Responding to Cults as a Social Conflict
The difference between Conflict Management, Conflict Resolution, and Conflict Transformation as approaches
For a large part of my adulthood I’ve been fascinated, curious, and interested in the phenomena of cults (I was a part of a “mega church” as a kid)—seeing so much of my own experience in them. When a docuseries about the NXIVM cult called The Vow came out, I joined hundreds of thousands of people (many of them leftists for some reason!) in becoming consumed by interest in cult content. Over the last two years I’ve probably watched, read, listened to hundreds of films, documentaries, podcasts, and essays about cults and multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs): NXIVM, Modern Mystery School, WeWork, Scientology, Herbalife, Children of God, the People’s Temple, the Tribe of Teal Swan, and so on.
As a conflict facilitator and thinker, I see cults as a social conflict: an aspect of our society that is at tension and in many cases cause harm or violence. My question in thinking about them is—so what? What do we do, as a society, when we identify these sources of tension and harm. In this newsletter, I’ll use cults as just one example that illustrates the difference between three main approaches in conflict work: management, resolution, and transformation.
But first, what is a cult? Why do cults exist?
A cult is a social group that is classified as having a few key factors:
A leader or group of leaders who are given ultimate control, often due to a perception that they have reached a higher state of being, or are deities
A hierarchical structure that exploits the lower status members of the group; one is tasked with self-improvement to rise to higher states of being or organizational control
An ideology that is indoctrinated in its members, there is no tolerance for questions and gaslighting is often used to place blame on the questioner for their doubts
Punishment for leaving or doubting the group
Like many others on the Left, I see cults as an exaggerated version of U.S/Western society as a whole and as perhaps the most extreme version of a pattern of organizations that use some or all of these components to persuade, influence, or control large numbers of people. For example, understanding white nationalist groups through the lens of a cult helps us to understand how and why so many young men get drawn into the arms of organizations like the Proud Boys. Understanding capitalism itself as cult-like—think Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos—helps us to see how there are patterns repeated in cults that are present in our larger society. So, why are cults so uniquely fascinating and disturbing? Perhaps because they are fun house mirrors of the things that we wish not to see in ourselves and our communities.
I support the theory that cults and cult-like organizations exist because we exist in a dehumanizing society that has forcibly removed everyone from what makes life connected and purposeful—our connection to the natural world, our forms of kinship, our mutuality and communal survival, our artistic traditions, our practicing of healing. Indigenous, Black, and Immigrant communities have quite literally seen much of their cultures destroyed—through genocide, forced removal, and assimilation entire languages and intelligence systems have been destroyed. White folks became white at all by being ripped from our ancestral cultures and “blended” into the political ideology of white supremacy and capitalism. Our approaches to healing and harm are often pathologizing, punitive, and full of shame.
On some level, most of us are seeking that reconnection: we are starving for belonging and connection, we are starving for a purpose beyond economic competition and survival, we are struggling to heal. Indigenous folks are meeting this need in beautiful ways through resurgence movements, that reconnect to Indigenous histories and ontologies. Black and immigrant folks are returning to their ancestral roots or creating cultures and sub-cultures differentiated from whiteness. White folks are learning about our own ancestry and the process of creating whiteness. Where those reconnections are absent, cults (or opioids, or MLMs, or…) step in. Cults give members a reason to remain on the planet, a way to improve or feel better, a person or group to look up to and see who they strive to be (all the while being exploited, which we have already been pre-conditioned to accept or normalize). And cults give their leaders a sense of power that they have been taught holds that meaning and purpose.
Responding to Cults as a Social Conflict
There is growing concern about cults in our society—it’s unclear to me if cults are becoming more prolific (I don’t think so) or made more visible through growing media and social media channels. If conflict is a signal that something needs to change, then the question is: are cults the signal, or the thing that needs to change? I’ll ask you to reflect on that through this post.
