Overview
What's it like to grow up in a """"cult""""? The late 1960s and early 1970s constituted a remarkable period for the proliferation of new religious groups. In the 1990s, a second generation has come of age and, in some groups, outnumber adults. While the parents made the decision as adults to drop out of mainstream society and embrace alternative religious goals, the children have been raised with a very different orientation toward the larger society; they grew up assimilating their unique subcultures, many of them gazing with curiosity at the surrounding society it was never their choice to reject. The essays in this volume explore two issues about children who are members of The Family, Hare Krishna, Wiccans and Pagans, Messianic Communities and the Rajneesh (Osho) Movement: what impact does the presence of children have on a new religion's chance of surviving into the future?; and is child abuse more likely to occur in unconventional religions, or are these allegations a new way to limit the freedom of religious minorities?
Full Product Details
Author: Susan J. Palmer ,
Charlotte E. Hardman
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Imprint: Rutgers University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.399kg
ISBN: 9780813526201
ISBN 10: 0813526205
Pages: 270
Publication Date: 01 June 1999
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
"As new and alternative religions become standard fixtures in society, understanding their children becomes an important key to understanding their future. This wonderfully rich, panoramic book provides that key.--Timothy Miller ""Professor of Religious Studies, University of Kansas"" Palmer and Hardman . . . make an important point when they note that the ""study of children in new religious movements (NRMs) is a largely uncharted terrain"" (p. 1). Their book opens up this field of research through thirteen interesting studies by authors from Europe, Canada, and the United States. For main issues are considered: the impact of children on NRMs; the socialization of children within NRMs; issues of religious freedoms surrounding children in NRMs; and how children in NRMs construct meaning.-- ""Sociology"" Palmer and Hardman are acknowledged experts in the study of religions, especially ""new"" ones. Until now, very little has been written about children in new religions except, of course, for accusations about abuse. . . . There is something remarkably refreshing, then, to read a series of discussions by authors who know that there are other matters of interest and more to be said. . . . Its ethnographies complement more detailed interaction and presentation of the groups at issue. While the book continues in the tradition on which the Sociology of Religion predominates as the methodology of choice in approaching new religions, and while concerns about power, sex and gender predominate among issue that excite interest, it does so in new directions. Seeing children, let alone hearing them, enables some quite different thoughts about new religions.-- ""Reviews in Religion and Theology"" Palmer and Hardman collect much new material about an understudied dimension of new religious movements.-- ""Novo Religio"" This is a timely and important book focusing on the second generation of members in new religious movements (NRMs) born largely in the 1960s or 1970s. The book is important for two reasons. First, NRMs provide a unique social laboratory to observe and test ideas and theories about social movements. . . . Second, as many social scientists have observed, children have a significant impact on religious movements. . . . This is an invaluable contribution to the literature on new religions and social movements. The cross-cultural scope is especially significant.-- ""Contemporary Sociology"" What happens to a new religious movement of ""born again"" converts when it has to cope with its ""born into"" children? What happens to the kids as they grow up? This important book provides a unique and long-awaited opportunity to learn about the second-generation membership of a wide range of alternative religions.--Eileen Barker ""FBA, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics"""
"What happens to a new religious movement of ""born again"" converts when it has to cope with its ""born into"" children? What happens to the kids as they grow up? This important book provides a unique and long-awaited opportunity to learn about the second-generation membership of a wide range of alternative religions. -- Eileen Barker * FBA, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics * Palmer and Hardman are acknowledged experts in the study of religions, especially ""new"" ones. Until now, very little has been written about children in new religions except, of course, for accusations about abuse. . . . There is something remarkably refreshing, then, to read a series of discussions by authors who know that there are other matters of interest and more to be said. . . . Its ethnographies complement more detailed interaction and presentation of the groups at issue. While the book continues in the tradition on which the Sociology of Religion predominates as the methodology of choice in approaching new religions, and while concerns about power, sex and gender predominate among issue that excite interest, it does so in new directions. Seeing children, let alone hearing them, enables some quite different thoughts about new religions. * Reviews in Religion and Theology * Palmer and Hardman . . . make an important point when they note that the ""study of children in new religious movements (NRMs) is a largely uncharted terrain"" (p. 1). Their book opens up this field of research through thirteen interesting studies by authors from Europe, Canada, and the United States. For main issues are considered: the impact of children on NRMs; the socialization of children within NRMs; issues of religious freedoms surrounding children in NRMs; and how children in NRMs construct meaning. * Sociology * This is a timely and important book focusing on the second generation of members in new religious movements (NRMs) born largely in the 1960s or 1970s. The book is important for two reasons. First, NRMs provide a unique social laboratory to observe and test ideas and theories about social movements. . . . Second, as many social scientists have observed, children have a significant impact on religious movements. . . . This is an invaluable contribution to the literature on new religions and social movements. The cross-cultural scope is especially significant. * Contemporary Sociology * As new and alternative religions become standard fixtures in society, understanding their children becomes an important key to understanding their future. This wonderfully rich, panoramic book provides that key. -- Timothy Miller * Professor of Religious Studies, University of Kansas * Palmer and Hardman collect much new material about an understudied dimension of new religious movements. * Novo Religio *"
What happens to a new religious movement of ""born again"" converts when it has to cope with its ""born into"" children? What happens to the kids as they grow up? This important book provides a unique and long-awaited opportunity to learn about the second-generation membership of a wide range of alternative religions. -- Eileen Barker * FBA, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics * Palmer and Hardman are acknowledged experts in the study of religions, especially ""new"" ones. Until now, very little has been written about children in new religions except, of course, for accusations about abuse. . . . There is something remarkably refreshing, then, to read a series of discussions by authors who know that there are other matters of interest and more to be said. . . . Its ethnographies complement more detailed interaction and presentation of the groups at issue. While the book continues in the tradition on which the Sociology of Religion predominates as the methodology of choice in approaching new religions, and while concerns about power, sex and gender predominate among issue that excite interest, it does so in new directions. Seeing children, let alone hearing them, enables some quite different thoughts about new religions. * Reviews in Religion and Theology * Palmer and Hardman . . . make an important point when they note that the ""study of children in new religious movements (NRMs) is a largely uncharted terrain"" (p. 1). Their book opens up this field of research through thirteen interesting studies by authors from Europe, Canada, and the United States. For main issues are considered: the impact of children on NRMs; the socialization of children within NRMs; issues of religious freedoms surrounding children in NRMs; and how children in NRMs construct meaning. * Sociology * This is a timely and important book focusing on the second generation of members in new religious movements (NRMs) born largely in the 1960s or 1970s. The book is important for two reasons. First, NRMs provide a unique social laboratory to observe and test ideas and theories about social movements. . . . Second, as many social scientists have observed, children have a significant impact on religious movements. . . . This is an invaluable contribution to the literature on new religions and social movements. The cross-cultural scope is especially significant. * Contemporary Sociology * As new and alternative religions become standard fixtures in society, understanding their children becomes an important key to understanding their future. This wonderfully rich, panoramic book provides that key. -- Timothy Miller * Professor of Religious Studies, University of Kansas * Palmer and Hardman collect much new material about an understudied dimension of new religious movements. * Novo Religio *
Author Information
SUSAN J. PALMER is an adjunct professor at Dawson College. She has authored numerous books about new religious movements. CHARLOTTE E. HARDMAN is a lecturer of religion at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.
