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

这一论文研究项目将允许一名文化人类学研究生研究北加州的一个宗教崇拜社区。利用参与观察和结构化访谈的民族志方法，学生调查员将通过分析群体的社会结构与社区中个人之间表达的、情感的关系之间的紧张关系，研究宗教社区如何生存并适应其社会环境。这项研究之所以重要，是因为所谓的“新宗教”是现代美国社会的重要组成部分。更多地了解这些宗教社区如何生存并适应其社会文化环境，可以帮助他们与之打交道的社会群体和政策制定者更成功地与他们互动。

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.