Insights From Cult Survivors Regarding Group Support

Correspondence to Nicole Durocher, 62 Canter Blvd., Nepean, Ontario, K2G 2M5, Canada. Summary Reports of numerous types of cults have increased and have beenreceiving considerable media coverage over the last ten years(Singer and Lalich, 1995). Cult activity is now prevalent inmany countries of the world. The article offers insights fortherapists and other professionals who come into contact withcult survivors. It emphasizes that, when dealing with cult survivors,one has to be sensitive to their needs and to reshape one'stherapeutic approach accordingly. The article examines post-cultadjustments and the role a support group can play in fosteringrecovery from cult abuse. Findings were obtained from a qualitativestudy that obtained first-hand data from survivors on theircult involvement and their post-cult recovery. Particular emphasiswas placed on their involvement with an ex-member's supportgroup in Montreal. The group called itself the Ex-Members Societysupport group, although it was more of a self-help group. Ex-cultmembers shared their experiences and, through their interactionand mutual support, they were able to recover from cult abuseand re-integrate into mainstream society. Gazda (1989) makesthe distinction between what constitutes a self-help group ascompared to a support group. By definition, self-help groupsare ‘groups in which members assume primary responsibilityfor the organization, functioning, and leadership of the group’(Gazda, 1989, p. 237). The professional acts as an advocate-mediatorto observe the group, identify conflicts, clarify alternativesfor resolution, and negotiate compromises acceptable for allof those who are involved in the group. On occasion, a professionalwould co-lead the group with an ex-member acting as an observer,guide and consultant; however, the onus was on members to benefitfrom each other's support and to help each other in the recoveryprocess. The researcher had never been a member of the ex-member'ssupport group. Four cult survivors who had participated in thegroup were individually interviewed. Two of the participantswere then interviewed together. A person-centered theoreticalframework was employed to orient the study to listen to thevoices of the cult survivors with empathy and understanding.The findings indicated that a support group for cult survivorscannot operate in an undiffrentiated manner from other supportgroups. To be effective, it must take care not to resemble acult in any way. It has to be sensitive to the special needsof each ex-cult member and to the particular context of thecult from which they exited.     

Ľévolution des formes de ľappropriation des femmes: des religieuses aux 'mères porteuses'

Based on the research that they are presently conducting on female religious communities in Quebec, the authors offer some thoughts, in this article, which could draw feminist theory out of the dead-end confining it and facilitate the analysis of the ongoing reorganization of gender relations. Their research follows the tradition of the work on the private and collective social appropriation of women. Firstly, the authors locate their approach in the system formed by feminist theories inspired by materialism, a system which has evolved through four stages in the past 20 years. They then construct an analysis of gender relations in which they try to integrate all of the forms, past and present, of private appropriation and collective appropriation, as well as the modalities ensuring their cohesion. These forms and modalities of appropriation constitute systems of ‘sexage’; two such systems are described briefly. A partir de leur étude portant sur les communautés religieuses de femmes au Québec, les auteures présentent, dans cet article, quelques réflexions susceptibles de sortir la théorie féministe de ?impasse où elle semble enfermée et de faciliter ?analyse de la réorganisation présentement en cours des rapports sociaux de sexe. Leur recherche s'inscrit dans la lignée des travaux sur ?appropriation privée et collective des femmes. En premier lieu, les auteures situent leur approche dans le système que forment les théories féministes s'inspirant du courant matérialiste, ce système ayant traversé quatre étapes depuis les derniers vingt ans. Elles construisent ensuite une analyse des rapports sociaux de sexe où elles cherchent à intégrer toutes les formes, passées et présentes, de ?appropriation privée et de ?appropriation collective ainsi que les modalités assurant leur cohésion. Ces formes et ces modalités de ?appropriation constituent des systèmes de sexage, deux ?entre eux y étant présentés.     

