Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults

by Janja Lalich

Heaven's Gate, a secretive group of celibate "monks" awaiting pickup by a UFO, captured intense public attention in 1997 when its members committed collective suicide. As a way of understanding such perplexing events, many have seen those who join cults as needy, lost souls, unable to think for themselves. This book, a compelling look at the cult phenomenon written for a wide audience, dispels such simple formulations by explaining how normal, intelligent people can give up years of their lives—and sometimes their very lives—to groups and beliefs that appear bizarre and irrational. Looking closely at Heaven's Gate and at the Democratic Workers Party, a radical political group of the 1970s and 1980s, Janja Lalich gives us a rare insider's look at these two cults and advances a new theoretical framework that will reshape our understanding of those who join such groups.

Lalich's fascinating discussion includes her in-depth interviews with cult devotees as well as reflections gained from her own experience as a high-ranking member of the Democratic Workers Party. Incorporating classical sociological concepts such as "charisma" and "commitment" with more recent work on the social psychology of influence and control, she develops a new approach for understanding how charismatic cult leaders are able to dominate their devotees. She shows how members are led into a state of "bounded choice," in which they make seemingly irrational decisions within a context that makes perfect sense to them and is, in fact, consistent with their highest aspirations.

In addition to illuminating the cult phenomenon in the United States and around the world, this important book also addresses our pressing need to know more about the mentality of those true believers who take extreme or violent measures in the name of a cause.

Genres: Cults, Religion, Nonfiction, Psychology, Cult Classics, History, Mental Health

353 pages, Paperback

First published August 16, 2004

Reviews

[Hadrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comparative analysis of cults with two main case studies: The Heaven's Gate cult which committed mass suicide in 1997, and the Democratic Worker's Party, a little known Maoist-Third-Worldist splinter group which the author was a part of in the 1960s and 1970s.

Though she doesn't say (like Benjamin or Kolakowski or many others before her) that radical politics resembles religion, she notes multiple similarities between these two groups and uses them as a basis for further discussion. These include the establishment of charismatic leadership, the development of transcendental beliefs (which disregard the present 'real world'), controlling the lives of individual members, and affecting their ways of thinking. 'Bounded choice' refers to where individuals still make decisions, but these are still limited by the boundaries imposed upon them by the leader.

This counters the idea that everyone who joins a cult must be a 'loser', but instead it could also attract idealistic and disillusioned but naive individuals who are quickly indoctrinated. A cult attracts members by being a offering a personally fulfilling experience, a sense of purpose, and a greater community. The author admits this was the case in her experience, but also from others she observed and gained in further testimonies.

The book was written in the atmosphere of post-9/11 hysteria and there is an attached essay considering the idea of 'cult psychology' and its relationship with terrorist groups. That's worth looking into, but I'm more interested in how this could be used to analyze political splinter groups, or even how the more charismatic authoritarian states cement their control.

[Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Case studies of two American cults: Heaven's Gate and the Democratic Workers Party (DWP), the latter of which the author herself participated in. The cults had different worldviews insofar as Heaven's Gate wanted its members to abandon their earthly bodies and aspire to their next life in outer space, while DWP sought political revolution on this planet; nonetheless, the internal systems of control over cult members were similar. Lalich says of DWP: "Invariably, new members were instructed to rewrite their class histories, sometimes more than once. The goal of this reframing process was to get new members to view and accept their personal histories from the correct political standpoint — that is, from the Party's point of view." (pp. 171-172)

The idea of "bounded choice" is that the cult member lives in a highly regimented system in which they appear to themselves to choose freely while it appears to outsiders that they are only choosing whatever the cult wants them to choose. This kind of research is behind it:

"My ideas have been strengthened by drawing from primary works in the field — for example, Max Weber's analysis of charisma as a relationship of power, not simply as attractive and compelling traits supposedly inhering in certain individuals; John Lofland's typology of conversions as a breakthrough model exhibiting the important fact that not all conversion experiences are generated in the same way; Lofland and Rodney Stark's elucidation of the significance of 'affective bonds' during the cult conversion; and Rosabeth Moss Kanter's treatise on the significant role of commitment in group settings. Building on these classic texts and others, I broadened my reach to include other sociological theories, organization theory, and the social psychology of influence. To show how structure and the individual interact, I call on Anthony Giddens's structuration model. To understand better how choice is constrained, I look to Herbert Simon's theory of bounded rationality. To demonstrate consequences for the individual in this context, I rely on Lifton's concepts of doubling and personal closure, as well as on his work on revolutionary immortality to explore the leadership dilemma. My intention in building the bounded choice model is to contribute analytic tools that I hope will reshape our understanding of this provocative area of study." (p. 7)

She outlines "four interlocking structural dimensions that make up the framework for the social dynamics found in cults," namely: the relationship between the charismatic leader and the followers; a belief system that offers a path to salvation; explicit, concrete rules for group participation; and a more nebulous group culture through which people influence each other and adapt themselves to the group. (p. 17)

