MANAGERIAL WITCHCRAFT: BALANCING ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS, SEEKERSHIP, AND STIGMA IN THE CULTIC MILIEU by JEFFERY BENJAMIN PATTERSON (Under the Direction of Mark Cooney) ABSTRACT One recurring factor in the study of cultic organizations is that they tend to be short-lived. Based on observational and interview work with a Wiccan coven, Blackian conflict management theories were used to analyze organizational factors which may contribute to the longevity of organizations within Campbell’s cultic milieu. Significant conflict management strategies identified were: efforts to maintain the privacy of group members, a general tolerance towards within-group ideological diversity, moderate levels of intimacy and involvement between group members, and a clearly explained but relatively flat hierarchy. This study contributes to the sociological literature on organizational processes within the cultic milieu and lays a foundation for more in depth studies of conflict management within cultic organizations in the future. INDEX WORDS: Conflict, Religion, Organization, Cultic milieu, Wicca MANAGERIAL WITCHCRAFT: BALANCING ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS, SEEKERSHIP, AND STIGMA IN THE CULTIC MILIEU by JEFFERY BENJAMIN PATTERSON B.A., The University of Georgia, 2015 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2017 © 2017 Jeff Patterson All Rights Reserved MANAGERIAL WITCHCRAFT: BALANCING ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS, SEEKERSHIP, AND STIGMA IN THE CULTIC MILIEU by JEFFERY BENJAMIN PATTERSON Major Professor: Mark Cooney Committee: Joseph Hermanowicz Tom McNulty Electronic Version Approved: Suzanne Barbour Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2017 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………1 2 THE CULTIC MILIEU……………………………………………………………3 Cultic Taxonomies…………………………………………………………5 Seekership and the Cultic Milieu………………………………………….7 The Pagan Milieu………………………………………………………...10 Origins of Wicca………………………………………………………….11 The Coven………………………………………………………………..14 3 ANALYTIC STRATEGY………………………………………………………..21 Attraction-Selection-Attriton Model……………………………………..21 Blackian Theory of Conflict……………………………….……………..24 4 METHODS………………………………………………………….……………28 Data Collection…………………………………………….……………..29 Limitations…………………………………………………….………….31 5 FINDINGS – MILIEU AND ASA……………………………………………….33 Milieu Processes………………………………………………………….33 ASA Model……………………………………………………………….36 6 FINDINGS – BLACKIAN THEORY……………………………………………41 Exposure………………………………………………………………….42 v Closeness………………………………………………………...……….45 Stratification………………………………………………….……..……47 Diversity………………………………………………………………….50 7 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION……………………………………………52 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………..55 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………………...60 A MORAL TIME…………………………………………………………………...60 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The cult is a long-recognized category of religious organization, with formal typologies dating back to at least the early 20th century (Troeltsch [1931] 1992). However, dramatic mass media portrayals of brainwashing, murder, and mass suicide have tainted the “cult” in a way that the “church” and “sect” have largely avoided. This stigmatization has led some eminent scholars to shy away from terminology evocative of the “cult” (see for example Richardson 1993), but the individualistic expression of esoteric beliefs in the form of small, loosely organized groups (Nelson 1968) is nevertheless an area of vital importance for the study of deviance, social control, and social change. After all, it is from such “deviant” fringe groups that radical environmentalism (Taylor 2002), ethnonationalism (Kaplan 2002), and even alternative medicine (York 1995) all burst onto the world stage with significant and lingering impact on the mainstream discourse, resulting in an entire anthology dedicated to how such “oppositional subcultures” react to contemporary globalist currents (Kaplan and Lööw 2002). However, very few groups survive long enough to have an impact on their own subculture, let alone transfer their beliefs to outsiders, even though a select number do manage to transcend their cultic origins (see, for example, Wallis 1975 on Scientology). In order to isolate factors which may contribute to group longevity within the cultic milieu, I selected for study a Wiccan coven that had existed continuously for nearly two decades at the time of study. And because of the high rate of group dissolution found in all cultic subcultures (Campbell 1972) and 2 a similar tendency for failure in secular startup organizations (Kuntze and Matulich 2016; Lussier & Pfeifer 2001), I chose to approach the study of this coven from the paradigmatic lens provided by Donald Black's social structural approach to the study of conflict and social control, as informed by Schneider and colleagues' attraction-selection-attrition model of organizational needs. Based on my study of this coven, I identified a moderate level of organizational control over access, authority, beliefs, and membership as instrumental to the group’s continued longevity. 