Cults

Stephanie Alice Baker is Reader in Sociology at City, University of London, UK. Her research studies self-help and wellness cultures, particularly the role of new media technologies in creating communities and spreading false and misleading health information online. In 2021, she was invited by the UK Parliament to provide evidence on radicalisation, terrorism and extremism, and she continues to assist policymakers in their efforts to reduce and respond to mis/disinformation online. She is the author of Social Tragedy: The Power of Myth, Ritual, and Emotion in the New Media Ecology (2014); Wellness Culture: How the Wellness Movement Has Been Used to Empower, Profit and Misinform (2022); and co-author of Lifestyle Gurus: Constructing Authority and Influence Online (2019). Eugene McLaughlin is Professor of Criminology and Co-Director of the Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights at City, University of London, UK. His current research focuses on institutional scandals, ‘trial by media,’ high profile crimes and cultism. He has also written widely on the politics of policing and the history and development of critical criminology. He is author of Community, Policing and Accountability (2023); co-author of Understanding Deviance: A Guide to the Sociology of Crime and Rule-Breaking (7th edition, 2016); and co-editor of The SAGE Dictionary of Criminology (4th edition, 2019), and Criminological Perspectives (3rd edition, 2013). Chris Rojek is Professor of Sociology at City, University of London, UK. His research interests include the sociology of culture, celebrity, leisure and tourism, and social theory. He is the author of Fame Attack: The Inflation of Celebrity and Its Consequences (2012); Event Power: How Global Events Manage and Manipulate (2013); and Presumed Intimacy: Parasocial Interaction in Media, Society and Celebrity Culture (2015). He is also co-author of Lifestyle Gurus: Constructing Authority and Influence Online (2019); and editor of Event Management (4 volumes, Routledge, 2013).

1. Introduction: Why Cults Matter 2. What is a Cult?: The Spectrum of Cultic Influence 3. Religious Cults: David Koresh and the Branch Davidians 4. Doomsday Cults: The Manson Family 5. Celebrity Cults: Ye (Kanye West) 6. The Cult of the Entrepreneur: Elon Musk 7. Self-Help Cults: Andrew Tate 8. The Cult of the Public Intellectual: Jordan B. Peterson 9. The Future of Cults: from QAnon to the cult of AI