Sarah Steel has interviewed countless former cult members and found they're just like 'you and me'. So, how do so many people find themselves in these situations? The answer comes straight from a power and control playbook.
Over the years, Steel has expanded her definition to take into account behaviours used to control members that are replicated across groups, such as gaslighting and coercive control.
As an example, she points to the Two by Twos, one of many labels outsiders use to describe a religious sect that claims they don't have a name or a leader. Founded more than 100 years ago, the "really secretive" group operates throughout rural Australia preaching beliefs that stem from a literal reading of the bible.
Even though the Two by Twos meet only two of her criteria for a cult, Steel says it's important to define the group as such, "because if you're not saying that the group is damaging in the way that it operates, then you're not talking about the phenomenon that I'm talking about."While the Two by Twos are, in some ways, an exception to the definition, Steel says it's striking how often the same types of structures and behaviours pop up in cults all over the globe.
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