There are three well-known approaches to conflict (these are not exhaustive), each with their own modalities or processes (e.g. mediation, circles, etc.). We’ll use cults as an example to learn the difference between these approaches and what they might look like in addressing social conflicts.
Conflict Management
A method and/or process of responding to current or future impacts of a conflict.
As an approach, conflict management is a little bit like whack-a-mole. When a sign of conflict becomes obvious or disruptive, a conflict manager swoops in to address that aspect of the conflict, in the hopes of mitigating any damage, liability, or harm that this conflict may present for an organization or community. They may also try to create benefit from the conflict: learning, growth, or change that will improve success. A conflict manager may also put some policies, procedures, or processes into place that shield the organization or community from the potential harms of a conflict.
From a Conflict Management approach, we see people responding to cults in some of these ways:
Individual level interventions with people who have joined cults, trying to persuade them to leave or even whistle-blow
Mediations or community interventions trying to reunite individual families who have been separated by cult participation
Community policies that try to mitigate the encroachment of cults into neighborhoods or downtowns
Education about cults, what they are, and how to respond to loved ones’ involvement
Support groups for former members and current members’ families
These are all meaningful and important ways to try to reduce the harm that cults can have on our families and communities. This approach can, at times, be pathologizing of people who are in cults—there is something wrong with them, they need to be saved, they aren’t able to make their own decisions, they are the problem. Conflict Management can tend to prioritize the efficiencies and effectiveness of a community or organization’s goals and norms, and engages conflict in a way that tries to maintain what is considered “correct” and intervene in disruptions. On the other hand, CM can also be a way of doing something when one has little power or control over the larger picture.
Conflict Resolution
A method and/or process of facilitating peaceful ending to conflict and/or retribution.
As an approach, conflict resolution is trying to resolve, close, or complete a present conflict—sometimes through a cooperative/collaborative process such as Restorative Justice or other times through a top-down command, such as a negotiated agreement between leaders. Through this approach, there is a focus on closure—what do we need to do in order to stop conflicting, to make amends or repair, and to move forward in a way that prevents conflict from resurfacing. Part of this process might be creating agreements, rules, or laws, that contractually prevent people from repeating the same behaviors or patterns. Or, part of the process may be truth and reconciliation, where people are able to speak to the harm they experienced and openly forgive or hold accountable those who are responsible.
From a Conflict Resolution approach, we see people responding to cults in some of these ways (mostly by using the criminal legal system):
Law suits meant to penalize cults financially and repair financial losses, often with the hope that these suits will ruin the cult and force its end.
Criminal punishment of cult leaders for their involvement in sexual and other violence toward members, often with the hope that this will end the cult
Investigation of financial crimes and or regulation of the business aspects associated with the cult
Theoretically (though I’ve never heard of this being done), people could:
Use healing and accountability circles to repair and recover after leaving cults or for family members who have lost people, supporting people in their efforts to make amends for harms they may have done as members (proactive beyond a “support group”)
Hold truth and reconciliation events that allow members to speak directly to cult leadership about harm and name what they need in order to move on—providing protection from retribution
Provide community-wide means of safely leaving a cult, without repercussions (including providing safe housing, debt relief, mental health care, physical healthcare)
Supporting people who are in cults and who want to stay in cults, in changing behaviors that are causing harm to others while honoring their autonomy (e.g. not exploiting those below them or recruiting vulnerable people).
Come to an agreement with cult leadership about “boundaries” or “limits” to their practice, that would resolve any harms or violence but maintain the meaningful aspects of their organization (i.e. a peace agreement).
Cult members organize to remove abusive leadership and exploitative policies, but maintain the organization’s meaningful aspects and teachings.
Conflict Resolution tends to seek the prevention or repair of immediate and overt forms of violence, harm, or “crime.” Sometimes, this puts forward a facade of change, while systemic and structural violence (sexism, racism, exploitation) persist in other forms. In other ways, CR can mean healing, repair, and amends for those who have been most acutely or chronically harmed and have meaningful impacts in terms of long-term change—healed people are then able to go on to engage in further change efforts.
