Audiobook
English language
Published June 15, 2021 by HarperAudio.
The New York Times-bestselling author of The Age of Magical Overthinking and Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how "cultish" groups, from Jonestown and Scientologists to SoulCycle and social media gurus, use language as the ultimate form of power.
What makes "cults" so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we're looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell's argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .
Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of "brainwashing." But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky …
The New York Times-bestselling author of The Age of Magical Overthinking and Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how "cultish" groups, from Jonestown and Scientologists to SoulCycle and social media gurus, use language as the ultimate form of power.
What makes "cults" so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we're looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell's argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .
Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of "brainwashing." But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day.
Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities "cultish," revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven's Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of "cultish" everywhere.
Montell describes how cults rely on language to spread their views. She investigates how charismatic cult leaders used language to gain members and deceive people, offering them a path to a better world that only the leader understands.
This is non-fiction as beach read, and felt more like a book-length Slate article that a serious attempt to understand or make an argument. The sources are the author's personal experience and a few interviews, so it comes off like a memoir of escaping a cult written by someone who was never in a cult.
The fitness and online influencer sections taught me a few new things, but the early parts of the book about religious cults gave high level summaries of the cults that are already the best know to any reader who has an interest in the subject.
At its worst this felt like the downscale kind of true crime or cult podcast where the hosts riff over a Wikipedia summary.
I was hoping for more depth, better research, and a clearer thesis. I would have stopped somewhere midway if this weren't as short as it was.
