Benjamin Zablocki Explained
| Benjamin Zablocki |
| Birth Name: | Benjamin David Zablocki |
| Birth Date: | January 19, 1941 |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Death Date: | (aged 79) |
| Death Place: | New Jersey, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Johns Hopkins University |
| Occupation: | Professor of Sociology |
| Sub Discipline: |
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| Education: | (BA), (PhD) |
| Discipline: | Sociologist |
Benjamin David Zablocki (January 19, 1941 – April 6, 2020) was an American professor of sociology at Rutgers University where he taught sociology of religion and social psychology. He published widely on the subject of charismatic religious movements, cults, and brainwashing.
Early life and education
Born in Brooklyn, New York on January 19, 1941,[1] Zablocki received his B.A. in mathematics from Columbia University in 1962 and his Ph.D. in social relations from the Johns Hopkins University in 1967, where he studied with James S. Coleman.
Career
Zablocki was the Sociology department chair at Rutgers University. He published widely on the sociology of religion.[2] [3] [4]
Zablocki defined a cult as “an ideological organization held together by charismatic relationships and demanding total commitment”[5] and advocated what he termed “the brainwashing hypothesis.”[6] Other scholars, Zablocki noted, commonly mistake brainwashing for both a recruiting and a retaining process, when it is merely the latter.[7] This misunderstanding enables critics of brainwashing to set up a straw-man, and thereby unfairly criticize the phenomenon of brainwashing. For evidence of the existence of brainwashing, Zablocki referred to the sheer number of testimonies from ex-members and even ex-leaders of cults.[8] Zablocki further alleged that brainwashing has been unfairly "blacklisted" from the academic journals of sociology of religion, and such blacklisters receive funding from alleged cults and engage in corrupt practices.
Death
Zablocki died April 6, 2020, at the age of 79.
Selected works
Books
- The Joyful Community: An Account of the Bruderhof: A Communal Movement Now in Its Third Generation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1971, reissued 1980)
- Alienation and Charisma: A Study of Contemporary American Communes. New York: The Free Press. (1980)
- Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2001. w/ Thomas Robbins (Eds.)
Articles
Notes and References
- Barker . Eileen . Eileen Barker . August 2020 . In Memoriam for Benjamin Zablocki . . en . 24 . 1 . 132–133 . 10.1525/nr.2020.24.1.132 . 1541-8480.
- Book: Phillip Charles . Lucas . Thomas . Robbins . New Religious Movements in the Twenty-first Century: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective . 313 . Routledge . 2009 . New York. 978-0415965774.
- Book: Len . Oakes . Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities . 158–159 . Syracuse University Press . 1997 . Syracuse, New York . 978-0815627005.
- Book: Peter . Antes . Armin W. . Geertz . Randi Ruth . Warne . New Approaches to the Study of Religion Vol 1: Regional, Critical, and Historical . 428 . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. . 2004 . Berlin, Germany . 978-3110176988.
- 2013 . Dialogue and Cultic Studies: Why Dialogue Benefits the Cultic Studies Field . dead . . en . 4 . 3 . 2154-820X . https://web.archive.org/web/20150503042743/https://www.icsahome.com/articles/dialogue-and-cultic-studies-icsa-board-it-4-3 . 2015-05-03.
- The Blacklisting of a Concept: The Strange History of the Brainwashing Conjecture in the Sociology of Religion . Nova Religio . October 1997 . Benjamin. . Zablocki . 1 . 1 . 96–121 . 10.1525/nr.1997.1.1.96.
- Book: Zablocki, Benjamin. Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field. 2001. U of Toronto Press. 978-0802081889. 176.
- Book: Benjamin, Zablocki . Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field . Misunderstanding Cults . . 2001 . 978-0-8020-8188-9 . Zablocki . Benjamin . 194–201 . en . Towards a Demystified and Disinterested Scientific Theory of Brainwashing . Robbins . Thomas . Thomas Robbins (sociologist).
