Dissertation Research: The Development and Organization of a Religious Community in a Small Western Town

本论文研究项目将允许研究生 在文化人类学中， 北方加州。 使用参与者的民族志方法 观察和结构化访谈，学生调查员 将研究宗教社区如何生存和适应其 社会环境，通过分析之间的紧张关系， 群体的社会结构和情感表达 社区中个人之间的关系。 这项研究很重要，因为所谓的“新宗教”是 现代美国社会的重要组成部分。 增加 了解这些宗教团体如何生存和适应 对社会文化环境的影响可以帮助社会群体 政策制定者与他们的互动 成功地

This dissertation research project will allow a graduate student in cultural anthropology to study a religious cult community in Northern California. Using ethnographic methods of participant observation and structured interviewing, the student investigator will study how the religious community survives and adapts to its social environment through analysis of the tension between the social structure of the group and the expressive, affective relationships between individuals in the community. This research is important because so-called "new religions" are a significant part of modern American society. Increased understanding of how such religious communities survive and adapt to their socio-cultural environment can help the social groups they deal with and policy-makers interact with them more successfully.