RECRUITS USUALLY KNEW SOMEONE INSIDE ALREADY

Sun Myung Moon Founded The Unification Church In 1954

Recruitment Is Widely Described As Almost Irresistible

Years Of Fieldwork Found Something Different

Most People Who Attended A Workshop Did Not Join

The Church Ran Residential Workshops For New Visitors

Eileen Barker Published Her Study Of Those Workshops In 1984

Harm Can Be Real Even When It Is Uncommon

This Part Covers Who Joined And Who Did Not

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OKAY BACK FROM THE DOORSTEP 🚪

The Unification Church Began In Seoul In South Korea

It Opened Centres In Britain In Later Decades

Members There Were Widely Called Moonies

Recruitment Happened Through Residential Workshops

A Typical Visit Began With A Single Weekend

Guests Could Then Stay On For Longer Courses

Newcomers Received Intense Attention From Existing Members

Members Called That Attention Love Bombing

The Phrase Came From Inside The Church In The 1970s

Margaret Singer Popularised It In A 1995 Book

The Counting Had Already Happened By Then

Eileen Barker Studied The Unification Workshops As A Sociologist

Her Fieldwork Lasted Close To Seven Years

She Attended The Workshops Herself

In Depth Interviews Lasted From Two To Twelve Hours

Her Work Also Followed The Visitors Who Did Not Join

Earlier Researchers Had Left Those Visitors Out

Including Them Changes Every Retention Number

Her Book Appeared In 1984

Its Subtitle Asked Whether This Was Choice Or Brainwashing

Later Writers Kept Arguing Over That Question

Barker Reported Three Retention Figures

The First Figure Used Everyone At A Two Day Retreat

Fewer Than 25 Percent Of Them Joined For More Than A Week

A Second Figure Came From That Same Retreat Group

Only 5 Percent Remained Full Time Members A Year Later

A Third Figure Used A Wider Denominator

It Counted Everyone Who Visited A Centre At Least Once

Fewer Than One In 200 Of Them Remained After Two Years

That Is A Failure Rate Above 99.5 Percent

Each Figure Uses A Different Denominator

Two Describe The Retreat Group And The Third Every Visitor

The Fieldwork Also Recorded How People Left

People Who Left Did So On Their Own

No Intervention Was Needed To Get Them Out

Barker Wrote That She Was Not Persuaded By The Brainwashing Picture

Her Argument Had Two Parts

An Irresistible Technique Would Not Fail So Often

The Theory Could Not Explain Voluntary Exits

That Is An Absence Of Persuasion And Not A Finding Of Absence

Critics Replied That Harm Is Real At Low Rates

Both Claims Can Be True At Once

A Rare Outcome Can Still Be A Serious One

The Numbers Describe Frequency And Not Severity

John Lofland And Rodney Stark Published A Conversion Model In 1965

It Appeared In The American Sociological Review

The Paper Was Called Becoming A World Saver

Fieldwork Came From A Small West Coast Group

That Group Was An Early Unification Church Mission

The Model Names Seven Conditions

Three Of Them Are Predisposing

A Predisposing Condition Is Something The Recruit Already Has

Enduring Tension In A Person's Life Is The First

A Religious Framing Of That Tension Is The Second

Self Description As A Religious Seeker Is The Third

Four Situational Contingencies Make Up The Rest

These Four Depend On Contact With The Group

Meeting The Group At A Turning Point Is One

An Affective Bond Forming Inside The Group Is Another

Outside Attachments Weakening Comes Next

Intensive Interaction Completes The Four

Later Work Revised The Model Several Times

Two Findings Kept Recurring Across Those Revisions

Recruits Usually Knew Someone Inside Already

Friends And Family Mattered More Than Doctrine

People In Transition Were Easier To Recruit

Students And Recent Movers Appear Often In That Work