I really enjoyed this conversation with Dr. Janja Lalich talking about everything to do with cults. Janja was originally in a cult in her younger years and the study that she has gone through makes her the best person to discuss this subject with. It was a highlight of my podcast work to have this conversation and I hope you enjoy it as much as i did recording it.
Janja Lalich (b. 1945) is an American sociologist and writer. Lalich is best known as a foremost expert on cults and coercion, charismatic authority, power relations, ideology and social control. She is a professor emerita of sociology at the California State University, Chico.
She is a recently retired professor in the sociology department of California State University, Chico, and has contributed several articles to academic journals on the subject of cults and religions. After her experiences in a radical political group that she identifies as a cult, she founded the Center for Research on Influence and Control. In her work, she describes the main features of a "totalistic" control group or cult: "They 'espouse an all-encompassing belief system', 'exhibit excessive devotion to the leader', 'avoid criticism of the group and its leader', and 'feel disdain for non-members'."
Janja has appeared in countless documentaries involving cults.
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