Conflict Transformation
A method of change-making that identifies the root cause and alters social structures that produce violence.
As an approach, conflict transformation seeks the underlying reason why a conflict exists—often related to the unmet needs of people in a community or society—and alters conditions to prevent the conflict from being destructive or leading to violence. Conflict transformation almost always involves some kind of organizing or community process, due to the need for agreement about changes that will have a broad impact. Conflict transformation targets inequities, harmful norms, discrimination, and oppressive policies that lead to violence and harm.
In regard to cults, theoretically (again I haven’t seen this happen) conflict transformation could look like—
Seeking understanding about why cult members sought out the cult—what underlying needs were not being met—and then finding alternative ways of meeting those needs in the community (e.g. a place of belonging, discovery, purpose) in ways that don’t involve indoctrination or exploitation
With community (including current and former cult members and their relatives): Identify the aspects of society/community that are replicated within the cult, that conditioned people to accept that harm and violence (or lead from that conditioning)—alter those normalizing aspects of society (e.g. authoritarianism/subservience becomes cooperativeness, financial exploitation becomes communalism, followship becomes co-leadership)
With community (including current and former cult members and their relatives): Identify the violences, abuses, and harms that exist in society which caused unhealed wounds, that might make community members vulnerable to further violence and abuse (e.g. domestic violence, childhood trauma, racism, sexism, transphobia) or to perpetuate violence and abuse—create ways of preventing and addressing those harms and healing those harms
Through strategies like Community Conferencing, create shared visions of community and belonging and co-design appropriate consequences or accountability for harm within that community—consider how cult membership, recruitment, and development fit into these values, cultures, and consequences and apply them
Honor the autonomy of people who have joined cults, while creating alternative options of being a part of community that are accessible to them and protect them from retribution or harm (allowing the conflict to persist)
While Conflict Transformation focuses on the root cause, it involves massive amounts of resources (social, material) and has a tendency to lose steam or meet extraordinary barriers. Having these lofty goals sometimes means alienating those who are experiencing immediate material harm, if short-term support is not provided. On the other hand, even unsuccessful attempts at CT can expand the imagination, inspire new movements, and create shifts in culture that grow over time.
Conclusion
All of these approaches are meaningful at different times and for different reasons. Often we lean on Conflict Management and Conflict Resolution because we are socially disconnected and disempowered—we have limited power to intervene at a structural level and are discouraged or incapacitated from gaining power through organizing. Because of that, our approach to many social conflicts—including cults—is to try to dissuade, discourage, or intervene at the individual level and by doing so we pathologize and focus on saviorism. For family members who are grieving the loss of someone who has seemingly been stolen from them—this makes a lot of sense. But often people who join cults do so several times in their life, because the reason they join is never addressed. A holistic approach to conflict often means combining all of these approaches to create lasting change.
What other social conflicts can you think of that are addressed through similar approaches?
What other methods (under these approaches) can you identify as currently being used (for cults or another social conflict)?
What other methods should we be trying (under any of these approaches)?
After all this, do you think cults are the signal of a need for change, or the thing that needs to change? Why?
Interested in learning more about cults and MLMs? Here’s some interesting content:
Scientology and the Aftermath a docuseries on Netflix
Wild Wild Country a docuseries on Netflix
John of God a docuseries on Netflix
Cults and Extreme Beliefs an investigative series on A&E
wework a documentary on Hulu
The Deep End a docuseries on Hulu
True Believers an investigative series on Vice
The Vow a docuseries on HBO
Seduced a docuseries on Hulu
Cults a podcast
Out of the Woods a podcast
Betting on Zero a documentary
The World in Flames an audiobook or book by Jerald Walker
Slonim Woods 9 a book by Daniel Levin
Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate a book by Alexandra Minna Stern
Sisters in Hate a book by Seyward Darby
The Storm is Upon Us a book by Mike Rothschild