Benjamin David Zablocki (January 19, 1941 – April 6, 2020) was an American professor of

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

where he taught

sociology of religion Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. This objective investigation may include the use both of Quantitative research, quantit ...

and

social psychology Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...

. He published widely on the subject of charismatic religious movements,

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

s, and

brainwashing Brainwashing is the controversial idea that the human mind can be altered or controlled against a person's will by manipulative psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently ...

Early life and education

Born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York on January 19, 1941, Zablocki received his B.A. in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1962 and his Ph.D. in social relations from the

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in 1967, where he studied with James S. Coleman.

Career

Zablocki was the Sociology department chair at

. He published widely on the sociology of religion. Zablocki defined a cult as “an ideological organization held together by charismatic relationships and demanding total commitment” and advocated what he termed “the brainwashing hypothesis.” Other scholars, Zablocki noted, commonly mistake

for both a recruiting and a retaining process, when it is merely the latter. This misunderstanding enables critics of brainwashing to set up a straw-man, and thereby unfairly criticize the phenomenon of

. For evidence of the existence of brainwashing, Zablocki referred to the sheer number of testimonies from ex-members and even ex-leaders of cults. Zablocki further alleged that brainwashing has been unfairly "

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

" 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, of cancer. His last words were "I love you, I love you, Ice Cream."

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

* * *
The Birth and Death of New Religious Movements
�� (ca. 2005) * �
Ethics and the Modern Guru
�� (ca. 2016), an interview on brainwashing

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zablocki, Benjamin American sociologists Researchers of new religious movements and cults Rutgers University faculty Columbia College (New York) alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Mind control theorists 2020 deaths 1941 births