Dr Alexandra Stein will be teaching a 12 week part-time evening course, one evening per week, at the Mary Ward Centre, London, from mid-January.
Educational Course
This interdisciplinary course will examine the phenomena of cults and totalitarian regimes – closed, hierarchical systems led by charismatic, authoritarian leaders. Using in-depth case studies, we will use a variety of theoretical approaches to understand these systems, in addition to reading narrative and literary accounts. We will explore the processes of recruitment, conversion, conformity, commitment and disaffiliation, with a particular emphasis on understanding the extreme obedience found in these systems. This course will examine commonalities between cults and totalitarian systems including: the effects on personal life and relationships, social networks, a shared absolute ideology, and charismatic relationship between leader and followers.
http://www.marywardcentre.ac.uk/course/the-social-psychology-of-cults-and-totalitarianism/