CSU, Chico News

The first Behavioral and Social Sciences Faculty Colloquium at California State University, Chico, will be held Thursday, Oct. 28, at 7 PM in Ayres 106. Professor of Sociology Janja Lalich will be the featured speaker.

Lalich is the author of “Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults” (University of California Press, 2004). Lalich is a researcher, consultant and specialist in the study of cults and psychological manipulation and abuse.

Since the 1990s, the national and local press has interviewed Lalich, most recently in relation to Salt Lake City kidnap-victim Elizabeth Smart, who was returned to her home in March 2003 after nine months in captivity. This past April, Lalich was asked to comment on the Fresno massacre of family members of Marcus Delon Wesson. Lalich has been interviewed on “Meet the Press,” NPR’s “To the Best of Our Knowledge” and, most recently, on BBC Radio’s “Thinking Allowed.”

“Dr. Lalich’s work on and understanding of cults is unique because she realized several years ago that she was an unknowing member of a cult (the Democratic Workers Party) and she was singularly able to free herself from the cult’s attachments,” said Byron Jackson, interim dean of BSS. “Her book, ‘Bounded Choice,’ provides the reader with an insider’s look at cultic groups and makes fascinating comparisons between her own experiences in the Democratic Workers Party, the Heaven’s Gate group and other cults of true believers.”

In addition to illuminating the cult phenomenon in the United States and around the world, Lalich’s bounded choice model can also shed light on the mentality of those true believers who take extreme or violent measures in the name of a cause.

“Given the current state of affairs and all the terrorist activity, it would serve us well, I believe, to strive for an understanding of terrorists as true believers. They are more than just crazed fanatics, and Osama bin Laden is more than just a diabolical leader,” said Lalich. “I am hoping that my work will contribute one more piece to the puzzle of charismatic commitments and the actions of true believers.”

“The idea of a colloquium is the sharing of ideas and the exploration of different ways of thinking,” said Dean Jackson. “Janja Lalich’s work on cults and cult behavior exemplifies the quality of scholarship that we respect and honor in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.”

A reception in the BMU lobby will follow the presentation.

The following Web site describes Lalich’s book: http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9497.html.

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 10th, 2004 at 8:30 am and is filed under 2004 Fall.