THE DIFFERENTIAL EFFECT OF LABOR MARKET CONTEXT ON MARGINAL EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES

Transformation of the labor market creates a complex and dynamic environment where jobs and skills are exchanged. Studies suggest that contemporary industrial shifts provided less opportunity than in the past, and that technological change led to a complicated melange of employment outcomes. Many of the new jobs are characterized by a series of negative qualities related to income and hours. Accordingly, this analysis concentrates on inadequate employment through low-wage work and involuntary part-time work. I examine the effect of contextual factors, specifically area levels of occupational sex-segregation and the size of the service sector industry, on men and women's marginal employment outcomes. Several findings stand out. First, women post higher chances of working for low-wages than their male counterparts. However, employment in the expanding service sector does reduce men and women's chances of experiencing part-time work. Second, the protection afforded by individual level, human capital qualities remains relatively constant for women across metro areas, but labor market context significantly affects women's odds of employment marginalization. Context is not as salient for men, but the value of their personal attributes vary across labor markets. Finally, women working in areas with higher levels of occupational sex-segregation were relatively worse off than those in areas with more integration. Industrial restructuring clearly contributed to recent shifts in U.S. employment and inequality. Studies suggest that contemporary industrial shifts have provided less opportunity than in the past, greater inequality between rich and poor, and a complicated melange of inadequate employment outcomes (Colclough and Tolbert 1992; Farley 1996; Harrison and Bluestone 1988; Morris, Bernhardt, and Handcock 1994; Sassen 1994). Deindustrialization, as it is sometimes called, offers opportunity for highly-educated, skilled, or technologically-innovative men and women. However, lower skilled workers or those with less education may face relatively good job markets filled with positions that are low quality in terms of wages, hours, or benefits. This bifurcation of work is credited with not only reducing the sex-wage gap, but also increasing inequality within sex groups (Bernhardt, Morris, and Handcock 1995). By employing a new structuralist approach and focusing on the area opportunity structure, along with the traditional human capital framework, I link both the local labor market context and individual qualities that affect employment outcomes (Browne 1997; Cotter et al. 1997; McCall 2000). In this article, I examine the effect of contextual factors, specifically the area industrial composition and the openness of the labor market, on men and women's marginal employment outcomes during the early 1990s.     

"When Australia was the Big Name for Papua New Guinea": the Colonial Constitution of Faiwolmin Subjects

Abstract This essay addresses the constitution of colonial state subjects among Faiwolmin people of the Western Province, Papua New Guinea. As Australian power was consolidated here beginning in the 1950s, a relatively liberal, paternalistic colonialism encountered problems of containment and control on a historical and geographical penumbra of Empire. The process of bringing highly mobile and scattered shifting cultivators within the borders of the Territory was plagued by a shortage of "patrol" officers and technologies of indirect rule. This analysis is concerned with the consolidation of Australian colonial power and with how Faiwolmin became subjects, and their "customs" increasingly objects, of rule. By the time of nation state formation in 1975, it is argued, the subjectivities of Faiwolmin themselves had been reconstituted within a new terrain of conflict introduced by the imperial power.     

THE THREAT OF VICTIMIZATION: A THEORETICAL RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF FEAR OF CRIME

Prior analysis in fear of crime research designates fear of crime as the dependent variable and designates independent variables that cause its existence. Two independent variables that are often discussed as causes of fear of crime are perceived risk and constrained behaviors. This paper critiques this conceptualization of fear of crime and argues that the focus of study should not be fear of crime but a larger construct called “the threat of victimization.” The threat of victimization consists of three components; the emotive component (fear of crime), the cognitive component (perceived risk), and the behavioral component (constrained behaviors). Therefore, fear of crime is not a consequence of perceived risk and constrained behaviors, but is instead involved in a complex reciprocal relationship with these two variables. This theoretical argument and its implications will be explored.     

SUPERSTITION IN THE HOUSING MARKET

We provide the first solid evidence that Chinese superstitious beliefs can have significant effects on house prices in a North American market with a large immigrant population. Using real estate data on close to 117,000 house sales, we find that houses with address number ending in “4” are sold at a 2.2% discount and those ending in “8” are sold at a 2.5% premium in comparison to houses with other addresses. These price effects are found either in neighborhoods with a higher than average percentage of Chinese residents, consistent with cultural preferences, or in repeated transactions, consistent with speculative behavior. (JEL D03, R2, Z1)     

Assemblages and affect: migrant mothers and the varieties of absent children

Drawing from stories told by migrant women in Hong Kong, this article builds on previous studies of ‘left‐behind children’ and calls for greater attention to the spectrum of sorts of absent children and to the formation of queer or less normative forms of migratory families. Taking a two‐pronged approach, I present an on‐the‐ground ethnographic and affective approach through several vignettes, and consider key elements of a more mid‐range and distanced ‘global assemblage’ approach to the institutions and expert knowledge that shape the experiences and practices of migrant mothers, migratory families, and the spectrum of absent children. This article posits that one's biological children, perhaps the most familial of kin, can become familiar or even unfamiliar strangers through contemporary processes, technologies and practices of migration and separation, and that the process of migration makes and unmakes conventional and unconventional sorts of families. While affective and assemblage approaches are independently valuable, combined they offer richer understandings of the complex interplay of factors – at various levels – that shape normative and queer families and different types of children's absences.