Janja Lalich

Janja Lalich is Professor of Sociology at California State University, Chico, known for her study of the inner workings of cults.

She was a member of the radical "Democratic Workers Party" for 11 years, a group she now considers a cult. Motivated by her personal history ("I wanted to figure out what the heck happened to me"), her research has focused on cults, specializing in charismatic authority, power relations, ideology, and social control. Lalich published her Ph.D. dissertation on "Bounded Choice: The Fusion of Personal Freedom and Self-Renunciation in Two Transcendent Groups" in 2000. It was later developed into the 2004 book Bounded Choice.

Education

 * Bachelor of Arts in French, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1967
 * Fulbright Scholar, postgraduate research, University dAix-en-Provence, France
 * Master's Degree, Human Development
 * Ph.D., Human and Organizational Systems, Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, California

Books

 * Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships (2006), ISBN 0-9720021-5-4, with Madeleine Tobias (2nd ed. of Captive Hearts, Captive Minds)
 * Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults (2004), ISBN 0-520-23194-5
 * Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field (2001), ISBN 0-8020-4373-9, contributor
 * Women Under the Influence: A Study of Women's Lives in Totalist Groups. Cultic Studies Journal 14:1 (special issue), 1997.
 * "Crazy" Therapies: What Are They? Do They Work? (1996), ISBN 0-7879-0278-0, with Margaret Singer
 * Cults in Our Midst (1995), ISBN 0-7879-0051-6, with Margaret Singer
 * Captive Hearts, Captive Minds: Freedom and Recovery from Cults and Abusive Relationships (1994), ISBN 0-89793-145-9

Articles

 * "Repairing The Soul After A Cult Experience", CSNetwork Magazine, Spring 1996, pp. 30-33
 * "Using the Bounded Choice Model as an Analytical Tool: A Case Study of Heaven's Gate", ''Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, No.3
 * "The Cadre Ideal: Origins and Development of a Political Cult", Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 9, No.1
 * Introduction: "We Own Her Now", Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 14, No.1
 * "Dominance and Submission: The Psychosexual Exploitation of Women in Cults", Cultic Studies Journal, Vol.14, No.1
 * "Women Under the Influence: A Study of Women's Lives in Totalist Groups", Guest Editor, Special issue, Cultic Studies Journal, Vol.14, No.1