3 CHAPTER 2 THE CULTIC MILIEU Every society has a sense of morality, of proper thought, behavior, and expression. And while the content of morality may vary widely over time, place, and person, in all cases there is a good – those things which are valued and held to be virtuous – and there is an evil, comprised of all things despised. This duality is easily recognizable in the work of Durkheim who heavily emphasized the importance of sanctions to the study of morality (Durkheim [1893] 1997; Karsenti 2012). Important to this duality is the element of change, the process by which a social norm is resisted so thoroughly and vociferously that it is abandoned and supplanted. However, for every Socrates, Nietzsche, or Marx there are dozens of other radical thinkers toiling away in obscurity, their work forgotten or vilified as the heresies of malcontents. To paraphrase Nietzsche, the certainty with which a belief is held has no bearing on its veracity (Nietzsche [1888] 1990: Sec. 51). In short, some ideas will survive while others fade away, and the simple difference between a prophet and a madman is how successful they are in gaining converts. To answer the question of why some deviant ideologies flourish while others fail, British sociologist Colin Campbell proposed that there is a cultic milieu: a shadowy ideological fringe present in every society wherein all manner of heterodoxical ideas are shared, refined, and permuted by a group of perpetual ideological seekers (Campbell, C. 1972). One anthology includes studies of occult National Socialism, neo-shamanism, radical environmentalism, ultraconservatism, and even “anti-cult” watchdogs (Kaplan and Lööw 2002). Other studies have 4 looked at far right and white supremacist groups in the United States (Barkun 1990; Bruce 1994; Gardell 2002; Simonelli 2002; Drabble 2007), UFO religions (Balch 1980; Gallagher 2010), Neopaganism in the United States and Europe (Ivakhiv 2005; Jorgensen 1999; Kürti 2001; York 1995), the gothic subculture (Introvigne 2002; Jasper 2004), and the Falun Gong in China (Chan 2004), among many other religious, political, and cultural fringe groups. While these cults – and constituent members thereof – within the milieu represent a wide array of oft-competing ideologies, Campbell argued that they are nevertheless unified by their shared position in the milieu. Campbell highlights their shared consciousness of their own heterodoxy and the opposition they face from more orthodox cultural institutions, arguing that this results in a broad mutual tolerance and advocacy for individual rights and liberty (Campbell, C. 1972). This particular facet of the milieu has interesting implications for identifying such heterodoxical groups. Presumably, the members of these cults are aware of their own deviance and will be able to identify points of conflict with mainstream society and/or strategies they employ to minimize such conflicts. In addition to the external pressure from orthodox groups driving cults to cooperate is the limited number of media and communication outlets willing to cater to deviant ideologies, resulting in an overlap in the publishing houses, magazines, bookstores, and the like used by even the most disparate of cults (Campbell, C. 1972). Because of this overlap, it is predicted that members of a given cult (or non-members that share the ideology) will have greater exposure to cultic ideas than will “orthodox” individuals, even for ideologies unrelated or at odds to their own. This contributes to the cross-pollination of cultic ideas, encouraging synthesis and perhaps even conglomeration of cults. And finally, all cults are unified by the common ethic of 5 seekership held by the members of the cultic milieu (Campbell, C. 1972) which predisposes them to seek out fringe science, conspiracy theories, esoteric lore, and other such hidden or forbidden truths. However, before further exploring the cultic milieu, it is important to first trace the development of 'cult' as a category of religious expression as it is used within cultic milieu theory. Cultic Taxonomies Cultic milieu theory is rooted in Troeltsch's tripartite typology of religion (Campbell, C. 1972). Building upon Weber's initial church-sect distinction, the theologian Ernst Troeltsch identified the Church-type of Christianity as a community-level, corporate entity focused on objective measures of salvation, recruiting primarily