Janja Lalich

Who is Janja Lalich?

Janja Lalich is Professor of Sociology at California State University, Chico, known for her study of the inner workings of cults.

She was a member of the radical "Democratic Workers Party" for 11 years, a group she now considers a cult. Motivated by her personal history, her research has focused on what she considered to be cult groups, specializing in charismatic authority, power relations, ideology, and social control. Lalich published her Ph.D. dissertation on "Bounded Choice: The Fusion of Personal Freedom and Self-Renunciation in Two Transcendent Groups" in 2000. It was later developed into the 2004 book Bounded Choice. Lalich was associated with the Cult Awareness Network.