 114(4) Sociocultural Influences 118(3) The Emergence of the New Communist Movement 121(2) A Typical Recruit 123(1) A Convergence of Forces for a New Party 124(2) 7. The Founding of the Democratic Workers Party 126(23) The Arrival of a Leader 126(11) The Development of Bounded Choice (Part 1) 137(12) 8. The Cadre Formation 149(44) The Formation of the Party 149(11) The Development of Bounded Choice (Part 2) 160(33) 9. Decline and Fall 193 The Glory Days 195(7) The Unraveling 202(4) The Failure of Bounded Choice 206(15) PART THREE: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE 10. The True Believer: The Fusion of Personal Freedom and Self-Renunciation 221(26) The Significance of the Social Context 221(1) Structures of Freedom and Constraint 222(11) The Bounded Reality of the True Believer 233(14) 11. Bounded Choice: Cult Formation and the Development of the True Believer 247(18) Bounded Choice in Relation to Other Conformity Theories 247(4) Cult Formation: The Self-Sealing Social System 251(3) The Social Psychology of the Individual Change Process 254(3) The Limited Choices of the True Believer 257(4) Bounded Choice as a Larger Social Phenomenon 261(4) Appendix 265(10) Notes 275(28) Bibliography 303(14) Index 317