The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization

An original and valuable contribution to the sociology of ‘stigmatized knowledge’ . . . parts of the book will be invaluable reading for advanced undergraduate and graduate students on courses in social movements, sociology of religion, and popular culture.

Enter the wilder shores of countercultural, utopian territories where, in the words of the editor, ‘proscribed and/or forbidden knowledge is the coin of the realm;’ where activities range from the extreme left to the extreme right, from white to black, from the radically communal to the radically individualistic, with oppositional environmentalism and the search for purity as recurrent themes. Important currents, often capable of posing threats to the mainstream, are explored in depth in The Cultic Milieu: a book which will certainly engage, and probably concern, the reader.

This book is a provocative and useful contribution to understanding pluralism.

This is an important and timely book that focus attention on an increasingly significant phenomenon, that of cultural opposition and dissent. It is gratifying to find cultic milieu theory being revived in this context and being put to such good use to shed light on the confusing and diverse world of radical environmentalism, communitarianism, racism, mysticism and magic. Kaplan and Loow are to be congratulated on producing a collection that constitutes the first serious attempt to chart this complex phenomenon and in so doing giving us invaluable insights into the contemporary world of cultural deviance and resistance.

What do deep ecologists, neo-nazis, goths, black nationalists, and urban shamans have in common? They are all part of a ‘cultic milieu, ‘ an underground culture that embraces everyone, right or left, good or bad, who thrives on standing in opposition to the social mainstream. The articles in this book explore how and why, as they analyze movements that have rarely been brought together before. It’s a fantastic collection, bound to blow the world of cultic studies wide open.