What Is a Cult?: Exploring the Debate

Common categories used to classify groups that may be described as being a cult:

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1. Religious Cults: These cults revolve around religious beliefs, practices, and teachings, often centred on a charismatic leader or a unique interpretation of established religious doctrines.

2. New Age Cults: New Age cults are characterised by beliefs and practices associated with spiritual or metaphysical concepts, often incorporating elements of mysticism, alternative healing modalities, and personal development techniques.

3. Political Cults: Political cults are focused on political ideologies and movements, often centred around a charismatic leader or a particular political agenda, and may employ manipulative tactics to recruit and retain members.

4. Self-Help or Personal Development Cults: These cults promote self-improvement, personal growth, and empowerment through specific techniques or programs, often led by charismatic individuals who claim to have special insights or abilities.

5. Therapy or Recovery Cults: Therapy or recovery cults offer alternative approaches to mental health treatment or addiction recovery, often emphasising the authority of a particular therapist or guru and employing coercive tactics to control members.

6. Commercial Cults: Commercial cults are motivated primarily by financial gain, often operating as multi-level marketing schemes or pyramid schemes that exploit members for profit under the guise of offering business opportunities or personal development programs.

7. Destructive or Doomsday Cults: These cults espouse apocalyptic beliefs and predictions of impending doom or salvation, often isolating members from society and imposing strict rules and regulations to prepare for cataclysmic events.

8. Family or Communal Cults: Family or communal cults emphasise close-knit communities and shared living arrangements, often under the authority of a central leader or governing body, and may exert control over members' personal lives and decisions.

 

These categories provide a broad framework for understanding the diversity of cultic groups and the range of beliefs, practices, and ideologies they espouse. It's important to note that many cults may exhibit characteristics that overlap multiple categories, and the classification of a group as a cult can be subjective and context-dependent.

 

How do the experts explain what is a cult? 

 

Janja Lalich

Janja Lalich, a researcher and expert on cults, offers a nuanced perspective on defining cults. Lalich emphasises the importance of understanding the social dynamics and psychological processes involved in cults rather than relying solely on specific criteria. She describes a cult as "a group or movement that, to a significant degree, exhibits the following features: it has a charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship; it fosters a transcendent ideology; it demands unquestioning loyalty and conformity; it discourages autonomy and individual thinking; and it isolates members from outside society."

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Lalich's definition underscores the role of charismatic leadership, ideological fervour, and social isolation in cult dynamics. She highlights how these factors contribute to the manipulation and control of members within the group, often resulting in psychological and emotional harm. Lalich's approach emphasises the complex interplay of factors that contribute to the formation and maintenance of cults, offering insights into the mechanisms underlying their influence and impact on individuals.

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Rick Ross

Rick Ross, a cult intervention specialist, follows Robert Jay Lifton's three primary characteristics most common shared by destructive cults: 

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1. A charismatic leader, who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group loose power. That is a living leader, who has no meaningful accountability and becomes the single most defining element of the group and its source of power and authority.

2. A process [of indoctrination or education is in use that can be seen as] coercive persuasion or thought reform [commonly called "brainwashing"]. The culmination of this process can be seen by members of the group often doing things that are not in their own best interest, but consistently in the best interest of the group and its leader.

3. Exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie, which could be economic, sexual, and/or other.

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Steven Hassan

Steven Hassan, a mental health professional and former cult member, identifies four key elements that characterise a cult, which he terms the BITE model:

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1. Behaviour Control: The group regulates the individual's actions through strict rules, often dictating how they dress, eat, work, and interact with others.

2. Information Control: The group restricts access to information and manipulates what members are allowed to know, often through censorship, propaganda, or misinformation.

3. Thought Control: The group seeks to control the individual's thoughts and beliefs through indoctrination, thought-stopping techniques, and discouragement of critical thinking.

4. Emotional Control: The group manipulates and exploits the individual's emotions, often through fear, guilt, love-bombing, and other psychological techniques to maintain loyalty and obedience.

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Conclusion

 

While there are subtle differences between how experts may define what a cult is, namely as to whether or not a group needs a have a charismatic figurehead, all three of the above definitions highlight the presence of manipulative and controlling tactics employed by the group or its leaders to exert influence over its members. In other words, it is a restriction of personal freedoms embedded into the dynamics that is driven by coercive control. 

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These definitions emphasise the detrimental impact of such tactics on the well-being and autonomy of individuals within the group, often resulting in psychological, emotional, and sometimes physical harm. Additionally, each definition underscores the role of charismatic leadership and ideological fervour in fostering group cohesion and loyalty while discouraging critical thinking and independence. Overall, these commonalities highlight the pervasive nature of manipulation and control within cult dynamics as described by Rick Ross, Steven Hassan, and Janja Lalich.

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I have taken what the experts have to say about defining a cult and devised a rubric that covers 12 key characteristics. I call this Renée's Cult Ranking System.