From: acarvin@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Andy Carvin)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: sociological writings on scientology
Message-ID: <1991Sep16.030731.13279@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>
Date: 16 Sep 91 03:07:31 GMT
Organization: Academic Computing and Network Services, Evanston, Il.
Lines: 7
Sender:acarvin@casbah.acns.nwu.edu

I wrote a academic paper on Scientology last December and came accross one
good sociological book; namely, _Renunciation and Reformulation: a Study of
Conversion in an American Sect_, by Harriet Whitehead.  It was published in
1987 by Cornell University Press.  Whitehead, who is a sociologist,
actually joined a Church in order to get firsthand knowledge of the members
and practices.  Anyway, it's interesting, informative, and non-biased.
I would think that it can be obtained in a good research library.