This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1988, Volume 5, Number 1, pages 59-121. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

“Reject the Wicked Man” Coercive Persuasion and Deviance Production: A Study of Conflict Management

Jerry Paul MacDonald

Abstract

This paper analyzes how a tightly-knit, utopian new religious movement manages conflict related to grievances and nonconformity. An integrated model of deviance production and coercive persuasion is presented to explain how the group manufactures loyalty crises designed simultaneously to stigmatize and expel nonconformists while reinforcing conformity within the membership. Introduced to explain this process are several new constructs, including “loyalty-betrayal funnel,” “bicameral normative system,” “sin-potential status,” .classification priesthood,” and the “renunciation-denunciation” process.
 

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