The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society

The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society by Arthur J. Deikman. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780807029152.

Since this book was first published, events in Waco, Texas, refocused American attention on the prevalence of cults in our society. There, in an eerie parallel to Jim Jones’s People’s Temple, a group of devotees was immolated at the command of its leader. Amid all the horror and drama, few people identified with the cult members or compared the cult to groups to which they belonged. They should have, because cults grow out of behaviors intrinsic to the human condition, behaviors that are present in all of us. Wherever there are groups, including those not thought of as cults, cult-like behavior will be found. This is a hard fact for us to face, and it is generally resisted. We wish to separate ourselves from the behavior of the Branch Davidians, or the People’s Temple, or the less dramatic but alien groups soliciting in airports and street corners. We don’t want to recognize our own cult behavior because we take pride in being independent; we defend our own group’s rationality and purpose. Yet, as this book demonstrates, certain basic cult processes are present in the familiar and legitimate activities of our established religions, large corporations, government, the media, and the professions. (from the Preface)