1. What is religious defection? What is the sociological significance of scientific research on religious defection? Which religious groups are studied by Stuart Wright in his research?
2. What are some of the more salient values considerations related to the study of religious cults -- both cult recruitment and cult defection?
3. Sociologically, what are religious cults? How voluntary is the religious participation of cult members? How stable is their participation?
4. How strong is the scientific evidence for the widespread practice of "brainwashing?" Why are the charges of "brainwashing" so commonly accepted by most lay persons?
5. Describe Wright's sociological research methodology in the study of cult defection? How were the data collected? What sampling techniques does he employ? What is the size of his sample?
6. What are the primary variables in Wright's comparative approach? What non-religious sociological research literature has informed Wright's study? Why is the issue of voluntary behavior important in this research?
7. How does a sociological understanding of the process of socialization, desocialization, the "social construction of reality" perspective, and "resource mobilization theory" inform this empirical research study? What is the role of plausibility structures in providing a sociological understanding of religious defection? What is the contribution of "cognitive consistency theory" to the understanding of religious commitment and disengagement?
8. Comment on the following:
1. World-transforming movements exercise little selectivity in recruiting members and tend to rely more on intensive socialization.
2. World transforming movements are highly regulated and supervised.
9. Evaluate the following research propositions with regard to the empirical data collected by Stuart Wright:
1. The less the degree to which the world-transforming movement effectively provides insulation from the larger society, the great the likelihood of defection.
2. The less the degree to which the world-transforming movement effectively regulates two-person intimacy, the greater the likelihood of defection.
3. The less the degree to which members of the world-transforming movement perceive the regulation of their time, lifestyle, labor, and sexual conduct as an urgent necessity, the greater the likelihood of defection.
4. The less the degree to which members of the world-transforming movement perceive the organization as fulfilling the affective needs of primary or quasi-primary group, the greater the likelihood of defection.
5. The less the degree to which members perceive the leadership of the world-transforming movement as "exemplary" the greater the likelihood of defection.
10. Answer the following questions: How and why do unconventional religions lose members? What reasons do people give for leaving, and how do they arrive at these decisions? What is the process of voluntary disengagement? What kinds of problems are involved in such a transition? Moreover, how do ex-members, in retrospect, see their experiences? what kinds of attitudes or reactions do they have after they leave?

Go to Stuart A. Wright's Leaving Cults: The Dynamics of Defection, Chapters 5 - 9

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