She concludes: "Closed thinking and self-sealing systems take hold in myriad everyday contexts. Respect for authority, duty and self-sacrifice, dedication to an ideal, and service to others are widespread mores of our culture. Not surprisingly, they were also central to the formation and evolution of both the DWP and Heaven's Gate. * * * The more we can learn about the social and individual forces that can bring someone to that place of ultimate self-sacrifice for a cause, the better off we all are." She asks "why we, as humans in search of meaning and purpose, so often thrust aside our sense of self, personal integrity, and clear thinking for the sake of some lofty, often elusive offering." (p. 263)

The writing was clear and the historical topics are interesting. Two lines of inquiry not included in the book would have made it more valuable to me. First, to what extent do all humans find ourselves acting out "bounded choice" because of the constraints of our worldviews and social mores? It seems to be a broad epistemological and anthropological question that isn't limited to the small, intense groups known as "cults." Everyone has constraints because of the frameworks we're given and the limits of our power and knowledge to move beyond them. Second, why did these cults ever appeal to anyone? The way Lalich describes their belief systems and social regulations makes them appear, at least to me, as abusive scams from the very beginning. I understand that there is typically a process by which new members are attracted to cult leaders and gradually assimilate themselves into the fold, but I'm still not sure exactly what attracts them in the first place, since the belief systems and social regulations on offer are distinctly unattractive to me.

[Natalie Grand · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything by Dr. Janja! She is very active in the anti-cult awareness community. I follow her on twitter too. I hear her sharing her training and experiences with other cult trauma survivor on podcasts. I am a 4 generation Jehovah's Witness that broke a cycle and saved my family and myself. Spiritual abuse is real! As a young girl I was told not to ask questions and to accept this misgynistic culture that never set right with me, but I made life decisions based on my family and this fake hateful armageddon that was suppose to come when I was a kid, which entailed the vast majority of humanity destroyed in a horrible death (including children).


This book is a must read for anyone recovering for leaving a cult, or an abusive relationship.

If anyone wants a light hearted, comedic, educational, full color graphic novel of being raised in a cult. I just released the graphic novel CULT GIRLS.

I am going to check out Dr. Janja's other books.

[Robin Boyle-Laisure · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great resource. I recommend purchasing it and turning to it again and again.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book lays out Lalich's theory of bounded choice, which she supports via the case study of two cults. I think her theory is useful and the arguments for it persuasive, but because she makes them via ONLY TWO CASE STUDIES, which she discusses in detail and then cites again and again and compares and contrasts, the book is super repetitive, tedious, and frustrating. It was such a struggle to finish this, despite my interest in her theory.

The introduction is great, though, so get the book from a library and read the introduction.

From the introduction: "the best way to understand why cult members do what they do is to consider them in a state of ever-present bounded choice, a narrow realm of constraint and control, of dedication and duty" (15).

and

In identifying with the group, members find meaning and purpose and a sense of belonging. This is experienced as a type of personal freedom and self-fulfillment. Yet that freedom is predicated on a decrease in personal autonomy, manifested in continuous acts of ever-increasing self-renunciation. This self-renunciation usually is expressed in relation to decision making, whereby the individual’s choices are constrained by the confines of the system, both real and imagined. In addition, behavior and therefore also choice are hampered by the development and nurturing of internalized mechanisms that prompt a person to perform (in thoughts, attitudes, and actions) in unity with the group’s worldview and goals. That is the juncture at which the social-psychological reality that I have identified as bounded choice emerges.

To be a participant in the group means playing by the rules; and in such groups, there is only one set of rules, or rather only one set of rules that matters. Once a person “chooses” to stay in the group, the impermeable, albeit invisible, confines of the structure do not allow for the possibility to “act otherwise” in any significant sense—unless, of course, the person leaves the group. At best, leaving the group means undergoing another major shift in worldview; at worst, losing all moral and social support one has come to know and rely on. It requires facing the unknown, often with the threat of extinction in the form of soul death and, in some instances, fear of literal death. The self-sealing nature of cultic ideologies leaves no room for alternatives. Eventually, life outside the cult becomes impossible to imagine.

This occurs when charismatic leaders and their transcendent belief systems demand that their followers undergo a personal transformation that relies on the fusion of the individual’s sense of personal freedom and the vow of self-renunciation. This fusion—which I call charismatic commitment—and its resultant social-psychological state—which I call bounded choice—is the force that time and again keeps people tethered to groups, relationships, or situations that many outsiders find incomprehensible. (18)

[Josephus FromPlacitas]

p. 2: "Countless examples...clearly illustrate that some cult members make seemingly irrational, harmful, and sometimes fatal decisions. Yet these acts are committed in a context that makes perfect sense at the time to those who enact them and are, in fact, consistent with an ideology or belief system that they trust represents their highest aspirations."

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, clear retelling of the Heaven's Gate business (a rarity, it seems).

I didn't read this for the theoretical framework, so I can't comment on that.

[Hailey Dammann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the theory is good, but the book gets repetitive at times.